Having just completed Acceptance (and only now realising there is a fourth book) I am no closer to understanding WTF was going on in these worlds. I did, however, just watch an interview with the author and was interested to learn that the first book (Annihilation) was written in a kind of drug-induced fever dream, as he recovered from dental surgery. Because that is what this whole series felt like for me. Like every night I read the books I was entering into some kind of shared dreamscape. Which meant it was also ok to not know what was going on. The author, Jeff Vandermeer, even mentions this idea in a great interview with @willowtalksbooks (check it out on YouTube). Finally, the idea of a shared literary dream space was reinforced by the fact that the two of the library copies I borrowed were annotated. The first book, light pencil marks on one or two pages with a host of questions and theories on a blank page at the end. The third book, with a discrete green post-it note at the beginning of chapter 21: THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER. The note read: “\[smiley face\] Hey next borrower! This scene is def my favourite!” I thought it was cute, and I liked the idea that in a story where weird writing holds mysterious power readers can communicate and share that power in another way. I’m not saying it’s cool to deface library books - and I don’t think I would ever do it - but in this case it felt right and strangely comforting that someone else had grappled with the strange storylines and scenes and characters that I had. But at the end of the day I still had NFI what it was all about. And I’m cool with that! 

Libraries rule