This book was really not for me. I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis but the writing was just too confusing to follow. It ended up feeling like more work than it was worth to read this book.

Look, I wanted to like this. I *really* wanted to like this. I went and read some of the original BRZRKR comics (graphic novels? Idek) to get some backstory to help me understand it better, and to generally fuel the hype that was already building for this book.

It didn’t hit the mark. In fact, it keeled over about 20 km from the mark.

Maybe I’m just not in the right headspace or place in life to properly enjoy it? I’m hoping that’s the case anyway. Maybe someday, at a different point in life, I’ll pick it up again and have a newfound appreciation for it. But now is not that time.

My current main issue with is that it’s just written so… oddly. I want to say badly, my every instinct wants to call this bad writing, but I know that people rave over Mieville’s writing. Maybe this was just a bad stepping-on point for his style, or perhaps it’s an acquired taste? I will refrain from calling it bad writing for now, until I have more reference for that opinion to fully form. Cormac McCarthy is one of my favourite writers *because* of his weird writing style. Perhaps others feel this way about Mieville? Perhaps then I am just one of the ones who finds it too strange to get immersed in.

At this point in time, my standing opinion is that this is a huge miss. Give the comics a try if you’re interested in the story or concept, it was a fun ride. Sadly this book was just so painfully boring, flat, and one-dimensional. To be fair and quite honest, I can’t say I even really knew what was going on half the time.

The Book of Elsewhere is a collaborative work of speculative fiction between Keanu Reeves and China Mieville (I would call it fantasy but weird fiction which Mievielle is known for also works). I am not familiar with Reeves' work on the BRZRKR comic book series but have read and enjoyed many of Mieville's works including Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Un Lun Dun and Embassytown (my favourite work by him). Noting Mieville's long hiatus from fiction, I was excited to read this novel and curious what the collaboration would entail.

Like most of Mieville's works, the writing was very otherworldly and Weird. The story itself felt very much like that from a superhero film or comic book. This meant a focus on scenes indicating an epic scope (but in prose form) and characters as motifs for certain wider worldbuilding concepts. I am used to the "what the hell am I reading" feeling while reading Mieville's novels or indeed many other weird fiction writers but the difference here is it didn't really come together for me. I am not sure if it would have made more sense if I was familiar with the BRZRKR comic book series since Reeves is listed first in this collaboration. But as a standalone work of fiction, it read as lot of cool vibes without meaningful theming.

I am not sure what to make of this one or how to recommend it. It was well-written, it was disorienting, it was weird. It was definitely experimental. If that sounds interesting, I recommend giving it a go.

But ultimately, I think I was hoping for some more classic Mieville Weird Fiction and so this Reeves-Mieville comic book in prose format novel didn't quite live up to my expectations. An engaging read but sadly not a memorable one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was a little too military , and sci Fi for me. I couldn't get into it. Read the first few chapters and have up sadly

This was everything I had hoped it would be. Enthralling, thrilling, insane and magical sum it up nicely. I expected nothing else from the GOAT that is Keanu Reeves.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with a ghost writer attached to a movie stars book. It could have been very bad, like some other ones out there but this was a surprise.
I know it’s not for everyone but I love the deep world building dialogue that doesn’t hold your hand and tell you what is happening right away. I love being lost and bewildered where a story is going and picking up all the pieces on the way. It reminded my first time reading William Gibson and being thrown into a world where you have to accept you are just along for the ride.
There are times where the dialogue gets a little circly and muddled but there also times where the prose are beautiful and long winded in a good way.
This is unique and fun sci-fi.
Thank you netgalley for this arc review copy and a chance to read this adventure.

I went into this book completely blind - at the time I had not even read a blurb. But the combination of authors intrigued me and the writing style pulled me in immediately. B, the immortal warrior, wanting the ability to die (but not death), the black ops team "helping" him in order to carry out their own research, and the strange events that follow them, all combined into a story that was confusing at times but still interesting. While the format took some getting used to and I never did have every character and timeline clear in my mind, it felt intentionally blurry. As if that helped to give the reader a sense of what living eighty thousand years might feel like. Recommended for readers that appreciate mind-bending and do not mind violence/gore (military + Berserker)

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for my review copy.

I wanted to read something different, not just a break from my usual genre but truly something unique...well, The Book of Elsewhere definitely fits that request. An immortal wanting mortality, a clandestine government team who are willing to help, with motives of their own and a pig-deer are the characters in a story that I'm not sure that I completely understand or am even meant to understand. Reading this felt a bit like looking at hypnotic circles, it kind of twists my head but I can't look away.. I don't know if this is indicative of China Miéville's style since I have had Perdido Street Station on my "To Read" list for a while now, but for me this story was definitely different from anything I've read before. I'd suggest it for anyone looking for a one-of-a-kind sci-fi singularity or anyone curious what a collaboration between the two authors would produce.
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

B. An enigma. A myth. He who cannot die. But he wishes to have that ability.

And a black ops part of the U.S. government says they will help him do that in exchange for his assistance with certain tasks and experiments. But then there’s a dead soldier who comes back to life. Could there be another with powers similar to B?

I’ve read and enjoyed China Mieville before, so, in this case, adding Keanu Reeves to the mix was not an improvement. Not to say that it was a bad book, it wasn’t, and I quite enjoyed some aspects of it (glimpses of what B’s life span really entailed, the characters of Diana and Keever), but it he villains were a bit too comic bookish for my taste and I’m not entirely sure I understood everything that happened in the final fifteen pages of the book.

Anyway, if it seems like it would appeal to you, give it a try.