Authority

Authority
Author	Jeff VanderMeer
Year	2014
Genre	Science fiction, Horror
Country	United States
Publisher	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Preceded by	Annihilation
Followed by	Acceptance

Authority is the second book in the Southern Reach Trilogy, written by Jeff VanderMeer. The book was published on May 6, 2014 by Ferrar, Straus and Giroux. While the first book takes place inside of Area X, Authority portrays how it was inside of the organization that sent the expeditions to that area.

Plot Summary

Main article: Timeline of Authority

"After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John Rodríguez (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.

In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Area X's most disturbing questions are answered... but the answers are far from reassuring."

Characters

• Control - A special ops agent who becomes the new director of the Southern Reach and acts in secret for an organization called Central. He is the main character of the book as the story is told by his perspective (although the book is written by a third-person narrator).

• The Biologist / Ghost Bird - Found wandering in an empty lot, the protagonist of Annihilation seems to be back. Control began interrogating her in order to understand what happened to the Twelfth Expedition inside Area X.

• Grace Stevenson - Assistant director of the Southern Reach. Despite working for Control, her loyalty remains with previous director and the previous director's esoteric plans.

• Jackie Severance - Control's mother and a deeply embedded operative inside Central. She followed her father's footsteps and even exceeded him.

• The Voice - A mysterious contact from Central assigned to Control. Control reports to the Voice about his mission status regularly.

• Whitby Allen - A peculiar senior scientist in the Southern Reach science division.

Book Covers