A review by a_picara
The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville, Keanu Reeves

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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.