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bedtimesnack's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This might be the most coherent storytelling I've read by Jeff Vandermeer. It's also one of the most gruesome. Felt like a lot of gore, compared to his later work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement and Gun violence
Minor: Drug use
cato_g's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Great world building and character development. Character relationships really drive the plot of the story forward so more focused on how the protagonist is navigating the world than on the world itself.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
fableborealis'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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
destryhawk's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
More than anything, it made me very intrigued to read more of his work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content
yoursam's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
3.5
classic vandermeer but it's clear that it is one of his earlier works, the other books of his i've had the pleasure of reading so far really shine in comparison. that's not to say that i didn't enjoy veniss underground, but there's something to it that didn't click. or at least it didn't click as nicely in place as say, the southern reach trilogy or dead astronauts have for me.
personally, i loved the second part the most and wished we had gotten more time with nicola. vandermeer is probably the only author i can think of that doesn't make me cringe at the use of second person pov, no hate to those that prefer it, i know it's subjective. but something about how he uses it, like he knows it has its place and time in a story, just makes it work so well.
the third part had me often thinking about eurydice and orpheus, though it's not a similar story being told here at all; there were just moments throughout that felt almost like it could have been that story.
in general, i just think the story would have been much stronger if it had stayed on the siblings and their connection. but again, that might be personal preference. the ending was good, it really was, and i think it works with the story for it to be more of a whimper than a bang. or maybe i'm just used to vandermeer's non-ending endings lmao
personally, i loved the second part the most and wished we had gotten more time with nicola. vandermeer is probably the only author i can think of that doesn't make me cringe at the use of second person pov, no hate to those that prefer it, i know it's subjective. but something about how he uses it, like he knows it has its place and time in a story, just makes it work so well.
the third part had me often thinking about eurydice and orpheus, though it's not a similar story being told here at all; there were just moments throughout that felt almost like it could have been that story.
in general, i just think the story would have been much stronger if it had stayed on the siblings and their connection. but again, that might be personal preference. the ending was good, it really was, and i think it works with the story for it to be more of a whimper than a bang. or maybe i'm just used to vandermeer's non-ending endings lmao
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Violence
scytheria's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
linnyb's review against another edition
Disturbing gore. Grotesque. Not my style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
laurareads87's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Veniss Underground is a classic in what is now known as New Weird, and this 20th anniversary edition includes additional stories set in the same world. VanderMeer describes it as “an unabashedly decadent, phantasmagorical novel,” and it includes themes — such as the implications of biotechnology — that also appear elsewhere in his work. Blending three character POVs and first, second, and third person, it is an ambitious book that mixes the illusory and the concrete in ways that blur the boundaries between them. It is almost entirely setting-driven: the plot is quite simple and straightforward and the character development somewhat sparse, but the descriptions of the scenes are impactful, evocative, and deeply disturbing. It is a book that gets under one’s skin and refuses to leave. This is an early work from VanderMeer — he notes in a brief essay here that he was still learning his craft at the time the initial ideas for this novel came to him — and is not as strong as some of his later work. This is decidedly not a book for everyone, but it is one I’d recommend to those into New Weird; it definitely has the beginnings of the style that can be recognized in his later work such as the Area X trilogy. I appreciated the additional stories for the most part, and the inclusion of Vandermeer’s thoughts on these works.
Content warnings: Graphic body horror throughout — this book is not for the squeamish. Violence, murder, body horror, gore, blood, vomit, suicide, death, torture, animal cruelty, animal death, medical content, medical trauma
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for providing an ARC in exchange for this review.
Content warnings: Graphic body horror throughout — this book is not for the squeamish. Violence, murder, body horror, gore, blood, vomit, suicide, death, torture, animal cruelty, animal death, medical content, medical trauma
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for providing an ARC in exchange for this review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I requested to review this book because I loved Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. That series was so atmospheric, filled with dread on every page, and one of those unusual trilogies where the second book is the best. I’m not really a sci-fi person, but I thought this book would be different, since I enjoyed the apocalyptic, ecological horror style of VanderMeer’s work in the past. But I hate to say it, but I did not like this one 😬
A lot of this book was either incomprehensible to me or contained content that I have a particularly hard time with. I struggle with body horror elements in books, and this one had such a heavy focus on medical content, with grotesque, gory descriptions of genetic engineering into “living arts” just had me skimming over large swaths of the story.
Also, I think this book was just too smart for me. There’s this exploration of language, narrative structure, and biblical references (I think?) that went way over my head, and not in a way that I could appreciate. I would say that reading the new foreword by Charles Yu helped lay out the strong points of this novel, and the different themes to pull out from it, and I did like that. I think reading this foreword is really required reading for those planning to pick up this book.
Overall, I think that this was a well-written book that was a case of just not for me. I think this book is still worth picking up if you like:
- Medical sci-fi
- Experiments with writing styles and different ways of communicating
- Futuristic, dystopian world-building
Thanks Penguin Randomhouse Canada for this gifted copy, I’m sorry I didn’t like this one more 🫣
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
sonja_mueller's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3,5 stars. The read of the main story was a intense experience and could have been 4,5 stars. I was first thrown off by the extreme suffering and violence until it clicked. It really is a story about hell and descend to even more gruesome levels of hell. It is extremely well written in my opinion and immersed me completely in the reading experience.
I was disappointed by the end though which went anticlimactic for me. And to me personally the Acknoledgements in which the backstory is explained made it even worse. Instead of being left with an impactful read the end and these commentary faded the experience out.
Heavy content warning for torture, animal torture, body horror, violence...
I was disappointed by the end though which went anticlimactic for me. And to me personally the Acknoledgements in which the backstory is explained made it even worse. Instead of being left with an impactful read the end and these commentary faded the experience out.
Heavy content warning for torture, animal torture, body horror, violence...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Torture, and Violence