Welcome to BookCrossing! This is a site for catching and releasing books for those who want to share the joy of reading. If you find this book, please leave a journal entry to let previous readers know how and where you found the book. Feel free to do this anonymously if you wish. You are welcome to keep the book, but I encourage you to pass it on and let it continue its journey.

Publisher's description:

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 Rodrigues (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.

This book is part of a bookring. See the list of participants here:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/529556

This second book in VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy is as creepy as its predecessor, Annihilation, but the story and characters feel somewhat more real. I felt frustrated for much of the novel, as so many aspects were unclear and the author was parcelling out information only a bit at a time, but things started coming together in the last chapters and I am now eager to read the conclusion. I really do like VanderMeer's writing; he is great at creating atmosphere.

I wasn't sure, at first, where this book was going. By the end, I couldn't wait for the next one. The way this novel is written, really works for the story line. Looking forward to the next read.

I got this back from sjt105 and it's ready to travel.

This book has started its travels! It's on its way to Brookler now.

I just received this in the mail and am anxious to find out what happens next. Thanks very much.

WOW!! What a cliffhanger ending! I feel like part of me will be holding my breath until the final book shows up!

I enjoyed this second book, though perhaps not as much as the first. Most of it has little action, just a slowly evolving puzzle. Like Control, we are frustrated by the maze of mysterious clues and the feeling that all is not as it seems, that knowledge has been hidden from us or deliberately distorted.

Vandermeer builds the tension through the characters' weird attitudes and eccentricities. Many unforeseen twists and surprises. Bring on the next book!!

On its way to the next reader, judygreeneyes.

I received this book a few days ago and have already finished it. Thanks, Brookler! It's an interesting and very different follow on to the first story. "Control" is a sympathetic character, manipulated by his mother and dropped into this awful Southern Reach environment where no one seems cooperative or even normal. He has to scrounge for clues to what happened to the Director and why people who have returned from expeditions are no longer normal. It's a tough situation. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

I've PM'd the next reader.

Gone by mail to Jonniboi in the UK. Enjoy!

Just received this, cannot wait to start reading this! I actualy just finished my most-recent bookring book, so this came just in time!

A lot more slow-going than the previous book, although I got more into it the more I read.

It felt like a behind-the-scenes look as to what goes on at the Southern Reach and yet it was exciting in a twisty kind of way. I prodded along in time with the book, not quite managing to get my head around some parts and a lot more questions appear thanks to this book.

Very little is able to be described in the setting since Area X was this beautiful serene place with its anomaly and it's lighthouse. This could've been a whole new book.

Slow-going but totally interesting, with a shocking and exciting ending that has intensified my need in reading the third book in the series, I literally can't wait for it to get to me.

Will send this off tomorrow, I promise :) sorry for taking so long to read

Sent this book off, it's now in the post!

Sent it off to the next person in line, I sent it a few days ago, I totally forgot to add these release notes :)

Can't wait for the next book!

Received, thanks, Jonniboi.

Curiouser and curiouser. There seems to be a lot of setting up for the Acceptance denouement in this 2nd book. Not much happens until the very end, but we are starting to get an idea of the insidiousness of Area X. Not as gripping as Annihilation, but I was still compelled to find out what would happen to John/Control & biologist/Ghost Bird. I wish I had the 3rd book here with me right now.

For anyone interested there is a brilliant GR review here: Authority.

Thanks for including me, mathgirl40. Just awaiting a response from Billbooks.

Sent on to Billbooks.

Has arrived - sounds intriguing if not a little slow

I thought this was much better than the first book. It was a compulsive read and unlike some others I didn't find it slow going but it had me guessing and I was half right at least so ready to read the final instalment.

Have contacted the next person on the list

Got it, thanks!

Thanks also for the super cute koala that travelled with the book ^^

I didn't really like the first book of the trilogy, but it still intrigued me enough that when I saw this book offered as a ring, I couldn't resist.

And that was a good thing. I enjoyed this book much more than the first one. Probably because we start pulling pieces together and not being left in the complete dark such as the end of the first one.

Safe travel, little book!

Book 2 has arrived safely with me!

I really thought I would like this book, I liked the first book and found the mystery interesting but this time around I'm just getting bored. This book is longer than the first and the pace is much slower, it doesn't help that some of the writing I'm really struggling to follow. It's not a bad book it's just not for me.

On its way to the next reader, safe travels!

Received safely, thank you! I will try to plough through this and the final part as soon as I can but have few others to read first.

I enjoyed this second part of trilogy. I find Control more likeable than the biologist in the first part and the story gets more multidimensional but there is the same creepiness and sense of doom as in the first part. This book happens mostly in the world we know, so for me it's easier to relate to.
I have already started the third part so will send these 2 books together to the next reader.

Sent to the next reader in the BR. Enjoy!

Arrived in the mail today. I'm happy that this ring finally reached me, I really want to know how the story progresses!