Authority

· Blackstone Audio Inc. · Narrated by Bronson Pinchot
13 reviews
Audiobook
10 hr 49 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook

The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy. This 10th Anniversary Edition of Authority features a new introduction by Hugo Award–winning author N. K. Jemisin.

For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area X—a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. After the twelfth expedition, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez (a.k.a. "Control") is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and more than two hundred hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve.

The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy. This 10th Anniversary Edition of Authority features a new introduction by Hugo Award–winning author N. K. Jemisin. For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area X—a ...

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Ratings and reviews

13 reviews
Robert Hill
October 14, 2020
After reading the entire Area X series twice, the second book in the series Authority, has become my favorite. Annihilation and Acceptance both share the terror of an unknowable wilderness, but Authority brings that terror and mystery into a more familiar, and unsettling setting. Also, Bronson Pinchot's narration is buttery perfection. I understand the lack of enthusiasm in some reviews, but I promise there is more within this book than meets the eye.
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Lisa Gorska
August 18, 2020
Unavailable in my country - why?
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Sophie Olejarczyk
October 27, 2025
absolute masterpiece
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About the author

Jeff VanderMeer is the author of Hummingbird Salamander, the Borne novels, the New York Times bestselling Southern Reach series, the Ambergris trilogy, and Veniss Underground. He has written about issues relating to climate change and the environment for Time, Esquire, and The Nation. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

Bronson Pinchot, Audible’s Narrator of the Year for 2010, has won Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Awards, AudioFile Earphones Awards, Audible’s Book of the Year Award, and Audie Awards for several audiobooks, including Matterhorn, Wise Blood, Occupied City, and The Learners. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale, he is an Emmy- and People’s Choice-nominated veteran of movies, television, and Broadway and West End shows. His performance of Malvolio in Twelfth Night was named the highlight of the entire two-year Kennedy Center Shakespeare Festival by the Washington Post. He attended the acting programs at Shakespeare & Company and Circle-in-the-Square, logged in well over 200 episodes of television, starred or costarred in a bouquet of films, plays, musicals, and Shakespeare on Broadway and in London, and developed a passion for Greek revival architecture.

Robin Miles, named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, has twice won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, an Audie Award for directing, and many Earphones Awards. Her film and television acting credits include The Last Days of Disco, Primary Colors, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order, New York Undercover, National Geographic’s Tales from the Wild, All My Children, and One Life to Live. She regularly gives seminars to members of SAG and AFTRA actors’ unions, and in 2005 she started Narration Arts Workshop in New York City, offering audiobook recording classes and coaching. She holds a BA degree in theater studies from Yale University, an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama, and a certificate from the British American Drama Academy in England.

N. K. Jemisin is an American author who has won three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel. Her work has also won the Nebula, Locus, and Goodreads Choice awards. She is a reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, and she has been an instructor for the Clarion and Clarion West writing workshops.

Jeff VanderMeer is the author of Hummingbird Salamander, the Borne novels, the New York Times bestselling Southern Reach series, the Ambergris trilogy, and Veniss Underground. He has written about issues relating to climate change and the environment for Time, Esquire, and The Nation. He lives in...

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