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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville, Keanu Reeves
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
May do a video review of this one in the future...
I am happy to say I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.
And that's mostly because The Book of Elsewhere was, clearly, principally written by China Miéville, and not Keanu Reeves... no offence to him, but I wasn't actually interested in reading his stuff. No: I wanted more of Miéville's fiction, and that's mostly what I got – thankfully!
The base premise of an immortal warrior, named Unute, or B (and born circa 80000 BCE), working with the US military to discover just why he cannot die, or rather stay dead, must have come from Mr Reeves, because it definitely does not fit the pattern of what Mr Miéville usually plays with in his fiction writing. But the prose, the twisty and thoughtful story-telling; the mixing of playful- and somber-ness in the story's tone; the quality of its theming on the meaning of life, death and the unrelenting passage of time, and the weirdness of the whole 'babirusa' thing... all of that was wonderfully Miévillian!
Unute felt decently convincing as an insanely old, immortal character. His suggestion Humanity had actually seen many grand civilisations rise and fall in its very ancient history was a cheeky and amusing nod to conspiracies regarding deep time. And I found it surprisingly pleasant to realise I was somewhat reminded of... Jeff Vandermeer's Authority while reading this book.
So... not my favourite Miéville by any means, but still worth my time. 🙂
I am happy to say I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.
And that's mostly because The Book of Elsewhere was, clearly, principally written by China Miéville, and not Keanu Reeves... no offence to him, but I wasn't actually interested in reading his stuff. No: I wanted more of Miéville's fiction, and that's mostly what I got – thankfully!
The base premise of an immortal warrior, named Unute, or B (and born circa 80000 BCE), working with the US military to discover just why he cannot die, or rather stay dead, must have come from Mr Reeves, because it definitely does not fit the pattern of what Mr Miéville usually plays with in his fiction writing. But the prose, the twisty and thoughtful story-telling; the mixing of playful- and somber-ness in the story's tone; the quality of its theming on the meaning of life, death and the unrelenting passage of time, and the weirdness of the whole 'babirusa' thing... all of that was wonderfully Miévillian!
Unute felt decently convincing as an insanely old, immortal character. His suggestion Humanity had actually seen many grand civilisations rise and fall in its very ancient history was a cheeky and amusing nod to conspiracies regarding deep time. And I found it surprisingly pleasant to realise I was somewhat reminded of... Jeff Vandermeer's Authority while reading this book.
So... not my favourite Miéville by any means, but still worth my time. 🙂