The Southern Reach Trilogy

Author: Jeff Vandermeer

The three complete novels that make up this trilogy, Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance, were all first published during 2014. Brought together, they make for a fascinating mixture of science fiction and new weird. Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Strange things happen there: the geography shifts, strange creatures appear, messages are written upon walls by living lichen. And every human expedition returns, if it returns at all, with a completely different story. We follow one all-female expedition as it falls apart in the face of the inexplicable occurrences around them. Meanwhile, the Southern Reach Authority, which controls entry to Area X, is itself falling apart in the face of secrets and paranoia. Finally, only one last expedition can save the day. Why it's on the list: Although the situation in these novels recalls the Zone in Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatski, or perhaps more accurately in Tarkovsky's film, Stalker, yet there is still something completely original in VanderMeer's story. Told vividly and straightforwardly, it's a work that keeps you turning the page, desperate to make sense of what is going on.