Watched barbarian in the cinema recently- I loved it so much. The first half by itself is amongst the most expert build ups I've ever seen

I can definitely see why you felt Acceptance explained too much, in retrospect there are definitely a few details in there that could have been left up for the reader to interpret a bit more, although it doesn't bother me much personally. getting the PoV from the lighthouse keeper was indeed a great touch!
I'm a sucker for paranormal investigation type of stuff and Authority really hit the spot for me, replacing the paranormal with the incomprehensible and adding the internal disfunction of the Southern Reach as a nice touch.

Yeah, I've heard so too, I think it's called 'Absolution', looking forward to it, and to reading Borne (whenever I'm through with Cixin Liu's works I've now begun to explore)

I've just finished the Southern reach trilogy myself and it's become a favourite as a whole. I've made a post about Annihilation a few weeks ago on here where people had said they did not enjoy Authority and Acceptance as much, but I've personally loved both, and loved the conclusion overall!

Annihilation is now one of my favourite books of all time. A slow-burn descent into the uncanny where the strangeness of Area X slowly ramps up from feeling slightly off to evoking a true sense of the incomprehensible. Loved the anonimity of the characters as well, yet the depth in which the biologist's psyche is explored. If anyone has seen the Netflix movie of the same name and did not enjoy that (I didn't either), then do try the book anyway, it couldn't be more different.

Authority, instead, reads more like an investigative novel. Control is a great character in his own right and I absolutely adored his ways of thinking about things. Envisioning The Voice the way he did for instance made me laugh out loud a few times. Half way through the book the horror elements start creeping back in leading to a tense climax.

Acceptance felt like an amalgamation of the two others seeing important events through the eyes of the relevant characters. Some scenes in this return into my thoughts every now and then and I doubt they'll ever stay away. I loved the reveals about area X a lot, and loved how seemingly small details from the previous books turn out to be important here.

Borne is on my too read list, it might be immediate after I'm done with what I'm currently reading. Looking forward to it already

Sounds good, I'll put it on my good reads 'to read' list. Thanks for sharing!