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Authority
- The Southern Reach Trilogy, Book 2
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
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Summary
The second volume of the extraordinary Southern Reach trilogy. The Southern Reach is a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten.
Following the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the second audiobook of the Southern Reach trilogy introduces John Rodriguez, the new head of the government agency responsible for the safeguarding of Area X.
His first day is spent grappling with the fall-out from the last expedition. Area X itself remains a mystery. But, as instructed by a higher authority known only as The Voice, the self-styled Control must battle to 'put his house in order'. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the mysteries of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve.
Undermined and under pressure to make sense of everything, Rodriguez retreats into his past in a labyrinthine search for answers. Yet the more he uncovers, the more he risks, for the secrets of the Southern Reach are more sinister than anyone could have known.
Critic reviews
Praise for Annihilation:
"A teeming science fiction that draws on Conrad and Lovecraft alike… The writing itself has a clarity that makes the abundancy of the setting more powerful. Annihilation shows signs of being the novel that will allow VanderMeer to break through to a new and larger audience" (Sunday Telegraph)
"A lasting monument to the uncanny… you find yourself afraid to turn the page… We are less than 200 pages in to the Southern Reach Trilogy… and already home is a distant memory, and an unreliable one, too: for who's to say that home was not always X at heart?" (Simon Ings, Guardian)
"Annihilation owes much to the explorations of psychogeographical landscapes in early JG Ballard and also to the work of the old masters of weird fiction such as HP Lovecraft and William Hope Hodgson, with their love of nameless horrors haunting liminal realms. VanderMeer synthesises these influences to create a tale with a deliciously creepy atmosphere of dread" (Financial Times)
"Annihilation is a weird and wonderful novel. And the hardback edition is as beautiful as the prose between the covers.' Metro‘A tautly told, self-contained story, informed and illuminated by the flawed and very human voice of its narrator" (Arc)
"Immersive, insightful and often deeply bloody creepy, this is a startlingly good novel. If the sequels live up to it, then the Southern Reach series will be a major work" (***** SFX Magazine)
"A tense and chilling psychological thriller about an unravelling expedition and the strangeness within us. A little Kubrick, a lot of Lovecraft, the novel builds with an unbearable tension and claustrophobic dread that lingers long afterwards. I loved it" (Lauren Beukes)
"Original and beautiful, maddening and magnificent" (Warren Ellis)
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What listeners say about Authority
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- matt hall
- 12-01-18
Superb
These books are unconventional and challenging. This volume builds on the actual ceiling horror of the first and is no less profoundly disturbing.
This isn't a conventional thriller, there's no pounding adrenalin or just-in-time suspense, just psychological disconnection and a sense of disconcerting otherness watching a man unravel in the face of the incomprehensible.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 15-11-17
Oh dear ... So dull after the first
I'm sorry to say that if I had had to read this and not listen I wouldn't have finished it, saying that I don't think I would have wasted the time listening either. This second book really adds little to the overall story, the last hour was the only interesting bit in my mind.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Julia
- 27-10-17
Boring
This was one of the most boring books I ever read. So many needless details and descriptions. I barely could finish it
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 09-03-24
Slow read
Interesting to start but looses pace early on and drags for the next 8hrs until a good end. Will read the last book in series as I hear it's better, but I'll need a break first and read a few page turner's ... which this definitely isn't!
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- Mikey
- 06-02-24
Great narration, brilliant story
Suspenseful, mysterious and sometimes horrifying. Great sequel to “Annihilation” that delves into the inner workings of the southern reach and leaves you eager to start the third book in the trilogy for more answers. Brilliantly narrated by Bronson Pinchot.
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- jonathan
- 29-06-23
If you‘ve done annihilation disappointing
I am listening to the third episode now but this the second one was just boring should have made the second and third book into one but the story after the first has slowed right down and just seems not worthwhile after the first but I was told as a trilogy it worked
So far it does not
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- Anonymous User
- 20-06-23
Struggled to stay engaged
Enjoyed the ending but found it a bit of a slog. I'll still read the final book though- really hoping it answers a lot of questions.
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- Michael
- 03-05-22
Hypnotic
Sure, I enjoyed it. Not sure I'd recommend it to anyone because it's hella weird and meandering but I wanted more Annihilation and it was satisfying based on that criteria
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- Julian Richardson
- 12-11-21
Meandering
I finished listening to this on my second attempt. It is so different to the first book in the trilogy. Less action, more contemplation. The audio quality and the narration are good.
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- dan smith
- 01-10-21
good narrator held me through
lots of people have said this is a boring book. I totally understand why. I often feel the same with character based stories. but the texture and feeling of the writing as well as the narrator's performance just about kept me engaged. and was worth it in the end. its like a modern lovecraft in many ways. he certainly describes everything both wood and trees. but its all part of the 'Terrior"! looking forward to pt 3
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