Absolution

在《殲滅》（Annihilation）出版十年後，傑夫・范德米爾（Jeff VanderMeer）帶來《南方疆域三部曲》的驚喜第四部作品。

《南方疆域三部曲》於十年前首次出版時，旋即引發轟動——尚未上市便登上《紐約時報》頭版專文報導，並獲史蒂芬・金等眾多作家盛讚。系列每一冊皆登上暢銷榜、斬獲多項文學獎項，從罕見的平裝原創一路升級為精裝版；改編電影更成為邪典經典。迄今為止，該系列全球銷量突破一百萬冊，穩坐二十一世紀文學殿堂的一席之地。

然而，對范德米爾而言，關於「X 區域」的故事始終未曾真正畫下句點。仍有謎團未解、關鍵視角未被說出，還有故事等待被講述：究竟是誰促成了 X 區域得以成形的條件？在 X 區域被稱為「X 區域」之前，最初踏入「被遺忘海岸」的那次任務，從未被完整記錄；而如果有人曾預見《接納》（Acceptance）之後的世界，他們會被視為多麼瘋狂？

《赦罪》（Absolution）以三個部分構成，每一部分都講述一次全新的探勘行動。讀者終於能得到一些期待已久的答案，但同時也會面對更多疑問，以及震撼人心的全新驚奇。這是一場絕美、卓越，卻始終令人不寒而慄的文學深潛，帶領讀者進入一片獨特而豐饒的敘事疆域。《赦罪》為我們這個時代最具挑釁性、也最受歡迎的思辨小說系列，寫下最終篇章。

Ten years after the publication of Annihilation, the surprise fourth volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s blockbuster Southern Reach Trilogy.

When the Southern Reach Trilogy was first published a decade ago, it was an instant sensation, celebrated in a front-page New York Times story before publication, hailed by Stephen King and many others. Each volume climbed the bestsellers list; awards were won; the books made the rare transition from paperback original to hardcover; the movie adaptation became a cult classic. All told, the trilogy has sold more than a million copies and has secured its place in the pantheon of twenty-first-century literature.

And yet for all this, for Jeff VanderMeer there was never full closure to the story of Area X. There were a few mysteries that had gone unsolved, some key points of view never aired. There were stories left to tell. There remained questions about who had been complicit in creating the conditions for Area X to take hold; the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast―before Area X was called Area X―had never been fully told; and what if someone had foreseen the world after Acceptance? How crazy would they seem?

Structured in three parts, each recounting a new expedition, there are some long-awaited answers here, to be sure, but also more questions, and profound new surprises. Absolution is a brilliant, beautiful, and ever-terrifying plunge into unique and fertile literary territory. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.