Annihilation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, 195 pages

A biologist, a surveyor, an anthropologist, and a psychologist head out on an expedition into the wilderness. While this may sound like the setup to a particularly nerdy joke, it's not. Instead, it's the incredibly simplified premise of Annihilation, the short, haunting novel that kicks off VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. The aforementioned explorers have set out to examine Area X, a mysterious place that has claimed a dozen earlier expeditions, though none of the four women of this expedition know why. Told from the biologist's point of view, the story quickly moves from the scary-because-it's-wilderness to the scary-because-it-may-be-unearthly.

It's a thought-provoking read, and leaves many unanswered questions that may or may not be addressed in the other two parts of this trilogy. I found it a weird book, but one that forces the reader to question what exactly it means to be human. This movie adaptation of this comes out later this year, and I'm fascinated to see how it turns out.