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Apr. 13th, 2025 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee341. We went to see the Minecraft movie, and I was thoroughly entertained. It's the first movie I've seen in the theater since the pandemic. I'd forgotten how unnecessarily loud they play the film. Jason Mamoa steals the show. His character is just so funny and pathetically endearing, and his interactions with Jack Black (who Josh says treats the whole movie like a Tenacious D video) are *chef's kiss*. They both clearly had a great deal of fun making this movie.
Of course, as soon as I got home, I checked AO3, and fandom is not letting me down with the Steve/Garrett (I didn't read any of them because they appeared to all be written by 12 year-olds, and I haven't had time to dig through for the gold), but fandom is letting me down with the Garrett meets Eddie Stranger Things crossover. LOL I mean, Garrett has the 80s metal hair and clothes and he's wearing eyeliner and he is hot as fuck; I could stand to read some Stranger Things crossover action. LOL
I know this was not intended as such, but I considered it my own personal SGA Easter egg when Garrett tells everyone he's going to watch their six. <3
2. I bought the latest book in the Southern Reach trilogy and realized about 20 pages in that I really needed to go back and read them all from the beginning to truly get the best experience.
These reviews are from the first read date:
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my second or third read of this novel; yesterday, I went to see the movie adaptation and had to immediately re-read Annihilation so I could compare the two.
I absolutely love this book. So much should work against it, conspire to make it boring--there's very little dialogue; it's very much focused on the interiority of a single character and all other characters remain ciphers; it's essentially a field report so lots and lots of description of the natural and physical world that some readers might find tedious; the central mystery remains unsolved and mystery abounds.
Instead, all these aspects are strengths of the novel. I love that none of the characters are named, that the reader can be sure of nothing about any character except the biologist narrator (and even her perceptions and judgments are suspect as she becomes more and more contaminated by Area X). I love that we get so much of the biologist's thoughts and feelings; much of what she muses on (episodes from her past or childhood, etc) seem irrelevant in the moment but are part of the way she (and as an extension, the reader) understands Area X. I really, really love the descriptions of the natural world. The biologist notices the world around her as a scientist would, but rather than being clinical and detached, her observations are full of wonder and love and joy and sometimes wistfulness. What could make her seem less human and approachable in the hands of another author is what makes the biologist such an endearing character to me. Finally, I adore the ambiguity. I love that the novel is brave enough to leave most of the questions unanswered; now, two more novels follow, and some of those questions do eventually get answered, but not all of them. And not the most important ones.
The ostensible plot of this series is that about thirty years in the past, something happened in Area X, a coastal region. There is an invisible border (or at least we're told it's invisible; the narrator is incapacitated for the border crossing), and inside this border, Things Are Different and Weird. The Southern Reach, an arm of the US military, is tasked with researching Area X and has sent eleven expeditions into Area X; many of them have ended in disaster and bloodshed; none of them have yielded a clear picture of what's happening inside the border or why or how.
The biologist is a member of the twelfth expedition, an all female team. From the moment they enter Area X, the expedition encounters all sorts of Strangeness, Unexplained Events, and the realization that The Southern Reach has been lying to them about their mission.
I cannot recommend this book and its sequels highly enough.
View all my reviews
Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I didn't think it was possible, and yet this book is even better than the first installment. It contains more dialogue, action and character work than the first; it's a song with words as opposed to the orchestral piece of the first novel.
Authority is from the perspective of a newly introduced character, Control, who's come to take charge of The Southern Reach after the psychologist, now revealed to have been the SR Director, doesn't return from the 12th expedition. Control is an outsider; he knows very little about the SR or Area X or what's really going on, and the reader learns the truth with growing horror alongside Control. A great deal of what we think we know from book 1 gets subverted or changed in some way in this sequel; our understanding of the psychologist in particular deepens.
Control learns that the border has always been a conceit; that Area X has never been bound by that invisible line and that it has been changing the people who work at SR for years now.
In addition, a doppelganger of the biologist, Ghost Bird, has returned to the real world as have doppelgangers of the other expedition members minus the psychologist. Control eventually ends up with Ghost Bird on a far northern coast looking into a rift Ghost Bird has created that leads back into Area X. Far south behind them, the facade of a border has come down at the SR, and the world is changing quickly as Area X advances. The novel ends with the two of them jumping into the portal.
I don't think I do this novel any justice with my review. It's just fantastic both on its own and as a continuation of/commentary on the first. Highly, highly recommend.
View all my reviews
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had forgotten how gloriously sad this last book is. And how much of the mystery is actually laid bare. Vandermeer doesn't leave nearly as much as ambiguous as I thought; that may also be because my first read was so awestruck and frantic that I missed details.
Acceptance consists of interwoven narratives: Ghost Bird and Control, Grace, the director/psychologist, Saul the lighthouse keeper, the ur!biologist.
We finally learn that time moves differently inside Area X; the reason tech doesn't work and that everything corrodes so quickly is that time is moving many magnitudes of order more quickly inside Area X than in the real world. We also learn that Area X is probably not even on Earth anymore but instead an alien world who knows how far away.
We learn that the director grew up on the coastline of Area X, that she was close friends (or as close as a child and a grown man can be) with the lighthouse keeper. She went to stay with her dad the day before the event that caused Area X and that way just barely escaped being trapped inside the border; her mother was trapped and died there although the director is never able to discover what happened to her. She and Whitby made an unauthorized trip into Area X right before the 12th expedition that goes a long way toward explaining why Whitby has some several problems. LOL
We learn that whatever made Area X is some sort of alien tech that somehow got trapped in the glass the lighthouse beacon was made of; the S&SB release it and begin everything with Saul being pricked by the plant it creates. The S&SB was actually an arm of Central; Control's mother was part of making Area X happen. The Southern Reach is Central's answer to a problem it created.
Everything about Saul breaks my heart. He is a good man, and his last act is to drive as far away from everything as he can so that when he becomes what will be the Crawler, he doesn't hurt anyone. That's why the tunnel is so far from the lighthouse. I like the implication that nothing about the lighthouse is really important and that the reason everyone becomes so violent there is some sort of psychic imprint of Henry attacking Saul, that the expedition members just get caught up in reenacting that violence or are infected by it somehow.
I like that we don't know what happens to Control. He jumps into the white light and maybe he dies, maybe he doesn't. At least in that moment he truly does have control.
The ur!biologist turned into something monstrous, or at least monstrous to everyone except Ghost Bird, is really well done. She lives in Area X for 30 years, hurting herself constantly to stave off transformation and then finally giving in. Grace has been living in Area X for three years alone and has clearly also been hurting herself to remain herself; the implication is that the wound on her toe is self-inflicted.
I am haunted by the suggestion of other people managing to live in Area X for a long time, maybe the director's mom, maybe other people Saul interacts with at the bar. I wonder if Charlie made it out okay or if he got caught by the border; I imagine they didn't realize the sea border for far longer than the land border.
The final image of the novel, Grace and Ghost Bird walking past the Southern Reach, throwing rocks so that they can find where the new "border" might now lie--that will stay with me for a long time. Hell of a way to end a book.
View all my reviews
Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think that one of the things I love most about this series is the way that amidst all the horror and unknowable alienness of Area X are moments of kindness and true human connection. "Cass" and her genuine love for Old Jim and the way that carries her through her life's journey, Whitby as the unexpected and unassuming hero of it all, Charlie's note to Saul on the bulletin board outside the Village Bar (letting us know he and others did survive and live for at least a time after the Border came down)--all these are beautiful grace notes in the novel.
I love the way that each novel sheds light on the previous novel(s) so that we reinterpret what we've already learned in different ways. All the stuff about the way time works is just *chef's kiss*! And the Whitbyness of it all. Is it the second Whitby who's created when he and the Director cross into Area X or the Whitby from the end of Acceptance when the Border moves across the Southern Reach who is moving throughout time and attempting to save the world?
And Lowry! OMG, I don't think Goodreads will allow me to use the language most appropriate to describe reading his section of narration.
Just wonderful.
View all my reviews
Just damn. The moment when Lowry realizes that Whitby has saved them all as much as he can. That he's tried every iteration, and this is the best it gets. This fucked up, scary-ass, sublime (in the Romantic sense) version of Area X and its encroachment is the scenario in which they are winning--OMG.
3.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Funny, sweet, and a guaranteed delight for any cat lover.
I always enjoy Scalzi's writing, and this is no exception.
View all my reviews
Of course, as soon as I got home, I checked AO3, and fandom is not letting me down with the Steve/Garrett (I didn't read any of them because they appeared to all be written by 12 year-olds, and I haven't had time to dig through for the gold), but fandom is letting me down with the Garrett meets Eddie Stranger Things crossover. LOL I mean, Garrett has the 80s metal hair and clothes and he's wearing eyeliner and he is hot as fuck; I could stand to read some Stranger Things crossover action. LOL
I know this was not intended as such, but I considered it my own personal SGA Easter egg when Garrett tells everyone he's going to watch their six. <3
2. I bought the latest book in the Southern Reach trilogy and realized about 20 pages in that I really needed to go back and read them all from the beginning to truly get the best experience.
These reviews are from the first read date:
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my second or third read of this novel; yesterday, I went to see the movie adaptation and had to immediately re-read Annihilation so I could compare the two.
I absolutely love this book. So much should work against it, conspire to make it boring--there's very little dialogue; it's very much focused on the interiority of a single character and all other characters remain ciphers; it's essentially a field report so lots and lots of description of the natural and physical world that some readers might find tedious; the central mystery remains unsolved and mystery abounds.
Instead, all these aspects are strengths of the novel. I love that none of the characters are named, that the reader can be sure of nothing about any character except the biologist narrator (and even her perceptions and judgments are suspect as she becomes more and more contaminated by Area X). I love that we get so much of the biologist's thoughts and feelings; much of what she muses on (episodes from her past or childhood, etc) seem irrelevant in the moment but are part of the way she (and as an extension, the reader) understands Area X. I really, really love the descriptions of the natural world. The biologist notices the world around her as a scientist would, but rather than being clinical and detached, her observations are full of wonder and love and joy and sometimes wistfulness. What could make her seem less human and approachable in the hands of another author is what makes the biologist such an endearing character to me. Finally, I adore the ambiguity. I love that the novel is brave enough to leave most of the questions unanswered; now, two more novels follow, and some of those questions do eventually get answered, but not all of them. And not the most important ones.
The ostensible plot of this series is that about thirty years in the past, something happened in Area X, a coastal region. There is an invisible border (or at least we're told it's invisible; the narrator is incapacitated for the border crossing), and inside this border, Things Are Different and Weird. The Southern Reach, an arm of the US military, is tasked with researching Area X and has sent eleven expeditions into Area X; many of them have ended in disaster and bloodshed; none of them have yielded a clear picture of what's happening inside the border or why or how.
The biologist is a member of the twelfth expedition, an all female team. From the moment they enter Area X, the expedition encounters all sorts of Strangeness, Unexplained Events, and the realization that The Southern Reach has been lying to them about their mission.
I cannot recommend this book and its sequels highly enough.
View all my reviews
Authority by Jeff VanderMeerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I didn't think it was possible, and yet this book is even better than the first installment. It contains more dialogue, action and character work than the first; it's a song with words as opposed to the orchestral piece of the first novel.
Authority is from the perspective of a newly introduced character, Control, who's come to take charge of The Southern Reach after the psychologist, now revealed to have been the SR Director, doesn't return from the 12th expedition. Control is an outsider; he knows very little about the SR or Area X or what's really going on, and the reader learns the truth with growing horror alongside Control. A great deal of what we think we know from book 1 gets subverted or changed in some way in this sequel; our understanding of the psychologist in particular deepens.
Control learns that the border has always been a conceit; that Area X has never been bound by that invisible line and that it has been changing the people who work at SR for years now.
In addition, a doppelganger of the biologist, Ghost Bird, has returned to the real world as have doppelgangers of the other expedition members minus the psychologist. Control eventually ends up with Ghost Bird on a far northern coast looking into a rift Ghost Bird has created that leads back into Area X. Far south behind them, the facade of a border has come down at the SR, and the world is changing quickly as Area X advances. The novel ends with the two of them jumping into the portal.
I don't think I do this novel any justice with my review. It's just fantastic both on its own and as a continuation of/commentary on the first. Highly, highly recommend.
View all my reviews
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had forgotten how gloriously sad this last book is. And how much of the mystery is actually laid bare. Vandermeer doesn't leave nearly as much as ambiguous as I thought; that may also be because my first read was so awestruck and frantic that I missed details.
Acceptance consists of interwoven narratives: Ghost Bird and Control, Grace, the director/psychologist, Saul the lighthouse keeper, the ur!biologist.
We finally learn that time moves differently inside Area X; the reason tech doesn't work and that everything corrodes so quickly is that time is moving many magnitudes of order more quickly inside Area X than in the real world. We also learn that Area X is probably not even on Earth anymore but instead an alien world who knows how far away.
We learn that the director grew up on the coastline of Area X, that she was close friends (or as close as a child and a grown man can be) with the lighthouse keeper. She went to stay with her dad the day before the event that caused Area X and that way just barely escaped being trapped inside the border; her mother was trapped and died there although the director is never able to discover what happened to her. She and Whitby made an unauthorized trip into Area X right before the 12th expedition that goes a long way toward explaining why Whitby has some several problems. LOL
We learn that whatever made Area X is some sort of alien tech that somehow got trapped in the glass the lighthouse beacon was made of; the S&SB release it and begin everything with Saul being pricked by the plant it creates. The S&SB was actually an arm of Central; Control's mother was part of making Area X happen. The Southern Reach is Central's answer to a problem it created.
Everything about Saul breaks my heart. He is a good man, and his last act is to drive as far away from everything as he can so that when he becomes what will be the Crawler, he doesn't hurt anyone. That's why the tunnel is so far from the lighthouse. I like the implication that nothing about the lighthouse is really important and that the reason everyone becomes so violent there is some sort of psychic imprint of Henry attacking Saul, that the expedition members just get caught up in reenacting that violence or are infected by it somehow.
I like that we don't know what happens to Control. He jumps into the white light and maybe he dies, maybe he doesn't. At least in that moment he truly does have control.
The ur!biologist turned into something monstrous, or at least monstrous to everyone except Ghost Bird, is really well done. She lives in Area X for 30 years, hurting herself constantly to stave off transformation and then finally giving in. Grace has been living in Area X for three years alone and has clearly also been hurting herself to remain herself; the implication is that the wound on her toe is self-inflicted.
I am haunted by the suggestion of other people managing to live in Area X for a long time, maybe the director's mom, maybe other people Saul interacts with at the bar. I wonder if Charlie made it out okay or if he got caught by the border; I imagine they didn't realize the sea border for far longer than the land border.
The final image of the novel, Grace and Ghost Bird walking past the Southern Reach, throwing rocks so that they can find where the new "border" might now lie--that will stay with me for a long time. Hell of a way to end a book.
View all my reviews
Absolution by Jeff VanderMeerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think that one of the things I love most about this series is the way that amidst all the horror and unknowable alienness of Area X are moments of kindness and true human connection. "Cass" and her genuine love for Old Jim and the way that carries her through her life's journey, Whitby as the unexpected and unassuming hero of it all, Charlie's note to Saul on the bulletin board outside the Village Bar (letting us know he and others did survive and live for at least a time after the Border came down)--all these are beautiful grace notes in the novel.
I love the way that each novel sheds light on the previous novel(s) so that we reinterpret what we've already learned in different ways. All the stuff about the way time works is just *chef's kiss*! And the Whitbyness of it all. Is it the second Whitby who's created when he and the Director cross into Area X or the Whitby from the end of Acceptance when the Border moves across the Southern Reach who is moving throughout time and attempting to save the world?
And Lowry! OMG, I don't think Goodreads will allow me to use the language most appropriate to describe reading his section of narration.
Just wonderful.
View all my reviews
Just damn. The moment when Lowry realizes that Whitby has saved them all as much as he can. That he's tried every iteration, and this is the best it gets. This fucked up, scary-ass, sublime (in the Romantic sense) version of Area X and its encroachment is the scenario in which they are winning--OMG.
3.
Starter Villain by John ScalziMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Funny, sweet, and a guaranteed delight for any cat lover.
I always enjoy Scalzi's writing, and this is no exception.
View all my reviews
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Date: 2025-04-14 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-14 10:56 pm (UTC)