Review: Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer at The Guardian
Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, in which a stretch of Florida coastland is transformed into a weird, otherworldly space, leading to repeated attempts to comprehend and control it, is a fascinating instance of mid-career breakout, in which a writer who had seemed like a well-kept secret suddenly became a household name and public intellectual. In the decade since, VanderMeer has gone from strength to strength, and so his decision to return to Area X with a new novel is an additional, unexpected twist in the tale. I review Absolution at the Guardian . Much of what made the original Southern Reach books powerful and disturbing can be found in this new volume. Once again, VanderMeer produces a near-seamless shading between the weirdness and danger of Area X, and the natural environment that preceded it. Old Jim is rattled by a stand of trees left dead by the inland incursion of seawater, seeing in it a hint of the unearthly, while a superintelligent alligator who is the Ro...