It can't be weird just for the sake of bei"How do you know what questions to spend your time on, when every sliver of information, every history-shattering revelation he drops over vending-machine coffee or idly while you draw his blood, throws up its own infinite library of further questions?"

The Book of Elsewhere is about Unute. Or B. Both names are used interchangeably to refer to our protagonist. For the rest of this review I'm going to call him B, because it's shorter and I'm lazy. So anyway, in The Book of Elsewhere, the reader finds out that B is immortal. Woah! I mean, he has been killed before, but he always comes back after being birthed from an egg-thing. But the thing is, B is kinda over this whole being reborn again and again thing. "I don't want to die. What I want is mortality, and that's not the same thing." So there's this secret government agency thing that knows about B and want to help him gain mortality. Maybe. At least that's what they say. But what if people within the government are lying to B? Okay, so there's an immortal pig-like thing called a babirusa that has crossed paths with B over the millennia, and he thinks maybe piggy can help crack the case as to make him mortal. So poor piggy gets studied by the government. But then one dude from the government is all sad because his husband died, so he goes to a self help group. That seems kinda... off. Somehow? But then there's this kid who wants to be a stowaway on a ship, but he watches his stowaway buddy get beat up and kicked off by an evil guy, so he's afraid to make himself seen because he doesn't want to be beat up... or worse. But then a scarecrow brings him food and all is well. And then one of the special government guy says:

"I admit not see you this is a matter chance or make a sense of has would grateful help I don't I'm thinking clearly as I to think maybe I and came back and frightening to can help think you can stand against time is now help afraid."

Look. I like weird books. Chuck Palahniuk and Philip K Dick are two of my favorite authors. I mean, The City & the City isn't exactly normal, so I thought I knew what I was getting into with China Miéville and his writing style. But the weird needs to have a point. A purpose. It can't try too hard to be weird, because then the magic of the weirdness is ruined. It can't be weird just for the sake of being weird.

The Book of Elsewhere tried to hard and was weird for the sake of being weird.

Or the other possibility is that I just didn't get it. There's a non-zero chance that's what my problem was. But whether the book was trying to hard to be weird or if I didn't get it, the end results are the same: I didn't really dig this book.

I will admit I requested this ARC simply because Keanu Reeves' name is on it. I am not familiar with his BRZRKR comics and think if I had read them first I would have grasped this book a bit more. That being said, this is a very intense book that is full of action and a lot of imagery. This is definitely a book you need to pay attention to or you will get lost and confused. Overall, this was a good read, especially if you like books about warriors.

I loved the BRZRKR comics so this was an easy book to pick up. I loved the idea of a warrior thousands of years old. I never finished the comic series so I don't know how much different this was but I love the addition of the pig and their relationship. This is going to make a great movie or tv show eventually and I do hope Keanu plays B

Thanks a ton to Del Rey books and to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel to read in exchange for an honest review!

I really thought the concept of this novel sounded super cool: immortal super soldier doing super soldier things and a mysterious entity looking to end him, but the execution was severely lacking.

There were certainly elements of this story that were really cool and part of the novel were very interesting, but the bulk of the novel was confusing and weighed down with very dense and hard to understand prose that lost me quite a bit. I think if the word choices were different and the novel was not as hard to comprehend, this could have been a knockout.

I did ultimately enjoy the story, I just think the writing could have been better.

I am going to give this a 3 star for now, because I am really interested in this, but I find it too wordy for the reading mood I've been in lately. I like the story and am familiar with the ideas from comic book series, but I am finding myself losing track with how this is written. I will continue it later on when I have less other things going on.

Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

To start, I found it very pedantic. Even as someone who reads a lot and has a pretty decent vocabulary, I kept having to stop to google definitions of words, often to learn they were the archaic versions of words. So I felt like instead of enhancing the story, I just kept getting frustrated.

The book was also set so there’s this present storyline and interspersed are these vignette like stories describing the main character and also things that are related/adjacent to him, but instead of providing more color it felt to me like I was reading two different books (and styles of books) and I found it really hard to keep track of the plot. And if they called back to something I had a hard time remembering the original story just because the way it was written was not an easy to read book. Also, it made it really hard to stay engaged, I’d be reading storyline A and thinking how I would entirely watch the film version of Keanu as B/Unute, and just as I was getting invested the story would shift, I’d be lost and confused, and wouldn’t really be interested in reading any further.

Also, even sometimes in the A story line as well as the little vignettes, it was narrated in a way which was hard to follow without really closely going through it. It took me halfway through the book it’s because there are SO many run on sentences, which don’t get me wrong, I use a lot of run on sentences too, but I’m talking full paragraphs of run on sentences. For example, there was one paragraph that was 40 e-book lines long that was all one sentence. The structure of the book being like that made it really hard for me to read.

And honestly, the big reveal at the end, I read it multiple times and still don’t think I understood it.

First time reader of Keanu Reeves and China Mieville, this book was a trip! I loved every page.. this book was a page turner from page one. This will be a MUST buy for our library.

I really wanted to be one of the cool kids who “get” China Miéville’s style, and was intrigued with the partnership with Keanu Reeves, who has been able to get me out of my comfort zone with splendid movies. I wanted to love this adventure. But ultimately, I’m a fiction lover who needs to understand what’s going on, and I just didn’t. Violence, disjointed narrative and a world I can’t quite picture. Maybe if Keanu stars in the movie, I will become a fan. With the book, just not. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the advance readers copy. The Book of Elsewhere was published July 23, 2024.

Dark, mystery/thriller vibes in this weird scifi/fantasy that almost immediately brought scenes from other New Weird writers to mind with its heavy atmosphere and language. Esoteric cults; generations of families dealing god-like forces; secrets, scheming, spying, and betrayal among factions. Makes me want to dive back into some John Langan or Laird Barron.

I haven't read the BRZRKR comics, but I thought it a very cool and clever writing technique to use line breaks in a way that imitates the point by point action effect of dialogue spread across panels as in comics. And this book has definitely gotten me interested in checking the comics out.

Overall, The Book of Elsewhere is a cool, cinematic clash of various forces, with stories told across time and space, all surrounding this immortal man. It’s a bloody, philosophical, and touching tour heavy on metaphor and symbolism – eggs, teeth, the sources of life and death, what it means to be human (especially as an immortal who has brought so much death and pain through millennia).

I’d recommend this to the horror fan looking for something a little more slow-paced and thoughtful in between the faster, more action-packed titles.

Who would have ever suspected that these two would come together for a book collaboration? I have only read one Miéville book before, and obviously nothing by Keanu Reeves. This book was intriguing from the beginning, and it really paid off! I can't wait to see if there are more writing projects in the future!

The writing style of this work of science fiction is very unusual, and I think it would appeal to readers who prefer it that way. I have to admit, I couldn’t get my head around it. But for fans of esoteric plots with hard to describe characters, this one is written with you in mind. It is truly a mind-bender.

This was a very sore mark for me, I could not finish this book. I tried and I tried and I could not finish it. China Mievlle has never been an author I could get into. I tried for over 3 months and I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. I understood that it a it's a military and it deals with a super hero but it just seemed so obtuse and vague. I couldn't follow it and my interest waned every time I took a serious effort to try to read this book. There were a lot of attempts before I got to my dnf.

Unreadable. I love Keanu Reeves but this was not easy to follow at all. I was really excited about this title, but I feel like it suffers from the hype of the name its tied to and doesn't deliver the way that John Wick does.

Amazing. Easily one of the best books of the year. China mieville is one of my favorite writers, so that was an easy sell. I cannot wait to add this one to my recommendation shelf.

Thank you penguin random house for the galley

I jumped at the chance to read this book by two very well known names, Keanu Reeves and China Mieville. The premises of "The Book of Elsewhere" were engaging and interesting. The action and a desire to know what happens next kept me coming back to this book until I finished it in a couple of days. Almost anything I could say about the plot would feel like a spoiler, so let me assure the reader that this book offers a lot of action, a lot of blood, a lot of questions and detective work, fun high-tech and super-(meta?)-science, a very broad stage, some philosophy, and enough plot twists to keep things quite interesting. This would make an excellent movie, especially if it starred by Keanu Reeves.

I thank Keanu Reeves, China Mieville, and Del Rey for kindly providing a temporary electronic review copy of this novel.

Strange, so so strange. I think what I can say with absolute certainty is, this will definitely not be for everyone. Probably won't even be for most, and I'm saying that fully aware this truly wasn't for me.

I'll start by saying I had no idea this was based on Keanu's comic series and I think I'd enjoy this story told in that format so much more.

The plot itself is really interesting; an 80,000 year old man who can't die, is haunted by a man-pig, and eventually works for a secret military. The way the plot meanders though is incredibly odd at times. It almost feels like a stream of consciousness type of voice, which makes the way I read it on my head feel rushed and quick, if that makes any sense. I was too intrigued to NOT finish, but over all I think I'm not the target audience here.

This was definitely not for me. I had no idea who the characters were or what they were doing or why I should care. I could not follow the story at all. I feel like this was not designed for me. To be fair I never read any of the associated comic books or any previous books by China Mieville so maybe I am missing out on the plot. I am sure this is better suited for someone else.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Ballantine as well as the authors for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine #TheBookofElsewhere #KeanuReeves #ChinaMieville

Title: The Book of Elsewhere
Authors: Keanu Reeves and China Mieville
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine.
Publication Date: July 23, 2024

I tried. I really did. This one was difficult for me though.

“B” is the tool of the Gods. He’s a warrior who can’t be killed. He’s thousands of years old. He’s not happy. Now, in the present day, a US black-ops group is willing to try to grant B’s wish to end his immortality. B has to help them in return. When a mortal soldier comes back to life, everyone, including B, is shocked. Is this a good thing?

Keanu Reeves is a fine actor and a great person. I was excited to read his debut novel along with China Mieville, even though I’m not a big fan of the fantasy or the sci fi genres. The writing wasn’t bad at all! It was very unique. The characters were extremely interesting and well established. When “B” dies, he’s hatched from an egg in order to be reborn. That was very imaginative. Also, the authors are clearly genius level smart. I wish I had liked it more. Maybe I’m just not well read enough.

It just didn’t work for me. The general voice felt choppy and very uneven for me. I also felt there were too many characters. The whole thing felt very convoluted. I feel bad but I just couldn’t finish this one.

All in all, this book definitely has its audience. It’s not an easy or a quick read.
It’s super creative and highly intelligent. It just wasn’t for me.

Ok, just so this is upfront.... I have been a Keanu fan for a VERY long time. There, I said it. Let it shade my review as you want. This is a very odd book, you know, like the authors. "B" is supposed to have lived for thousands of years. Now, all he wants to do is die. He has tried himself, but he always comes back. Now, a U.S. black-ops team has promised to help him. Will B & the black-ops team be able to finish their joint mission?

An ancient warrior. 80,000 years old. Countless cycles of death and rebirth. He's tired, and searches for mortality. A U.S. Black-Ops team promises they can help each other, but when mortals begin impossibly coming back to life, things quickly get out of hand.

Upon starting this book, I didn't realize how heavily it was based on the comics, so it took me a while to get into the story and understand what was happening. I also didn't realize that Keanu Reeves didn't actually write any of it, though it's based on his ideas. At times this was obvious, feeling like someone telling someone else's story. At other times, the writing was brilliant, poetic, propulsive. The chapters written in 2nd person as well as those from other perspectives throughout B's past were the most beautifully written in my opinion. However, at some points it seemed like the book was written with a thesaurus in hand. I remember having to look up the definition of seven words in one of the sentences, which is a lot! The story kept me reading and intrigued, even though it was a little difficult to read at times. I think I'm just not the target audience!