It's impossible for me to think of this book just on its own merits and not couched in the fact that I read this after ripping through Annihilation in a day, hoping for more half human monsters stalking through reeds. Even though I knew it was completely different, even though I finished VanderMeer's Ambergris earlier this year where every book is vastly different from the previous one, I was disappointed as I was reading. I was always holding my breath for that sharp turn back into waxing poetic about the eerie flora and fauna of area x.

But if I put aside the fact that it did not drip feed me more of exactly the same (which I desperately want, annihilation was too short!!!) it was a slow, creeping, itchy book, and it was good. Where annihilation was like panicked ripping through a wall of vines to see what is behind in real time, something breathing down your neck, authority was a slow, itchy burn of papers being read on what was found behind those vines from the vantage point of a disinterested office superior, something still breathing down your neck.

I was never totally sure if the characters were acting on their own, or if maybe they were area x's creatures. The mysteries of previous expeditions being laid out, answering some things and creating lots more questions, over the MCs week at the southern reach were immensely satisfying in a way that was completely different from experiencing them first hand, with a dissasociated floating instead of a sense of urgency. If you go in expecting this to be Annihilation (it's hard!!! Annihilation was so good!!!!) you will probably be disappointed. Let this be its own weird creature and sit and swirl in its own tank instead.