If J. J. Abrams, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Weisman collaborated on a novel…it might be this awesome.
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.
This is the twelfth expedition.
Their group is made up of four women: An anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist – the de facto leader – and a biologist, who is our narrator. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers – they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding – but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.
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Must read This book is a beautifully written horror-sci fi experience unlike any other. It’s cliche to say but I really couldn’t put the book down. I would liken it to a movie (sorry horrible analogy but stick with me) that you’re unsure what anything is or how things work throughout most of the film. Thrown into a situation as you slowly but surely discover more of the what why and when. If you enjoy suspense in that regard and gaining a little piece of infortmation from time to time then this is a must…
I really liked Borne and I decided to give this a shot … Ok so, I really liked Borne and I decided to give this a shot since I saw it’s being made into a movie. First off, Vandermeer is the king of world building IMO and his writing can be perceived as drawn out and boring. He isn’t one for dialogue, that’s for sure but when he does write it, you know it’s meaningful.That being said, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to. I kept waiting for that big reveal, but it never truly came. It reminded me of playing a slow paced survival…
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