Annihilation is both a short novel and the first book of a trilogy. Why do you think the author chose to break up the works into three separate parts rather than present them as one longer book? What does the novel gain from this? What might it lose?

Annihilation was made into a major motion picture in 2018. In what ways are the film and novel similar, and in what ways are they different? Do they share any themes and motifs?

The author, Jeff VanderMeer, has said that the setting for the novel was inspired by a real natural habitat in Florida that he frequently hikes. How might this information affect the way you read the novel? In what ways is the novel science fiction and in what ways is it simply realistic?