Annihilation

"When I saw those hundreds of journals, I felt for a long moment that I had become that old biologist after all.  That's how the madness of the world tries to colonize you: from the outside in, forcing you to live in its reality."

Area X.  A section of the Southern Reach that has completely excluded itself form mankind.  A pristine wilderness with no trace of the human race.  No trace except the lighthouse and the mysterious, cavernous tower.

For years the government has sent expeditions into Area X to study it.  The twelfth expedition is all female.  A biologist, an anthropologist, a surveyor, and a psychologist.  No names.  Just titles.  We are following the biologist, a woman who volunteered for Area X after her husband mysteriously returned home from the 11th expedition a completely different man.  Changed and yet the same until a cancer caused by Area X took his life.  The biologist is determined to discover all that she can in this mysterious land and the effects it has on people, both those with her and the ones that came before.

Annihilation is the first book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy.  It'll not only have you captivated, but it'll have you pondering the workings of our planet and wondering if we really know all that's out there.  I appreciated VanderMeer's writing style.  Not only does he create this entire world that is Area X, but he really puts us into the head of the biologist.  The writing isn't smooth and flowing like a narrator is telling a story.  It's precise and quick, like someone giving us the details of their recollections.  We see the biologist's thoughts on Area X as well as the backstory with her husband and childhood that made her into the woman she is today.  A woman who is smart and determined to unearth the mysteries of Area X as well as the agency that has been sending people into it all these years.