"Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third 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 weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the ex...
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN THIS FAR IN THE OAK AND HOLLY CYCLE SERIES, STOP NOW. DO NOT READ. THIS IS BOOK 2. CHECK OUT THE WREN IN THE HOLLY LIBRARY FOR THE REVIEW OF BOOK 1! "Can you trust the dark when you know that it lies? Kierse McKenna just shattered the Monster Treaty. Again. It wasn’t entirely her fault. The job was supposed to be simple: steal a goblin-made bracelet off of the Queen of the Nymphs in her own palace. Trade the bracelet for a way to uncover the truth about her past. Except everything goes sideways. And then he shows up to save her. Graves—the warlock who ensnared her, betrayed her, and left her to fend for herself. He’s a villain. A monster draped in charm and shadows. And gods help her, he always knows exactly what she wants. But Graves never does anything for free. He has a job for his favorite little thief. One that will pit her against the most powerful monsters in existence, including his mortal enemy, the Oak King. An ancient art...