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veganormegan's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
I love both authors. It’s an action movie in China’s book style. I will read about any character based off Keanu’s features
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
If you love Keanu and weird time travel and mythic godshkajer's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage
Minor: Cannibalism, Car accident, and Death of parent
sarahb919's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Very well written but didn’t really enjoy it. Couldn’t become invested in any of the characters. The one character I was really curious about, Vayn, barely featured. And then, in the end, everything was just a big misunderstanding, which felt unsatisfying and anticlimactic. The beginning, with its jumping around in the timeline, was difficult to understand. It took several chapters before I could get my footing and understand what was going on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
3.5, rounding up. This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, and seeing + reading the interviews with Reeves & Miéville together has only added to my excitement (their dynamic is great – do check out an interview if you’re a fan of either of them, whether you plan to read this or not).
The Book of Elsewhere follows Unute, also known as B., an 80,000 year old man who cannot die (or, perhaps, who can die repeatedly while returning with memories perfectly intact). Throughout his existence, he has been subject to curiosity that has manifested in cults, underground societies, and, of course, experimentation to attempt to replicate his longevity. The main timeline of this novel is contemporary and focused on a special unit dedicated to researching Unute with the goal of creating super-resilient soldiers (of course), while some chapters jump back to different points in Unute’s life.
I feel like it’s important to note that I read this having read almost all of the fiction China Miéville has published, but with very very little familiarity with Reeves’ comic series which introduces this book’s main character. I can see how a negative review seems to be the result for some readers coming from the opposite direction: Miéville definitely has his own style, and not having any familiarity with that I think would really skew expectations on what this book would be like. A lot of the things that reviews are mentioning as ‘negatives’ – big vocabulary, somewhat experimental style/format, a non-linear structure – are to be expected with Miéville’s work. For me, these are strengths. I would not say that this book is Miéville’s best by any stretch – and some of his other novels are favourites for me – but I do think that fans of his work will enjoy it. Just don’t expect for everything to be clear and comprehensible from page one.
Content warnings: violence, gun violence, blood, gore, body horror, death, murder, torture, confinement, animal death, animal cruelty (experimentation), war, suicide / suicide attempt (very graphic and on-page)
Thank you to the authors and to Penguin Random House Canada for an e-ARC in exchange for a review. Note: for formatting reasons, I ended up buying a hardcover to read instead, so my review is based on the final published version.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Minor: War
jhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was really dense. Sometimes I would read a sentence or a paragraph two or three times before I understood what it was saying. I think I would have liked this more had I read the BRZRKR comics. I spent a lot of time in the first half trying to figure out who was who, when was when, and what was going on.
I wasn’t bothered that the book was told in several tenses, mostly second and third person. However, as the story takes place in different time periods, after each change it took a while till I knew where I was and who the characters were. I found the contemporary timeline more interesting, maybe because I like spy / mystery tales.
There’s good depth of character where Unute is just tired, tired of all the death, tired of all the repetition of life. Despite his being an agent of horrific destruction, he’s actually a sympathetic character.
Supposedly the comics are being made into a movie starring, of course, Keanu Reeves. I confess that throughout I pictured him as Unute, even hearing the dialogue in my head in Keanu’s voice.
I’m not sure this book would appeal to a general audience. It’s pretty abstruse, and the violence might be a dealbreaker for some readers.
I wasn’t bothered that the book was told in several tenses, mostly second and third person. However, as the story takes place in different time periods, after each change it took a while till I knew where I was and who the characters were. I found the contemporary timeline more interesting, maybe because I like spy / mystery tales.
There’s good depth of character where Unute is just tired, tired of all the death, tired of all the repetition of life. Despite his being an agent of horrific destruction, he’s actually a sympathetic character.
Supposedly the comics are being made into a movie starring, of course, Keanu Reeves. I confess that throughout I pictured him as Unute, even hearing the dialogue in my head in Keanu’s voice.
I’m not sure this book would appeal to a general audience. It’s pretty abstruse, and the violence might be a dealbreaker for some readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail