Like its artistic ancestors, Annihilation manages the not-inconsiderable feat of linking a tale of personal strife and evolution with another story talking place on a larger, almost fathomless scale. Through our inability to comprehend the vast, we gain insight into ourselves. The biologist may not arrive at the answers she sought, but she does find answers, compelling her to continue the expedition. Which, in the end, is all any of us can do. That, or give up. To use a cliche (as I am nowhere near as fine a writer as Vandermeer), it’s the journey that’s important, not the end.

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