Review: Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation by Catherynne M. Valente

Mass Effect Andromeda: Annihilation by Catherynne M. Valente, first published in 2018

There are three tie-in novels for Mass Effect Andromeda, so naturally, I started with the third and final entry into that trilogy of stories. If you’ve read my Thoughts on the Lore of Mass Effect blog post, you may recall that I mentioned how Mass Effect Andromeda had a lot of unresolved plot lines, and according to this article, there were three originally planned and subsequently scrapped DLC.

MEA: Annihilation stands out among the tie-in novels as the only one that directly ties to the planned DLC, particularly the first one, ‘Ark in Crisis’. This unique correlation to the game's plot is what drew me to start with this story. The other DLCs would’ve explored the identity and motives of the mysterious benefactor, as well as delved deeper into the Jardaan, the Protheans of the Andromeda galaxy.

In Mass Effect Andromeda, we’re introduced to the Nexus and four arks: Hyperion, Leusinia, Natanus, and Paarchero – collectively, these five vessels carried contingents of the Council races, the Asari, Turian, and Salarian, as well as Humans and a smaller group of Krogan. During the game, we’re introduced to the existence of a fifth ark - Keelah Si'yah, a primarily Quarian vessel, that also carried contingents of Elcor, Drell, Volus, Batarian, and Hanar.

Due to the complexity of catering to the biological needs of the varied species versus the homogenous requirements of the other arks, Keelah Si'yah departs after the other arks. We might’ve assumed their safe arrival in due course had it not been for the distress call Pathfinder Ryder receives at the end of the game (which would’ve been the entry point for the DLC).

The story of Annihilation takes us through the very events behind the distress call. 570 years into the 600-year journey between galaxies, the ship's systems find an anomaly during a routine check, and a Sleepwalker team is awoken and tasked with getting to the bottom of the issue. They soon find hundreds of Drell dead inside their cryopods – something that shouldn’t be possible and shouldn’t have happened – and something the ship seems oblivious to. As the Sleepwalker team investigates, they discover that multiple individuals from all six of the species aboard are dying. A mysterious pathogen is discovered, explaining the cause of the deaths but leaving so many other questions unanswered – where did the pathogen come from, how can it infect so many different species, how could it infect them inside cryosleep – and perhaps most concerningly of all, why are the systems of the ship so blind to the insidious events unfolding?

The answers that slowly unfold form a tale of socio-economic disparity between the races and the motivations to use the new galaxy as a fresh start from the inequalities of the old one. I listened to the audiobook version of Annihilation, which is narrated by Tom Taylorson, the voice of male Pathfinder Ryder/Scott Ryder, which was a very cool connection. The author, Catherynne M. Valente, does a fantastic job of crafting the voices of the different species, and Taylorson does a brilliant job of delivering them, from the monotonous Elcor’s emotionally declarative speech to Drell’s visceral memory flashbacks and Quarian’s distinctive slavic accents – and everything in between.

I’d highly recommend Annihilation, and the audio adaption even more so, to fans of Mass Effect, and Andromeda in particular. Valente brilliantly brings to life a chapter of the Andromedan that otherwise would’ve gone untold, and Taylorson’s vocal talent deepens the connections between media formats and collectively makes the story fascinating and entertaining.

Background image by Fred Moon on Unsplash