Review of Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer

In 1987 Gene Wolfe released the novel Urth of the New Sun. A coda, it was intended as a piece of fiction supplemental to his landmark tetralogy Book of the New Sun. Some readers had been left confused by the original series, and as a helping hand Wolfe offered Urth. While an interesting piece of fiction, it took the subtle and made it overt, something Book of the New Sun did not need. In 2024 another author has chosen to revisit a beloved series. After a decade away, Jeff VanderMeer returns to the Area X/Southern Reach trilogy with a surprise fourth installment, Absolution. Spurious or necessary?

Each of the three Area X novels, Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance, is relatively self-contained. There is something extra to be gained reading all three, but they largely work independently. Absolution also does. It can be read on its own. But it departs from the three prior novels by being more of a tapestry of story than pure novel. It is, in essence, three short stories, or more specifically, a short story and two novellas.

The first story tells of the first ever expedition to enter what would become Area X. Weirdness is witnessed by the group of researchers—rabbits eating crabs, included. The second story tells of Old Jim, a disgraced agent sent to investigate the first expedition's failings and find a mysterious figure called only The Rogue. And the third and final story takes place one year after Old Jim's. It returns to one of the characters from the first expedition, the FOUL-mouthed Lowry. (All caps needed for the volume of f-bombs. If I had a nickel for...) Lowry seeks a way to return Area X to normal. And yet not. The dichotomy of his desires forms the most powerful, relatable narrative in the book. How to square the circle?

If Urth of the New Sun is that series' right bookend, then Absolution is the left bookend of the Southern Reach. An “origin story”, it tells of the early days of Area X. But where Urth consciously laid bare the moral/existential conundrum the Book of the New Sun series had been driving toward, Vandermeer merely peels back an extra layer or two of the Area, and in the process generates more questions. The onion's core remains hidden.

If anything, Absolution proves Jeff VanderMeer is the Master of Weird. The unease he generates through prose is not cheap body horror, or jump scares, or adjective after adjective after adjective to “be scary”. It defines subtle. It gets into the reader's sense of existence and gently runs its fingers over a few strings, letting the vibrations tingle the discomfort cortex. The reader senses something is unnatural at the back of their mind. Rarely is it in the front. Occasionally yes, e.g. animals doing what they normally don't. There are overt examples. But there are always layers beneath this, a word here, a word there, hints at “things”. On and on are the old Master's tricks.

Despite VanderMeer's immense talents, I hesitate to say Absolution is a necessary entry to the Area X series. There are arguments to be made the stories in Absolution 'enhance' Area X, but I think 'supplements' or 'complements' better captures it. In other words, if you've read the original trilogy and don't feel like more, there is nothing about the Absolution experience that is unmissable. It's for people who want more.

If you are a diehard fan of the original trilogy, this review is just preaching to the choir. You've likely already read Absolution. If you are on the fence, I would say this book is likely worth it. VanderMeer is rarefied talent, regardless the setting. But if you have your doubts about the original trilogy, this book will not likely not convince you otherwise. It genuinely does what so many books want: to touch the reader's spine with the sense of Other. But it does not deviate from what made the first three books what they are. The true cynic might even say Vandermeer could pump our ten or twelve of these, so openly surreal is the setting.