Annihilation took root in my mind very early into my reading. It's a haunting, atmospheric novel with all sorts of intriguing mysteries. It somehow manages to be intimate and apocalyptic at the same time. Perhaps it's the choice to write the book from a first person perspective that makes it feel so unsettling.
Area X is an anomaly that fascinated me frequently.
I'd seen the movie prior to reading this and I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of overlap. The central themes are the same, but that's about it. What both the movie and book do is capture a "feeling". Deep, uncomfortable dead. That feeling that something or someone is watching you, but you aren't quite sure. When the lights get turned out and you get irrationally scared for a moment. When you watch something too close for too long and you become convinced there's more and more to it the longer you look.

I thought about the film long after I saw it. I read the book in very short order, and the time I was away from reading it, I wanted to get back to it. The pacing is great and it's just the right length. A very promising start to the series.