The Southern Reach

Just finished Acceptance. Anyone else finish the trilogy? What do you think? Overall, I was satisfied. There were enough answers to make it worthwhile, and enough unanswered / new questions to keep it intriguing well after having finished. There were some serious Lovecraftian themes towards the end as well, and some stuff that reminded me of BOTNS and UOTNS.

I liked the series very much. I think the first and third books are the best, but I admired all three volumes, and I suspect I would enjoy the second volume more if I were to reread it. Vandermeer has a real talent for the unnatural, but I've rarely encountered a sf writer who is so good on nature in its quotidian and sublime aspects. I think in a parallel universe, he's one of the most acclaimed nature writers, a Peter Mathiessen or Annie Dillard. And perhaps that talent for the quotidian carries over into the book's ending: We don't see the puzzle put together, we don't even see all the pieces, but don't we have that experience everyday? "Acceptance" isn't the same as giving up. -Matt On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 11:50 AM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com