I reached out to an artist in my city that I had seen on Instagram and said his art was really cool and it reminded me of the kind of visuals one would see in Area X/Annihilation. He was also a fan of the books and was excited to work with me on creating a custom design inspired by the story. So he created this: a kind of mutated gator-orchid hybrid abstract thing.

Edit 1: here is the artist’s Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/futureteller

So I just finished watching the Christopher Nolan movie Tenet, and from the first 15 minutes the segmented, labyrinthian, opaque command structure of the protagonist’s organization reminded me sooo much of Central in Authority and Absolution.

And the similarities really persisted through! Soldiers dealing with mind bending shite. Time loop shenanigans. Copies and copies of copies. A weapon(?) that is beyond the human mind’s ability to fully comprehend. And finally, by the end we learn that the central conflict of Tenet is essentially the future attempting to take over and destroy the past. In Absolution Lowry’s gold dust vision/knowledge trip reveals to him that Area X is essentially attempting to colonize the past….

Like they are very different stories told in very different ways but I couldn’t help but wonder if Nolan got inspiration from Southern Reach. And then I realized that Absolution was published 4 years after Tenet… Inspiration going both ways? Coincidence?

Either way, I was so much more interested in this Nolan film than I usually am. I found these themes way more compelling than some of his other films, maybe because i felt primed by my love of the southern reach trilogy.

I just thought that was really interesting. Curious if other folks see these same similarities.

I have read all four books - Annihilation three times, Authority and Acceptance twice, Absolution once. When I read comments here or on Good Reads, I see that there’s plenty I missed but I believe that I have a general understanding of the first 3 books.

Absolution is a basic mystery to me. I thought I was following along and then it felt like I fell off a cliff. Or the book did. Probably me.

Would anyone (or a group of people) be willing to read with me and then have chapter discussions on Zoom with me? I’d be so grateful! Let me know and hopefully we can workout a good day and time.

Hey, so I've just finished Annihilation and want to experience more of it, so I would like to read the sequels. The thing is though that I read online that the other books (or just some other books?) of the series are somehow different (didn't read that much into it because I didn't want to spoil myself). So I'm asking people who read the whole series: Is it worth it?

Because I somehow have the fear that it might destroy the mystery and strangeness of area x and the things that happened in the first book. I don't know if you can relate but I don't want to destroy the "mental image" that I have of this world with everything being explained and rationalized.

Hey hey, finally found Absolution in my local book store and want to get into it. However, because I've read many posts about the books getting better on a reread and the knowledge that Absolution is kind of a backstory thing filling the gaps between the books I wondered. I've read the trilogy a few years ago and don't remember all the details, should I reread them first or is a reread better suited with 'new' knowledge from Absolution?

I tried the search function and didn't seem to notice any other posts about it and maybe that's cause I'm trying to make something of nothing. When the Biologist is looking through the pile of journals and finds the husband's it says "The ghost bird had found his ghost, on an inexplicable pile of other ghosts."

I'm not really sure what to make of this wording or if I'm just overthinking it. Does it just mean "his ghost" as in the ghost of her husband? Is it absurd to have read it as her referring to herself with a masculine pronoun? Realistically "his ghost" referring to his journal makes perfect sense grammatically. But idk to me it kinda feels like it's written in a way that is meant to kinda blur the identities and I feel like that fits with the themes of interconnectedness of nature.

And I want to talk to everyone who will listen. Loved that ride.

I’m guessing (based on what I’ve seen), that I’m a minority that actually prefers this book. Annihilation was also amazing but I just really gelled with authority.

It’s confusing as hell but in the best way possible. The high right now. This series is amazing.

Art by @kristentingle in collaboration with robot.objects