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Generation Z Saves the World from Aliens in Annex
Five pages into Annex, the debut novel by Rich Larson (best known as the prolific author of much-anthologized short fiction), I knew I was reading something special—but I wasn’t prepared for just how special the book would turn out to be, or why.
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An insightful and piercing, young adult-leaning science fiction thriller, Annex follows two kids named Bo and Violet in the wake on an alien invasion that cuts off their city from the rest of the world and turns everyone over the age of 16 into a cybernetic zombie. The pair find themselves thrust together with a ragtag resistance army of teens and tweens called the “Lost Boys.” Thanks to the aliens’ experiments, every child can use a “Parasite” in their stomach to make matter disappear temporarily; when Bo proves more powerful than any of his peers, the Lost Boys—led by their charismatic leader, Wyatt—go on the attack. But expelling the invaders proves more difficult than Bo or Violet could imagine, and Wyatt is hiding a terrible secret.
Bo’s is a hero’s journey for the Generation Z immigrant: uprooted from his native Niger and plunged into chaos in his new home, he embarks on a quest to save his sister that ultimately places him at the center of an intergalactic war, battling for the fate of humanity. But it was Violet who snuck into my heart—a tough, snide punk girl hiding a soft and nurturing soul, whose search for family, strength, and self-acceptance amid the apocalypse constitutes one of the best narrative arcs I’ve seen in a transgender character created by a cisgender writer.
Yes, Violet is a trans girl, and hers a uniquely trans story. Freed from her abusive and unsupportive parents, Violet uses the apocalypse to her advantage, quietly reinventing herself with heavy eyeliner and pharmacy-looted hormones. Larson doesn’t include Violet’s transness as window dressing, either; her identity informs her moments of greatest temptation and fear, and the unique strength she acquires through her transition proves to be her greatest asset. It’s a nuanced and inspiring take on the beauty of trans identity, something I honestly thought impossible when I initially agreed to read Annex as a sensitivity reader earlier this year. Rarely have I been happier to be so wrong.
I may have fallen for Violet in particular, but the ways in which her story intersect with and complement Bo’s are ultimately what make Larson’s debut so poignant. In a Western political climate that has made a point of devaluing and exploiting the lives of both immigrants and transgender people, positioning members of both communities as saviors and heroes is galvanizing. Annex demonstrates the value of coalition and understanding, the difficulty of dealing with abusers who are “on your side,” and the vitality of family through a lens that couldn’t be more timely. In all its painful and twisted glory, it is my early pick for book of the year.
Editor’s note: Sam Riedel was contracted by Orbit Books to serve as a sensitivity reader for Annex, and she is thanked in the acknowledgements.