Please never change your intro theme, it makes me feel like you're about to take me on an amazing journey, and you always do. Thank you for what you do.

"It's not like us... it's unlike us. I don't know what it wants, or if it wants, but it'll grow until it encompasses everything." - The most chilling line from the movie.

This book changed my life. After reading it I had the revelation that I wanted to become a biologist and returned to school. Eight years later I'm still a biochemist. The most interesting thing for me was that people I knew who read it considered it horror or "terrifying", however I never once thought of it that way. I was so completely engrossed in the idea of transformation and becoming absorbed by the natural world that it never once struck me as scary. I just felt a sense of awe and wonder that never let me go, and followed me through my years of study of biology. The world of cellular and subcellular biology can be just as alien and mysterious and it was Annihilation that left me constantly chasing this feeling.

In the movie, the music and art direction in the last 10 minutes transcends understanding. It is really a masterclass in cosmic horror.

Annihilation is my favorite cosmic horror story, all because of the crawler. When the biologist draws the attention of the crawler, her human mind literally cannot comprehend it. The writing evokes overlapping and contradictory sensations from the crawler. I've read several cosmic horror stories over the years, and nothing has come closer to describing the undescribable than that scene. The crawler is truly something outside our human capacity to understand.

Sci fi horror is such a great genre. I figure it must take a talented writer to create a terrifyingly convincing interaction with something that ought to be impossible to imagine

The screaming bear was one of the most terrifying parts of a movie I've ever seen. I've watched it 10x at least (that part) - I loved the movie the 1st time, then I saw essays about it and I'm too dumb to notice so many things but I REALLY enjoyed it the 2nd time!

I'm not much of a reader. When I picked up this book I didn't put it down until I was done. I pulled an all-nighter because I couldn't stop. Such an incredible piece of work.

The entire Southern Reach trilogy is excellent in its creepiness. One thing that added even more to the horror was the fact that wherever one of the returned expedition members had appeared outside of Area X, like a disease, a new patch of Area X began to grow.

Something I don't think you mentioned is that those words of the Crawler, they aren't just the Crawler trying to communicate (if that is indeed what it is doing) but they are also (according to some Southern Reach analysts) remixes of the words of the Lighthouse Keeper. The Lighthouse Keeper was, before becoming a lighthouse keeper, a preacher, following in tradition of his own father, and the pattern and cadence of the words on the wall were a good match with records of the sermons the Lighthouse Keeper used to give. The Crawler isn't simply keeping the Lighthouse Keeper with it arbitrarily, it's using what is left of the Lighthouse Keeper as a kind of translation device, drawing on his own experiences to form its records in a local method of communication. If those words are indeed its attempt to communicate and not just random scribbles plucked from the mind of the Lighthouse Keeper, then they're an example of its incomprehensible intellect filtered through a human language that struggles to adequately get across its alien concepts.

As I approached the end of this book years ago I found myself in an almost fever state. Something about the writing and the strangeness of what was going on had a physiological effect on my body. As though I had consumed hallucinogens or something. It was a unique reading experience that I doubt could be replicated.

I like how he manages to find something more inconceivably horrifying every time.

Yo I literally have 20 pages left in this book. I love the way the biologist is written.

So glad to see a annihilation video! I feel like the crawler used the lighthouse keeper as a lense to recreate the world around it. In the later book we see a flashback of the lighthouse keeper going into a very similar speech as the writing on the wall in the tower. We also learn the lighthouse keeper was a preacher before coming to the lighthouse, and the writing in the tower is sort is a sermon.

This book has by far the best "title drop" moment Ive seen in a book. My jaw was on the floor the whole scene.

YES! So glad you're covering Annihilation. When I finished the trilogy, I was bummed out for a solid week because I didn't want to leave the world it built. It's such a rich and alluring book. It's like a bad psychedelic trip that's all real. Boundary dissolution writ large. Boundaries between beings, the environment, things, and even concepts, all merging and dissolving together.

These books are worthwhile. The author really found a way to describe the otherworldly in a new way. I enjoyed "Hummingbird Salamander" by the same author as well. Weird stuff.

Aaah, nothing like some good old lovecraftian horror in the morning.

The second and third books, Authority and Acceptance are wonderful. They will answer some of the questions you have and provide more questions. I don’t want to spoil them for you. They are necessary for the complete arc of area x. Also, the second book, Authority dives deep into the Southern Reach, where the third book, acceptance gives you the back story of the light house keeper. I strongly strongly recommend them. Jeff Vandemeer has said that he wants to write a fourth book too. I also recommend his crazy crazy wonderful novel, Borne.

You are so different than other YTer's. They make videos saying "I like this book" or "I don't like this book" or "this book EXPLAINED"... but you create documentaries that inspire - akin to Reading Rainbow! Can't wait to read your next book! I'm on the list!

Please do cover the whole series. I found it fascinating and strange. I read the book after seeing the movie and was delighted at the differences. I wonder if I would have been less pleased going from book to movie...

I like this idea Quinn. It’s crazy to see how far you have grown since just before the first Dune movie released. That series changed your life, congrats!

I’ve been a huge Vandermeer fan since Veniss Underground and Ambergris. The man is a genius and I’m so glad to see him get the recognition he deserves. Great video. The other books are really amazing and build up so much

Annihilation is such a good story and is exceptionally well written. So many cosmic horror or fantasy horror stories are just "big bad thing gross and hard to understand, scary icky" but the book feels eerie and the descriptions are very visceral, and honestly disgusting. The lighthouse scene and chase sequence felt so intense and tangible.

This really makes me think about the War Against the Chtorr books with the environment being changed to something we are entirely unfamiliar with.

Thank you Quinn for covering this novel! I read this in a southern literature class and fell in love! It was interesting to read Jeff VanderMeer’s take on cosmic horror.

I love how the book focused on the nihilism of cosmic horror. I know the biologist encountered the crawler at least once but it was never really made clear whether the crawler was a result of the area or the cause of it. It really emphasizes the idea of something so large and incomprehensible that you can't even begin to understand the overall picture of the situation.

Such a great vid. By the way, Vandermeer always reacts annoyd to the comparison with Lovecraft, but he cites The Color out of Space as Lovecrafts best story. The other books are just as terrifying and poetic as the first one. Southern Reach is a modern masterpiece in cosmic horror.

YES! I've been waiting so long for Quinn to cover this. The movie is great but I LOVE the book, VanderMeer knows how to write a good lovecraftian horror.

Always a treat to listen to your videos, whether I'm driving, cleaning, cooking or lifting keep it up and thank you

Ooooh yessss I'm so excited to see you dive into this series! It's the most enigmatic series of books I've ever read. So much so that I read the whole series twice in half a year! Please do more videos on this strange and interesting world. PS: I just signed up for your patreon!

I'm so glad you read Annihilation! I can't wait til you read the other two. I have become a big fan of Vandermeer and would love seeing more Quinn videos on this series especially!

The middle book of the series might test your patience. I believe it pays off if you can muscle through. I look forward to hearing what you think about the others.

I read these books. I imagine the creeper as a benevolent form of "The Thing" species, whereas the Thing is like a criminal from their world.

I can't describe how happy I am that I found this channel. There's a lot of other channels that do a similar type of book reviews but this is easily the best one. The voice narration & production is so professional Im shocked it's on KZfaq for free

Finally someone is covering this masterpiece of a series, please do the other two books because man is it a strange journey with a ton of questions and theories

Yeeeeeeeeeees...about time. This was one of the most existentially terrifying series I have ever read. Please cover the whole series in depth!

You def need to read them all. Authority is a slow burn , but amazing and Acceptance completes the Ouroboros that is Area X. I listen to the complete trilogy as audiobooks in sections every night and have for a couple of years now. Helps stimulate dreams…

I was really stoked to see you talk about this. Annihilation and the other two books are definitely some of my personal favorites.

The movie is a masterpiece in how it weaves all the complicated story threads into a simpler story about a character's change and imminent discovery at the end of the chaotic rainbow. Just a very cool reinterpretation of the text.

VanderMeer is such a difficult author to explain. You articulated this book really well. Kudos. I'd love to see you try covering some of his other work, he creates such a cool and vivid world build.

Been waiting for years for someone to talk about the Crawler/ The Southern Reach trilogy, and I'm so glad it's you. Love your work, thank you so much

Love that you covered this book. I had forgotten about it and not realized there was a series!😊

The Crawler is oddly named, because in all three books, I don't remember it actually crawling. I think of it as the Writer or the Preacher, because of the deranged "sermon" it wrote in moss on the walls of the Tower. The whole Area X trilogy is a gorgeous, mind-bending read, and I hope you do videos on the other two books soon.

Color out of Space is probably my fav cosmic horror story of all time, or at least the consept of it, and this series is clearly inspired by that original idea, just greatly expanded upon and made even more intense. Maybe I should actually sit down and read this series for myself.

Ooo very excited to see you're making videos about this series, please keep it up!

I love how you set the mood for the media you discuss using images, music and tone of narration. Keep it coming please ;-)

Happy to see you are covering this series! I really liked Dead Astronauts from thr same author, even though it was completely different in style and even felt bizarre at points. Still a good read in my opinion.

Would love to hear you talk about the other books! Love this video!

I just wanna say how great this channel is. The topics you cover, your passion for scifi, the way you narrate. All 10/10.

The variation in the voices throughout your narration are sick man. I do the exact same thing when I read, you have more courage than me. I can’t imagine doing that in front of others

I enjoyed all three books, even the second book Authority, which people seem to feel like is "the slow book where nothing happens." It messed with my head because I worked in an office similar to the Southern Reach and I felt the slow creeping madness of both the sketchy government bureaucracy and the external cosmic horror they intended to investigate. I also appreciated that the protagonist was more or less in over his head and acknowledged that.

I am excited to read this series now. I love a good Lovecraftian horror. It's so cerebral and terrifying. My first Lovecraft book was in high school and I still think about it 40 years later.

You’re one of the only channels that when you say, stop here if you haven’t seen/read the source material that I actually stop the video, go out and read the source material, and then come back and watch the rest. Thanks for the awesome recommendations and analysis. Keep up the great work

I loved this trilogy! I listened to it and all my other favourites at work and you've covered every single one in your videos. You do a really good job with them too. It feels like I've found a community that understands. Thanks quinn!

Even this rough summary of the story made me feel legit suspense, so, as someone who's never read this, I can only imagine the anxious tension reading it would make me experience.

Thanks, This is one of my favorites too. I have the signed Area X edition with all three books.

You are covering all my favorite books lately. Outstanding content, thank you 🙏

This is the first vid of yours I've seen, and I am honestly so excited to hear your thoughts on the other books in the series. They are so different from Annihilation, and add so much more depth to the mystery of area X. I would love to hear you revisit some of the dope ideas you have in this video when you read the second and third books (and possibly 4th someday!) in the series. The way the story evolves from different perspectives leaves the reader unstable in any of their assumptions, and the slow disturbing unfolding of new information was my favorite part of reading the series the first time through. Good luck! And now to spend hours watching your entire back catalog

Annihilation is one of my favorite movies of all time! So excited to see this!

Of the trilogy, Annihilation is my favorite. It have reread it three times since originally reading it. The movie is great as well, although it is different in a lot of ways. It’s the rare situation where the movie adaptation isn’t bad in comparison to the book. The movie actually made me love the series even more.

You always present your videos so well! SciFi books in the late 1950s & 60s ( my childhood) through to mid 1970s was my mainstay. I have not read any relatively new scifi authors, so I do enjoy your content!

I love these videos! I read about 50 sci-fi and fantasy books every year, but I never have a good way to discuss them. This channel is like my book club!

You could read the trilogy in a day, but you remember it forever.. great book amazing story. Fantastic movie

Yep, it's on my list! I haven't heard it described as a sort of cosmic horror before, and I'm even more intrigued now.

I loved this book so much, so glad you finally read it and enjoyed it enough to share it with all of us. Acceptance is a great wrap up. You will probably love Borne, The Strange Bird and Three Astronauts as well.

Thank you for going over this book. It is such an eerie unsettling series, and I feel like I don't see a tremendous amount of discussion around it. I remember reading the part where the Biologist first gets to the top of the lighthouse, and being alone in a dark room with the rest of my family asleep and being incredibly unnerved.

I loved this book and the movie adaptation! I plan on reading it again this year. But for whatever I couldn’t get through the sequel. I think I stopped half way when I realized the biologist won’t be the main character. I like her a lot. The ending of Annihilation is worth the read alone. Thank you Quinn for covering this book.

I recently reread the Southern Reach Trilogy. On my first go through of the series I loved the first book, despised the second, and thought the third was one of the best final books of a series I had ever read ( still not as good as the first book). On my second go around, I appreciated the second book a great deal more, and I think the trilogy might be the strongest overall Scifi series for me; as far as all of the books being enjoyable, and I can only think of Dune as a comparable series that ties up its story and ideas in a satisfactory manner. I highly recommend the Authors Ambergris series, it is a collection of short stories set in a Lovercraftian universe with a race of little mushroom people. it is really cool.

Quinn, thank you for being the number one source I can look to to find fascinating, mind-blowing material. In my group of friends I’m usually the one that’s always digging for great books, films, etc and it’s sort of come to be expected of me to find great things and then present what makes them great, and then the others read/watch whatever it may be. I’ve never had someone play that role (and do that work) for me in the same way until I found your channel, and damn, do you do it well! We are all currently reading the Three Body Problem thanks to you and I can not wait to read this series. Saw the film Annihilation a few years ago and pushed that one on them but never got to the source material. Btw, has anyone else noticed we went through a phase of some really amazing Lovecraftian films in the late 2010’s? Seems like that era has ended sadly. But from around 2016-2019 it seemed like out of nowhere, Lovecraft, or at least the concepts we associate with him; Eldritch Abominations, Indifference to humanity, gods and alien life beyond our comprehension etc., had this wild resurgence in popularity that I don’t think has ever occurred before in the mainstream except maybe indirectly as an influence on Steven king. If anyone cares to remember, the early 00’s were obnoxiously teaming with all things vampire related, and around 2012 zombies were everywhere in horror. I found a lot of that off-putting but once the Lovecraft trend picked up steam, I was more excited about genre works than I had been in any period since I’ve been alive (born 83). Alongside the Lovecraftian, was also a trend in social commentary based horror like Get Out and Under the Skin and overlapping with both were a large amount of Folk Horror, which was exciting since it’s been hardly touched upon since the Wicker Man. Not sure why i just wrote out my view of recent horror history lol but I suppose it’s because it was a very exciting time and I felt like a teenager being exposed to so many cool things at once. I’m not sure what caused such a vast creative bubble in genre films during this time period, maybe political instability? Maybe cross pollination and cross inspiration? Or maybe even this exposure to Lovecraft on so many writers and film makers like we have never seen before and during a time when the future feels very unknowable yet we are bored with tech themes and needed something more….spiritual? Anyway, I think the fun may be over or at least we are past the critical mass of such works but I’m sure there’s tons of work from that era to look into still and of course art never stops, it just gets a little more difficult to find sometimes.

I can’t remember how I stubbles upon your channel but every since I can’t miss a video. I believe it was a three body video. Keep doing what you do 🤟🏼

I remember seeing annihilation in the theater and I walked out confused and kind of disappointed but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I bought the blue ray and the more I watched it the more I liked it. It displays alien life in its most frightening form. It and what it's doing is so completely incomprehensible. How do you fight or understand it? You cant

I don't know what I'd do without you, Quinn. So glad you keep making videos. Gonna sign up for patreon today. Thank you so much.

Hey Quin! I’ve been following your channel for a while now, I think you’ll LOVE the rest of the series- Area X and the beings in it are as scary as the Shrike and I think it’ll be your new favorite😊

I so love your voice when you quote from the various works. I wish my inner monolog was the Quinn narrator lol. Awesome video...thank you so much. Cheers

I wonder what you'd think about the novel Worm (the term "parahumans" makes it easier to search). It does have striking similarities to this concept, and it is also very scary.

I work so much and can’t really read with all my other hobbies, but I’ve been listening to “the three body problem” thanks to you. I think I’m gonna switch to this book now. Thank you so much for sparking my interest in this genre. Normally I listen to stories about skin walkers or creepy people encounters, this however is 20 times better. I love thought provoking concepts

Cannot stress how much I've come to love your channel, keep it up!

I must thank you. I have held off from subscribing for so long because I can't keep subscribing to every channel that holds my interest, but the reason I have to thank you is that some of your videos, including this one, Have been helping me stay inspired as I work on a fantasy novel of mine.

I’m addicted to your videos bro!! I’m still waiting for the book series to come in I can’t wait. I love the way you tell it almost like I’m there. The way you describe it and the tone in which you do makes it very enjoyable thank you

You're a great story teller.

Hello Quinn. A most excellent synopsis of Annihilation ! When Alex Garland went about turning this challenging novel into a film, he did indeed read all of the Far Reach Trilogy. He took what he remembered from the thousand plus pages and recounted it is as if it were a 'dream.' Its just as well, because the remaining books are altogether more detached and much less straightforward - confusion reigns. What we have here is a book that will long outlast its peers by simply not providing answers. To my mind, the clues were there in the sea life described in some detail in all three books : A tiny rock pool with all the life or death interactions for anyone to observe if they have the time and inclination. What does the entity want ? I think the answer is simply to exist - to live. Is it sentient ? Yes absolutely. Does it have Godlike intelligence and a plan ? No I don't think so. The entity can manipulate space/time just as an amoeba 'knows' when do deploy its fronds to feed. Once again thank you for your wonderful series on youtube !

Thanks for telling me about this book, just finished reading it and looking forward to the rest of the series!

I'd love to see you cover the whole trilogy. Some of the most interesting sci-fi I've read in a long time

Didn't realize that it was based on a book, it's now on the list... Thank you!

I really liked how little you delved into details this time. I feel like I wanted more details from the three body series but this time it hit just right.

Oh my goodness, I am so happy to have found your channel. KZfaq has been lacking in proper analyses of this book and you've knocked it out of the park! I've finished Annihilation, and I just recently completed the 2nd book in the trilogy "Authority". Given the end of this video, I'm guessing you haven't completed it yet. But I have to say, there's a particularly horrifying part in the later half of that book that I think you'll have a great time analyzing. Keep up the good work!

hey Quinn did you ever heard about the book and the two movies adaptation "solaris"? It's one of my all time fav! Its themes and atmosphere of uncertainty is quite similar to those from VanderMeer

I actually loved the Southern Reach Trilogy, the second book was my favourite. It has so much weirdness in it. It also was an inspiration for the game Control by Remedy Entertainment, a game that is also very lovecraftian and weird in nature. Have you ever considered talking about video games on your channel?

Yes please! There is little to none content on the other books in the series. Read them in such a fast pace years ago to find answers and I left with of course more questions, and no one in my social life online, or otherwise who has read these books (or pretty much any book). P.S. Love your content. Found your channel last night and I feel like I'm home.

So excited to see you covering this. I highly recommend you read the other two, they answer, affirm, and contradict your statements. You'll love them.

How about a thumbs up if you think Quinn should do the reading of audiobooks...He has the VOICE for it..

Makes no sense that the crawler, if it really is so incomprehensible, would write biblical lovecraftian whispers on the walls of its "tower".

Very interesting. Looking forward to you covering the rest of this series.

I read this entire series like a few years ago, it was amazing and heart wrenching!

Wondrous author. The Ambergris books were masterful. Movie didn't come close to the book, here. Although it was still a great movie.

also loved this book. The rest of the trilogy not so much.

In the middle of binging every video you've ever done just want to say you might have the greatest channel ever wish I found it years ago and like many people have commented just the way you narrate and speak is incredible you should do audio books my guy. Love you.

I really like the first two books in the trilogy. They're each very, very different, but I liked them a lot. I'll admit, I didn't "get" the third book. I plan to re-read it someday and see if maybe I understand it more. Sadly, when I read it, nobody else I knew had, so I had nobody to discuss it with.

SPOILERS FOR ANNIHILATION AND AUTHORITY. I think that the crawler is something completely different. It's stated that the lighthouse keeper was a pastor long before he moved to the coast where area X is. He had found a glowing sliver on the ground and when he reached down to pick it up, he felt a sharp pain on his finger, but the sliver was gone. Even after having it checked by the local doctor, there was no sign of any wound. He then became ill and it is unknown at what time the crawler came about, but I think that the crawler used the mind of the lighthouse keeper as a template, and the writing on the walls are his past sermons, and the actions the crawler takes are its interpretations of the lighthouse keeper's sermons.