I give Absolution 4 stars literally just because of Part 3. From about 68% to 76%, the book is almost unreadable with the f-bombs. I don't care about the cursing; it's the almost-every-other-word frequency of it that drove me batty. After that 76% way through the book, the narrator chills out somewhat, but not entirely.

The rest of the book is really cool, as usual from Southern Reach titles. Creepy, strange, and sometimes horrifying, this book feels more like a companion book to the original three than a prequel, which I liked.