Where the first book of the series, ANNIHILATION, was the near-perfect length for its story–which moved at a clip and had few dull moments–AUTHORITY was its antithesis. This book was 75% longer, yet DRAGGED with very little of any significance occurring for the vast majority. Almost the entire novel was a series of tangents the paranoid and extremely retrospective main character, Control, went down, with only the occasional brief interlude of SOMETHING happening actually related to Area X and of interest. There was a TON of what was meant to be some kind of character development, but almost none of which actually mattered to understanding the character or progressing the plot. If I hadn't been buddy reading it, I may not have finished it–it was QUITE dull.

Without getting into spoilers, I was expecting something more from the finale, as the main character seemed to have a couple of REASONS for doing what he did at first, yet, then, when he actually reached what he was searching for, those reasons evaporated and it was as if he didn't even know why he'd chosen to come. Those "reasons" didn't play into the actual finale at all, and it ended up feeling very random and silly and forced and nonsensical. Disappointment at the end of disappointing.

The only positives that I have to say for it is that the book managed to be fairly diverse (my favorite character being a female person of color who was second in command and definitely in possession of agency throughout the book); SOME of the tangents built an image of the cast of characters and their motivations; and the vocabulary was significantly more advanced than the first book, which I loved (though, I was tempted to start a drinking game for every time an iteration of "banal" came up).

Worse than anything, though, MILD SPOILERS AHEAD the author gave the main character a cat, only for him to abandon it "reluctantly" in a throwaway sentence without even leaving food or water or, I don't know, dropping it off at a shelter, or literally feeling any level of reasonable regret. I already didn't find Control a likable character, so this act displaced any fragment of empathy I had for him. After that, I HOPED he'd drown or, better yet, turn into a rabbit via Area X so that his cat could eventually hunt him down for lunch. Spoilers OVER.

I'm going to read the next book because it has potential to be more interesting than this one and because I don't like leaving things unfinished if I can help it. The vocabulary is, at least, strong, and perhaps I WILL take a gulp of hot tea every time someone says "banal." As of this book, though, I feel I would recommend reading only the first book as a standalone. In my opinion, AUTHORITY did NOT add anything of value to ANNIHILATION's experience.

Wow, this was an interesting experience that I quite liked. I found it to be written in a fitting style of voice, and while I wouldn't call the vocabulary ADVANCED (aside from the occasional scientific word from our biologist main character narrator) it was strong and effective, with one or two words I didn't know. This was also one of those rare occasions that 1st-person POV was not only necessary for the way this story was written, but, again, effective, and generally refraining from falling into the pitfalls of over-explanation and repetitiveness that 1st-person is often guilty of. I feel like the characters, particularly the main character, DID have layers, and, having already read the sequel, whatever small inconsistencies I picked up on are shored up there. Which I appreciated. The downside of this story is how every time something of interest develops, the main character goes on a tangent about something that happened to her in the past that she somehow ties into the present situation in some way. This wouldn't have been that bad had it only occurred occasionally, but it was rather constant, and a little annoying, even though it did sometimes pack a bigger punch for whatever point she was trying to make.

Overall, I quite liked the slow-building eerie and bizarre and liminal nature of Area X and this story as a whole. This book leaves a lot of questions, but it's a complete story too that can be read as a standalone. It was also the perfect length, more or less, with just enough to sate my curiosity and horror appetite without giving away too many answers. I would definitely recommend it.

THE CROWS is one of about five books I've read this year that I can seriously say I've enjoyed. With many readers choosing and PREFERRING mindless, lifeless swill, and many authors following them because that's what sells, this book was a breath of fresh air, clearly written by someone who actually cared about the world, characters, and craft of creative storytelling.

The writing style in this is absolutely lovely, with a strong style, equally strong vocabulary, and realistic dialogue. I could tell from the sample alone this was going to have prose I would respect, and I'm thrilled to say, having finished the book, that it remained strong right through to the end. The style is easy to get absorbed into with just enough imagery to make scenes vivid, while the dialogue really brings most of the characters to life!

Unfortunately, I will say that for the majority of the book the main character, Carrie, felt like she was merely along for the ride as a "normal person" in a place with a lot of strange people. This could have worked better had she had her own secret strangeness, OR, the inverse (as my buddy reader suggested), if she had been SO normal and bland as to be humorous. Instead, she was banal with toned-down reactions that made it appear as if she was really just there merely to be carried along the stream of weirdness and to experience it for the sake of us, the reader. That being said, she had some qualities that I liked, such as the way she embraced the peculiarity of her home and accepted her dark, awkward, and scary neighbor, in contrast to the rest of the town which tended to fear and shun him. She had empathy, and I liked these characteristics from her!

The rest of the characters all had PLENTY of eccentricity and personality, especially the aforementioned neighbor, Ricky, who was almost the secondary main character and definitely my favorite character in the book! While, yes, he was a bit monstrous and kind of a little freak as expected at first (and second) impression, he had LAYERS. He had FEELINGS. He didn't fully understand even his own motivations at times because he didn't expect to feel the way he felt about things, and that made him, ironically, very human. He was a dark hero, a bit of an anti-hero, but unavoidably likable. Honestly, my favorite characters ARE the little freaks with feelings, and he both fit the bill and became his own unique spin of that. I really liked him, and he will be the character that stands out most in my memory.

By the end of this book, I still wasn't quite sure what the "plot" was meant to be, aside from the main character "acclimatising" (to quote the book) to her haunted home, the town, and its strange residents. I think the history of one of her home's ghosts, and the dark death that ghost experienced, kind of pushed itself into the forefront of "plot" towards the middle end of the book, and, granted, that story was threaded and teased from the beginning. But whatever was there felt disjointed. I understand some things were intentionally vague and intentionally made to make the reader think, which, don't get me wrong, I DO VERY MUCH LIKE, but I admit I wish there had been a LITTLE more there, a little more cohesion with that plot, and a little more flow for it. Still, I was never sorry to be reading this book, I was INVESTED the whole time, and I never quite knew what would happen next. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering this town and its characters, whether the plot was abstract or not.

I also must make a further point that I really do like that this book was written with intelligence and expectant of some level of acumen from its readers. The way that punctuation, particularly italics and parentheses, were used was REALLY interesting. I honestly kind of want to read the book again sometime just to better understand all the nuance of the author's choices in these punctuations better.

At the end of the day, this was a truly worthwhile read that was a lot of fun. I read it in August, but it'd honestly be PERFECT for spooky month! If you like horror books with heart that don't often follow standard tropes and that actually make you use your brain JUST A LITTLE BIT, I would absolutely recommend this. Rosens is an author I've had on my radar for a long time, and I'm glad I finally took the plunge. I'll definitely be reading more books by her and hopefully soon.