The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville, Keanu Reeves

3.4 AVERAGE

schung13's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
alexarn9393's profile picture

alexarn9393's review

4.0
challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

suzea's review against another edition

3.25
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

batesgconnor's review

4.0
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
Not the most amazing thing I read, but not the worst! Had a good time reading.

kdsterling's review

4.0
adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

a_picara's review against another edition

5.0
challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
This book is incredibly violent and gorgeous. The construction of the narrative is masterful. From sentence-level writing to the flow within chapters, to the arrangement of chapters against each other-- each piece builds and adds to the characters and plot. The narrative POV is deliberate. And this book avoids the typical pitfall of mentioning time (that the suspension of disbelief is broken when specific numbers are introduced) due to the scale of time being astronomical and unfathomable. The narrative manages to avoid 'deciding' on any specific historical or anthropological events by making things up and emphasizing that humans just don't know everything.

The text is ostensibly about mortality, but underneath that, it's about how we construct meaning from life, however long our lives may turn out.

And the plot is fun-- a blend of action-noir and illuminati-level secret society.

marystewart's review

3.0
adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

jonesam30's review against another edition

Didn’t like it or couldn’t get into it 
_melange_'s profile picture

_melange_'s review against another edition

4.0
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

reveredchicken's review against another edition

2.0
adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-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
 
So essentially a dude can't die and his brother is a pig. His sister tries to kill him and when she stops trying, the cult she leaves behind keeps going.
  I was expecting more somehow?