First Lines of Jeff VanderMeer's "Authority"

 "In Control's dreams it is early morning, the sky deep blue with just a twinge of light.  He is staring down from a cliff down into an abyss, a bay, a cove. It always changes. He can see for miles into the still water. He can see ocean behemoths gliding there, like submarines or bell-shaped orchids or the wide hulls of ships, silent, even moving, the size of them conveying such a sense of power that he can feel the havoc of their passage even from so far above. He stares for hours at the shapes, the movements, listening to the whispers echoing up to him... and then he falls. Slowly, too slowly, the falls soundless into the dark water, without splash or ripple. And keeps falling."

- Jeff VanderMeer, Authority.

I put off writing this until after my second time reading the novel. Why? Because Authority is a strange book. Summarizing the plot makes it sounds either dull or pedestrian. But it's far from that - I'm convinced it's a masterpiece of mood, an elegiac study in paranoia that leads one to question everything, to assume a position of paranoia. It's also a slow burn; if not for a bout of insomnia I'm not sure I would have made it past the first few chapters as they are slow compared to the taught mysteries of Annihilation (the first book of the trilogy). But I'm very glad I prevailed - once the book picks up steam you ride along with Control on a ride of mysteries, of corporate secrets and plots, of scientific paradoxes, of business power structures, of clandestine organizations, all in service to uncovering the great mystery of Area X. In my first reading, I equated it to the alien detritus of Roadside Picnic, but it's more then that (as Acceptance, the final book in the trilogy, reveals). But looking for answers is besides the point. VanderMeer has spun a creepy tale that dramatizes our fruitful search for meaning in, well, just about anything, resulting in even the most anodyne of things potential objects of betrayal, horror, or confusion. It's a hell of a ride - and one that was even better the second time around. 

Related Posts:

First Lines of  Jeff VanderMeer's "Annihilation"

Book Review: "Road Side Picnic" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky