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jaybatson 's review for:
The Book of Elsewhere
by China Miéville, Keanu Reeves
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a fun book. While in some ways it seems fairly unremarkable - it's a combination of a treasure-hunt, an action novel with goo & bad guys, good guys who might not be so good, and a man-enhanced-by-machine set in the molecular / silicon era - it's the merger & integration of all these types of book that creates an excellent skeleton for gripping writing.
I blew through this book pretty quickly (and then promptly forgot to write my review (which I'm supposed to as an ARC reader)), so I had to skim it again to refresh my recollection. And in doing so, recalled the fun writing. The characters are nicely-developed, individual, flawed yet deserving of some respect if not affection. There are even surprises in the middle of the development of a character: Are they who you thought they were - or...? The story moves at a brisk pace, never leaving you bored, waiting for the next thing to happen.
Some of the story is set in Boston; and as resident there, I always have fun with those bits. it was nice to see a few passing references to things that we locals like about the town. My guess is that the author went to school here. But those were pretty rare, and there weren't *quite* enough of them to really think the city is part of the story; it could have been set anywhere.
Interesting subtle bits of writing points the fact that the author is a medical / science practitioner, because it uses ideas / language a practitioner might (only) know. Examples: One of the characters is ravenously hungry right after a body-impact that would unexpectedly demand nutrition. Or, clever interactions between the tech & the characters, such as "This body needs cinnamon", said by the tech.) Or "The purine & pyrimidine rings of the tetravalent silicon from the orange-sack-component must be intercalating with the human carbon-based nucleic acid as the subject's tissues regenerate." Insider-stuff, that.
There are also fun dialog / ideas, e.g. the components being colors, and having genders. Or, the title of the book referring to an ancient concept (Nephilim), which likely doesn't mean what you *think* it means. (Spoiler: Heroes of old.)
It isn't one of those books that asks super-deep philosophical questions, though it does raise the issue of medical ethics: How much foundation should an experimenter / researcher into new bio / molecular tech move into human trials, and who makes that decision?
In the end, though, the story leads to "Who gets to control superman?" And because of this, it misses being a five-star review for me (according to my criteria below) because in the end, there's a big reliance on fight scenes when that question is being addressed. I like the more cerebral, or subtle answers to hard questions. Now to be sure, four-stars is what I call a really-well-done book, that I enjoyed, which I'm happy to write a positive review about because it was a good time, but which doesn't rise to the level of "best book in several years", or "I've got to turn around and read it again just to get everything out of it that's in there."
Nevertheless, good book. Worth your read. My rating system:
- Five stars is when you read a book to the end, put it down, take a deep breath, pick it up and start reading it all over again - or you would if you weren't so anxious to read the next book in a multi-book series. Or, it's simply really good.
- Four stars is when you tell yourself : ”This is good, this is well-written, this is full of interesting ideas/characters/plot points”, but you know you will never read it again.
- Three stars is when you read it to the end, put it down and proceed to forget all about it in the next instant.
- Two stars when it's so bad that it makes you laugh, or sigh, and want to write a review, but you can't remember the name of the book or dislike it so much that you don't.
- One star when you can't read past chapter 3, even as penance for your sins.
Disclosure: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I blew through this book pretty quickly (and then promptly forgot to write my review (which I'm supposed to as an ARC reader)), so I had to skim it again to refresh my recollection. And in doing so, recalled the fun writing. The characters are nicely-developed, individual, flawed yet deserving of some respect if not affection. There are even surprises in the middle of the development of a character: Are they who you thought they were - or...? The story moves at a brisk pace, never leaving you bored, waiting for the next thing to happen.
Some of the story is set in Boston; and as resident there, I always have fun with those bits. it was nice to see a few passing references to things that we locals like about the town. My guess is that the author went to school here. But those were pretty rare, and there weren't *quite* enough of them to really think the city is part of the story; it could have been set anywhere.
Interesting subtle bits of writing points the fact that the author is a medical / science practitioner, because it uses ideas / language a practitioner might (only) know. Examples: One of the characters is ravenously hungry right after a body-impact that would unexpectedly demand nutrition. Or, clever interactions between the tech & the characters, such as "This body needs cinnamon", said by the tech.) Or "The purine & pyrimidine rings of the tetravalent silicon from the orange-sack-component must be intercalating with the human carbon-based nucleic acid as the subject's tissues regenerate." Insider-stuff, that.
There are also fun dialog / ideas, e.g. the components being colors, and having genders. Or, the title of the book referring to an ancient concept (Nephilim), which likely doesn't mean what you *think* it means. (Spoiler: Heroes of old.)
It isn't one of those books that asks super-deep philosophical questions, though it does raise the issue of medical ethics: How much foundation should an experimenter / researcher into new bio / molecular tech move into human trials, and who makes that decision?
In the end, though, the story leads to "Who gets to control superman?" And because of this, it misses being a five-star review for me (according to my criteria below) because in the end, there's a big reliance on fight scenes when that question is being addressed. I like the more cerebral, or subtle answers to hard questions. Now to be sure, four-stars is what I call a really-well-done book, that I enjoyed, which I'm happy to write a positive review about because it was a good time, but which doesn't rise to the level of "best book in several years", or "I've got to turn around and read it again just to get everything out of it that's in there."
Nevertheless, good book. Worth your read. My rating system:
- Five stars is when you read a book to the end, put it down, take a deep breath, pick it up and start reading it all over again - or you would if you weren't so anxious to read the next book in a multi-book series. Or, it's simply really good.
- Four stars is when you tell yourself : ”This is good, this is well-written, this is full of interesting ideas/characters/plot points”, but you know you will never read it again.
- Three stars is when you read it to the end, put it down and proceed to forget all about it in the next instant.
- Two stars when it's so bad that it makes you laugh, or sigh, and want to write a review, but you can't remember the name of the book or dislike it so much that you don't.
- One star when you can't read past chapter 3, even as penance for your sins.
Disclosure: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.