Oh, She's Bookish: Annihilation

Completed: October 11th, 2026

I am at a loss and an overflow of words after completing this book. Every sentence rings like poetry written at the same frequency as a set of violins in the rising panic of a horror film. Except, there is little relief to be found. Though, neither is there Annihilation to be found.

The narrative and writing in Annihilation is mature and human. It’s painful and depressing in how fallible and incredible the characters are. That they each can seem so distant in their fear and so attainable in their heroism, or vice versa.

I was moved. I was affected by this book. I had no idea what was coming. I have been recommend this book exactly twice with little fanfare, much less than I will now have in my recommendations. This book is brilliant and I have a hard time saying anything else. Its words are poetry. In that they hold a partial truth about humanity that is as compelling as it is painful. Regardless of what a sentence or paragraph is saying about the human condition, positive or negative, it is so much feeling. It’s almost too much to bear, at times.

Annihilation isn’t worth speaking to its plot, not because it’s incomprehensible, but because it’s unnecessary. You may like or hate this book and its ending, but the only question worth asking - once you have finished - is if you felt this book. Were you moved, did you feel the hum and pull of the plot and were you constantly on edge with nary a page of rest? Are you grateful it’s pages number less than 200?

Annihilation is a story of science’s fallibility. It’s about the limits of our senses and the possibility of our feelings. It’s about connection, and that death that is waiting for those who reject it, and seemingly endless pain awaits those who embrace it. Annihilation is a story of separation. It’s about borders that require psychosis to cross and consciousness to reject. Annihilation is the story of a woman who has failed at everything. It’s a story of a woman who has become everything. Annihilation is fear for a world after. After disaster, but really after change. The futility and smallness of each of us as we are given agency to change. Annihilation is the story of humanity’s downfall laden in salvation, should we be brave and humble enough to accept it.

Will you accept Annihilation?