Acceptance

Jeff Vandermeer

Book 3 of the Southern Reach Trilogy

I have accepted the fact that this is a bad trilogy. Book 3, I was hoping, would provide some resolution, both in terms of the mystery of what exactly Area X is, and in terms of why we care. I must say that we only find out a bit more about Area X. So the series ends with only vague understandings of what it might be. And I clearly don't care. The motivations are not developed to the point where a reader is truly invested in the characters. I was curious, but not invested. Which leads me to think about why this trilogy showed up on so many 'best book of the year' lists. It was supposed to be a character driven mystery/sci-fi novel. Was it supposed to be commentary on something? Environmentalism? Government control? In-office working relationships? Self-discovery? Or is it supposed to be a character driven, fantasy-mystery? Maybe the fact that I don't know, or couldn't tell, means that I am not the target audience for this trilogy.

Skip