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A review by spentcello
The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville, Keanu Reeves
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.0
"Come," he heard himself say.
What was coming came.
And now what's coming is an extremely negative review.
When I saw this book had come out I was very hesitant, but unfortunately for me, I finally caved. It was truly awful. There were no redeeming features. I hated all the characters - they were half-baked and dull. The switching between the two authors was constantly jarring and made me groan inwardly each time it was a certain author's turn (spoilers, not China Miéville). The plot was non-sensical, bitsy and generic, with twists that were more boring than what was there before the twist. The end was unsatisfying and what felt like it should have been the climax point had much lower energy than the rest of the book. Overall, very VERY bad.
If I had to isolate one part that I hated the most about this book, it would have to be the writing 'style' (if you can call it that). For example:
The dead's shadows crawled away from his light. Not even the posthumous recalcitrance, angular elbow or jutting knee, remained to this coagulation, softened in its outlines as it was by secondary flaccidity and gravity, its edges blurred by that corrosive disguiser of particularities.
I reckon this book is a pretty good approximation of secondary flaccidity. Although he tries somewhat to match the style of what comes before, as soon as Miéville's sections start you feel as if you're reading a normal book again instead of some crap someone wrote trying to be edgy for a school assignment immediately after discovering the thesaurus. Perhaps there are reasons why the two authors' voices are quite so separate (Miéville wanting to distance himself, simplification of the writing process, etc.), but it makes for a terrible book. It's all broken and you spend so much time focusing on how half of it makes no sense and trying to figure out what is actually happening, rather than being able to engage with the story.
About halfway through I did have a breakthrough when I realised that it felt a lot like someone was trying to do some half-assed version of American Gods. A lot of the plot and themes are along similar lines and sometimes the style (not so much Miéville's, his just mostly feels like his own) reads like an attempt of recreating Gaiman's particular flavour of horror. I think I came to terms with the book more at that point and started to understand more of the plot and the way the book was broken up. But I still hated it.
I'm not one for stifling creativity and I do think people should try things outside of their main field of expertise, but... I think it would be wise and prudent to get some more unbiased opinions before deciding that you can not only write a book, but also match a highly successful author paragraph for paragraph. I'm somewhat disappointed in Miéville too for putting his name to this rubbish, but I've played crappy pop covers at weddings, and can appreciate the remuneration without debasing my other artistic endeavours.
What was coming came.
And now what's coming is an extremely negative review.
When I saw this book had come out I was very hesitant, but unfortunately for me, I finally caved. It was truly awful. There were no redeeming features. I hated all the characters - they were half-baked and dull. The switching between the two authors was constantly jarring and made me groan inwardly each time it was a certain author's turn (spoilers, not China Miéville). The plot was non-sensical, bitsy and generic, with twists that were more boring than what was there before the twist. The end was unsatisfying and what felt like it should have been the climax point had much lower energy than the rest of the book. Overall, very VERY bad.
If I had to isolate one part that I hated the most about this book, it would have to be the writing 'style' (if you can call it that). For example:
The dead's shadows crawled away from his light. Not even the posthumous recalcitrance, angular elbow or jutting knee, remained to this coagulation, softened in its outlines as it was by secondary flaccidity and gravity, its edges blurred by that corrosive disguiser of particularities.
I reckon this book is a pretty good approximation of secondary flaccidity. Although he tries somewhat to match the style of what comes before, as soon as Miéville's sections start you feel as if you're reading a normal book again instead of some crap someone wrote trying to be edgy for a school assignment immediately after discovering the thesaurus. Perhaps there are reasons why the two authors' voices are quite so separate (Miéville wanting to distance himself, simplification of the writing process, etc.), but it makes for a terrible book. It's all broken and you spend so much time focusing on how half of it makes no sense and trying to figure out what is actually happening, rather than being able to engage with the story.
About halfway through I did have a breakthrough when I realised that it felt a lot like someone was trying to do some half-assed version of American Gods. A lot of the plot and themes are along similar lines and sometimes the style (not so much Miéville's, his just mostly feels like his own) reads like an attempt of recreating Gaiman's particular flavour of horror. I think I came to terms with the book more at that point and started to understand more of the plot and the way the book was broken up. But I still hated it.
I'm not one for stifling creativity and I do think people should try things outside of their main field of expertise, but... I think it would be wise and prudent to get some more unbiased opinions before deciding that you can not only write a book, but also match a highly successful author paragraph for paragraph. I'm somewhat disappointed in Miéville too for putting his name to this rubbish, but I've played crappy pop covers at weddings, and can appreciate the remuneration without debasing my other artistic endeavours.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, and Torture
Minor: Car accident and Fire/Fire injury