The Book of Elsewhere

BRZRKR

by Keanu Reeves, China Miéville

She said, We needed a tool. So I asked the gods.

There have always been whispers. Legends. The warrior who cannot be killed. Who’s seen a thousand civilizations rise and fall. He has had many names: Unute, Child of Lightning, Death himself. These days, he’s known simply as “B.”

And he wants to be able to die.

In the present day, a U.S. black-ops group has promised him they can help with that. And all he needs to do is help them in return. But when an all-too-mortal soldier comes back to life, the impossible event ultimately points toward a force even more mysterious than B himself. One at least as strong. And one with a plan all its own.

A mind-blowing epic of ancient powers, modern war, and an outcast who cannot die. Combines Miéville’s singular style and creativity with Reeves’s haunting and soul-stirring narrative, unlike anything these two genre-bending pioneers have created before, inspired by the world of the BRZRKR comic books.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Audiobook, Thriller, Science Fiction Fantasy

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 23, 2024

About the author

Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). He had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and he reprised his role in its sequels. He gained praise for playing a hustler in the independent drama My Own Private Idaho (1991) and established himself as an action hero with leading roles in Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994).

Following several box office failures, Reeves's performance in the horror film The Devil's Advocate (1997) was well received. Greater stardom came for playing Neo in the science fiction series The Matrix, beginning in 1999. He played John Constantine in Constantine (2005) and starred in the romantic drama The Lake House (2006), the science fiction thriller The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and the crime thriller Street Kings (2008). Following another commercially down period, Reeves made a successful comeback by playing the titular assassin in the John Wick film series, beginning in 2014.

In addition to acting, Reeves has directed the film Man of Tai Chi (2013). He has played bass guitar for the band Dogstar and pursued other endeavours such as writing and philanthropy.

Reviews

[Kristina]

Couldn’t do it. DNF 20%

🫡 to anyone who finished this. I hear it gets better but I do not care enough to continue.

This is overwritten and flat. I couldn’t make it far enough to see if it’s actually ‘cerebral’ as some reviewers say, or if it’s more likely just try hard and pretentious.

Reading shouldn’t be an effort in proving how much smarter you are than your reader. It should be an invitation to share an experience and immerse the reader within it. Using odd descriptors, ten dollar words and third person present tense pov makes me think I’m reading a movie script or a story outline. I’m so detached, confused and also bored right now.



















*************
Me getting approved for this ARC is the closest I’ve ever gotten to my teen fantasy of Keanu begging me to marry him.

I will Keanu, I willllll!


(Ok I’ll stop being cringe now)



***********

Keanu Reeves wrote a sci-fi book? Yes I will be reading this.

[Ashley]

when Keanu gets a ghostwriter, he *gets a ghostwriter*

[luv2read]

I couldn't resist the chance to dive into Keanu Reeves' writing. Who wouldn't be curious, right? But, I have to admit, I couldn't finish it. I made it halfway through before realizing the topic just wasn't my cup of tea. So, I can't really rate it, but hey, at least I tried!

[PamG · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you enjoy unusual and very different military thrillers and science fiction, then The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Mieville may be the book you’ve been wanting to read. Legends tell of a warrior who can’t be killed. In this story, he’s known as “B” and he wants more than to kill and to die and come back to life repeatedly. When a dead soldier comes back to life, B wonders if there’s another with similar abilities to his own.

While I enjoy both military thrillers and science fiction, this one didn’t quite live up to its potential. The authors have written a novel that is stylistically different. However, it didn’t quite work for me. The writing style felt uneven and unfocused at times which adversely affected the flow and made it harder to follow. It’s non-linear and contains graphic violence at times. Unfortunately, only three of the many characters have any depth to them. Despite this, it has a great premise and is thought-provoking. The prose is also poetic at times and the worldbuilding is excellent.

Overall, this is a unique and fascinating novel that captures the imagination.

Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine – Del Rey, Keanu Reeves, and China Mieville provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently expected to be July 23, 2024.
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My 2.8 rounded to 3 stars review is coming soon.

[Flo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is this book unreadable? It is written like a script. A man does one thing, another man does something else. I can't follow who man 1 is in a room full of other men, never mind what man 1 does to man 10.

Dnf at 29% - Has the potential of becoming a cult book.

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keanu making his fanboy dreams come true: He got one of his favorite authors, sci-fi veteran China Miéville, to write out his ideas for a novel version of the BRZRKR comic series (of course currently in development for Netflix, starring Mr. Reeves himself). The main, Keanu-looking character is Unute, a 80,000-year-old man unable to die because he was born out of blue lightning (don't ask). His wounds heal themselves, and when his body is harmed beyond repair, he just hetches from a new egg, somewhere in the world (because, sure). But as life is given value by death, Unute longs for the potential to die, and he wants to achieve his goal by cooperating with a military operation doing research on him to craft the perfect soldier: An undying, super-humanly strong fighting machine (hello, toxic masculinity). And oh, Unute is also referred to as B, because he tends to go berserk à la Hulk, but ultra-violent AND cute, because: Keanu.

Sooooo, I will not pretend that I know anything about the well-regarded works of Miéville, about his ideas around "weird fiction" (fyi: Unute is haunted by an undying pig that holds a grudge against him, e.g.) or sci-fi in general. I also won't pretend that I will not be streaming the hell out of every new Keanu movie, because: Keanu. But: This is a kind of literature I struggle with, because all the supernatural stuff just bores me - take this with a grain of salt, I also hate Dune, super hero movies, and video games.

What I appreciate though is that Miéville has not taken the easy route, but aimed for a complex composition, starting out with a quote by Rainer Maria Rilke and then constantly jumping back to Unute's adventures in different time frames - these are partly even rendered in the second person singular, and they feature the likes of Freud and Marx. There are also very dark clues to themes in Reeves' life: The whole thing seems to be set in Lebanon (where Keanu was born), Unute only has stillborn children (as happened to Keanu and his girlfriend, who later tragically died herself), and death and grief play a major role, appearing as structuring forces in life. Also, the cults that worship Unute and the pig seem like parodies of the celebrity experience, as well as religion. There is a philosophical level here, but amped up with lots of genre-typical (I suppose) quirks. The whole plot seems rather convoluted to me, but then again, I'm aware that I've raved about much more complicated experimental novels in the past, and that this is just not my genre.

I'm certainly not the expert to rate this, but I found it interesting to tackle the ideas in here, even if overall, I struggled to get through. If you want to hear from Keanu himself, check out his interview with the fantastic Stephen Colbert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz8J6...

You can also listen to our discussion about the book on the podcast (in German; Das Buch Anderswo): https://papierstaupodcast.de/podcast/...

[Books_the_Magical_Fruit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is highly cerebral. It is near genius level science fiction. Actually, weird fiction, the concept of which I have learned about recently, is an apt name for it. I am still reeling, after finally finishing it only a moment ago. This is not a quick read, nor should you attempt to speed-read it.

This has garnered and will continue to garner very mixed reviews. Many people will not make it to the finale, and it’s with good reason. This story is extremely disjointed. The storylines switch abruptly, over and over, and oftentimes you will not know who or what or even WHEN. You will need to pay close attention to all of these seemingly unrelated events, of which there are a veritable boatload. Every little thing matters.

There is a character in here that would scream Keanu Reeves to me even if I didn’t know the book’s authors or background. It’s quintessential Keanu, of his “DO NOT RILE ME UP, FOR I WILL END YOU” acting days, which will probably continue on and make him more and more millions of dollars (well-deserved, I say—the man is amazingly kind and generous, despite numerous personal tragedies).

So who or what is “B”, you ask? Nobody knows, not even B himself, even after living and dying for millennia. What would you do with seeming immortality? Nothing would surprise or shock you, anymore. You’ve already seen it all. You’ve had the time to devote to the learning of all subjects and languages, known and unknown to the human race. Life must be incredibly boring.

And then.

Something new, to you. Something different.

Someone who was absolutely, 100% deceased comes back to life. And you realize that maybe, just maybe…you’re not alone.


If any of this piques your interest, look for a copy this July, and stick it out to the end. It’s worth it.

4.25 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine/Del Rey for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

And now I must away, for to find and devour the BRZRKR comics that inspired this tale!

[ivanareadsalot]

I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

DNF @ 26%

Unfortunately this book was simply not for me. I REALLY wanted to love this because Keanu, but this narrative bordered on incomprehensible. i may try this again someday in the future, but for now there's just no joy here, and i refuse to spend any more of my time in that energy.

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PRE-READ:

OMG OMG OMG
i don't know what dafuq this is but i think i might cry FROM WANTING 😭

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay... here goes... I've been putting this off for a while now... just gotta sit down and write it and move on with my life. Let me start by saying I know I'm not the right person to review this novel. I'm not what you'd call the target audience here. I read it because it was my cousin's pick (he has to read my sad, depressing shit, and I read his... well, this). So, am I qualified as a science fiction expert, or someone who has read the BRZRKR series? No, not in the least! But am I going to review it anyway? Yes! I can't say I hated it, but I can say I strongly disliked it. Maybe it was over my head, maybe I expected something different and less cerebral, maybe it was overwritten and pretentious, maybe people only read it because it has Keanu's name on it, maybe I should read the rest of the BRZRKR series and then make an assessment, maybe the book sucked, maybe it was amazing and I didn't get it, maybe I don't know anything and you shouldn't be listening to my opinion about books in the slightest. Miéville didn't need 352 pages to prove he was smarter than me; this book could have been way better had he dumbed it down a little.

[Emily B · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I was a bit worried when I read the prologue as I found it hard to take in. It was not an easy read and I'm still not 100% sure how it all fit together. However, I did end up enjoying the book and found the concept fascinating and refreshing.

[Maddie Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 4⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 3⭐️
Themes: 5⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 4⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 4.25⭐️

Those of us who know Keanu Reeves from his artistic movies will be stoked for this collaborative fiction with China Mieville. I went in with high hopes that this would deliver an original, compelling, and intellectually and emotionally evocative narrative. My hopes were not in vain.

Because this book is so stylistically different, it's tough to review following my normal formula of plot, characters, and setting. Instead, I want to talk about how immersive and trippy it was to read the three branches of the narrative. The first branch is the present: a futuristic setting where B, the main character, is over 80,000 years old, and part of a military special force. This part of the story is told in a traditional format, in third-person past tense. The second branch of the story is specific flashbacks of B's experiences, but these are told in second-person narrative. And finally, some of my favorite pieces of the story are delivered as first-person memoirs from individuals who had interactions with B. Each of these branches is given its own tone and had me reading like I was piecing together a mystery as I gathered the threads that wove the tale.

Specifically, the first-person memoirs read like short stories. The character voices were so strong, and the subplots in these chapters had their own satisfying and poignant arcs. The language was beautiful, they were emotionally evocative, and they helped to develop B as a layered, tragic, and complex character.

The second-person flashbacks are the most creatively bold aspects of the narrative, and they help to convey the bizarre and alien experiences B has lived. Again, it helped to flesh out this singular character and reveal his innermost longings and pain.

The artistic delivery worked to make me care about a character, that otherwise feels so alien, he could be tough to relate to or care about.

In the meantime, this plot moves like a horror mystery, as we try to understand how weird instances and coincidences are related and discover that B is a target. It's not clear whether he should be a target or not. It's also not clear what he represents symbolically. That exploration is at the heart of this story. If B represents Death, is he evil? Can life thrive while Death is incarnate, invincible, and eternal? This story explores the paradox of wanting to kill Death itself, the need humans have for death and endings, and the terror they feel at not being in control. It explores rebirth, the phoenix process, the longing for change, and the role death plays in the human ability to experience life, how eternity is its own entropy unless change and connection are present. This book achingly conveys a desperation for connection, for kin. It does all of this on a sometimes bizarre landscape.

Ultimately, the book worked for me. I don't think it will be for everyone, as it is more artistic and existential in nature, and deals with themes that are quite mysterious at their core. If you want to engage with the unseen mysteries of life, if you want to feel things deeply, and engage in hypotheticals that are at once deeply human but also weird and bizarre, this will be a rich and memorable ride. I think it marks a successful and beautiful partnership by two experimental and creative artists, who are bravely original and show exquisite literary range.

Note: I was compensated for an honest review of this book on another platform. This written review is not sponsored and I am posting it of my own volition.

[Liene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much like Perdido Street Station, this book will not be everyone’s cup of tea - the extremes of adoration and disdain on display in the reviews would seem to support this assertion.
This book is scattered, disjointed, narratively “choppy” not unlike American Gods - another book that rubs many the wrong way. But, unlike other books that attempt this sort of choppy and contemplative exploration of ideas through strange and speculative stories, and ultimately end up feeling shallow and poorly conceived (looking at you, Library at Mount Char), Book of Elsewhere offers the reader a great deal to chew on, and does, in fact, seem to “have a point”.
One of my favorite moments in this book is a moment that is fairly unremarkable and certainly not pivotal or attention-grabbing, but it was the moment that my brain went “oh, these guys get it” - B is using a record player, and another character makes a snarky comment about not taking him for a hipster, but B does not defend vinyl as being a superior listening experience. He explains that what appeals to him is the ritual of it. He acknowledges that newer technology is certainly more convenient and would save time, but why would he, an immortal being, be concerned with saving time? To him, the fact that it takes longer, takes up more of his inexhaustible supply of time, is exactly why he prefers it.
THIS is how you write immortal and inhuman characters.
I finished it and immediately wanted to start from the beginning again so I could take in all the details I missed the first time through, because I was just trying to piece together what this whole thing was about.
I understand why many do not seem to be enjoying this but, for me, this is exactly why I read speculative fiction, this is what I know it can do, but so rarely find it does.

[Read By Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to impulse give this three stars. I think because I like both authors - or rather, China Mieville, who wrote it, and Keanu Reeves, who created the character.

But at the end of this book, I realized I didn't have an emotion during this entire book besides boredom and occasional annoyance. Not deep annoyance, just like....the kind of annoyance you get when you're talking to someone you find mildly pretentious. You don't hate them, you just mostly want them to stop talking about James Joyce or whatever.

And unfortunately so much of this book is just heaps and heaps of dialogue where one or both parties are being pretentious, taking themselves and this story very seriously. And the story is inherently silly, and maybe China has a sense of humor about it, but I didn't get much of that in the book itself. There's a pig that has been chasing this immortal dude for like 80,000 years. Sometimes it kills him, sometimes he kills it, but then they are both reborn, and the cycle repeats.

Also there's Sigmund Freud and some other random stuff.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words I didn't think I'd use in this review of "The Book of Elsewhere" by Keanu Reeves and China Mieville:

1) "Profound"--- Strangely enough, a book based on a graphic novel series about an immortal warrior who spends centuries violently killing hordes of people is actually far less violent than one would expect, and it is far more deep than it should be. I suppose a warrior that can't die and has 8,000 + years to contemplate his existence has lots of time to dive deep into his inner self.

2) "Spiritual"---When death is unattainable, and when everyone that one becomes attached to and loves dies at some point, one can't help wondering what life is even about. This entire book is a contemplation of life and death, what awaits us in an afterlife, and what any of this really means. In that sense, it may be one of the most spiritual books I've read in a while.

3) "Beautiful"---Having never read a book by Mieville, I don't know if it's just his prose stylings, but I found this book to have some of the most beautiful writing I've encountered in a science fiction/fantasy novel. Much of it may be Reeves's contribution as well. Regardless, this book is absolutely lyrical at times. Of course, if one does not like stream-of-consciousness free verse, this may not be your cup of tea.

[Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A disappointingly tough start, but I did end up really enjoying it.

The story, based on the graphic novel, BRZRKR, follows B/Unute - a man who cannot die. As a consequence, he's lived eons and is now being utilised by the military as something of a killing machine, and in return he's working with a doctor to try and discover more about who/what/WHY he is.

Now, the writing is immediately overblown. I've never read anything by China Mieville so this has put me off reading anything further; every sentence is work to read, using multiple words when one would suffice. I found it such a drag to read at the start, which was really disappointing because I've been hanging out for this book since it was announced.

Once I was about one hundred or so pages in, however, the story took over to a point where I noticed the writing less. There's a lot that's similar to the graphic novel, but there's an entirely separate story here, too, so fans of the graphic novel will find themselves learning more and appreciating the extra depth.

There's a great balance of action, story, and horror. Some perfectly creepy moments, and great gory scenes. Some softer moments are driven by character development, and it's fascinating trying to understand B and what he's been through and feeling as a consequence.

The writing plays with viewpoints and styles, with some parts told in second person, which was a little weird but something I adapted to okay eventually. It's a little jarring - especially with the convoluted writing style - but it does add an extra flavour to the story.

I think ultimately this was always going to be a fantastic, fun, hectic story, but the writing of it was too pretentious to allow the reader in fully. I can see that they've gone for different to make it more memorable; to make it stand out more and be more unique. Personally, I found it too much at the start but did enjoy it by the end.

I like that it was a little different, but being so different so soon will alienate a lot of readers, I feel, so it won't be everyone's cup of tea. I think fans of the graphic novel will eventually appreciate it if they persevere, but those unfamiliar with the story may discard it fairly quickly unless this particular writing style is something they enjoy.

For my part, the strangeness and depth of the story was enough to make me happy, and so I put up with, and eventually enjoyed, the writing.

[Ruxandra Grrr [in a slump :(((((] · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brain was maybe not having it in the moment, but now that I finished the book a few days ago I can say I was very much into it. And the book club discussion was illuminating and helped me process everything.

But first, I had to watch a million interviews with China and Keanu and coo over them basically, cause they have the sweetest dynamic. I just really love seeing two very hot men (we did discuss the hotness in book club and most people were into China, some were into their dynamic, I am into both of them *and* their dynamic, lol) in very different ways be mutually tender and admiring each other. It's not even about me shipping them or some such nonsense, they're just adorable and I am a firm believer in platonic tenderness and respect.

Keanu's involvement in this was on the worldbuilding / developmental level, giving China feedback over what he wrote. They actually met in Berlin for the first time, around the time I moved here, so this book is close to my heart. I am going to call this China's book, just fyi, because as he explains it, he played in Keanu Reeves' toybox.

Sooooooo, this is basically China's take on the immortal being trope and it's quite a tropey book, actually, but in China's style, subverting those tropes and expectations. It's a very dense novel that switches perspectives quite a lot (we got some first person accounts, which are like short stories of people who interacted with the MC, a second person that really worked for me and a third person for the present day) and is extremely wordy, but I really dig that, personally. I love learning new words and I love the specificity that some word choices bring to the table.

I remember complaining about character work in the previous novel I read from him, Embassytown and I have to say I really enjoyed myself here. B / Unute is an exploration of the whole 'an immortal being who lived a very long time (80,000 years) will get tired of living or see people as ants' thing, which I'm kind of bored of in general, but I enjoyed this particular take. There were quite a few emotional moments that worked for me and I did feel attached to some of the characters.

Also, somehow China got me to care about a story where the main character is used by a military operation as a weapon, which is usually not my shit at all and I find it boring, so way to go! Unute is kinda like a mercenary and there are plenty of annoying soldiers around him, but it still somehow felt fresh. There's also a scientist named Diana who, immediately when we meet her, we find out she doesn't like working for the military, cause she read Susan Sontag or something (haha), but that's where the resources are.

Ultimately, this is a book about change and dealing with all the lives you've lead and being absolutely exhausted (relatable), with very weird worldbuilding elements that I appreciated, plenty of casual queerness and non-monogamy (as China kinda always does and I appreciate him for that). There's also a lot here about mythmaking, the obsession with labeling and cataloguing things, when the world is much messier and so much more interesting.

It is a standalone story, but I feel like it left the door open for a sequel - not everything is tied together with a neat bow. And somehow now I want to read A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, because for emotional comfort and because China speaks so beautifully, I watched way too many YouTube videos with him!

//
Now I know what the plot is, but I have no idea wtf did I just read. Gotta run and host book club for it, I guess?

//
I don't even know what the plot is, but I will be reading this ASAP.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a blast!

OK ok, I have to admit, I'm a huge Keanu Reeves fan so of course I had to get the book. And no, the BRZRKR comics weren't all that good IMO. Did that stop me? Nope!

Disclaimer: it's not an easy or fast read, it's not "popcorn" fiction. It makes you think and deeply, and if you wanna "get" the story, you need to work for it. However, if you ask me, that is rather glorious and in this case totally worth it.

So what is this about? Well, we know of the BRZRKR (berserker) from the comics, a guy who's lived practically forever and can't seem to die / be completely destroyed. He's the main characters, simply referred to as "B", here.

The book has three main roads it takes readers on:

1) the book's present, which is actually a futuristic world
=> B works for a SpecOps team because the military promised to help him die (he's about 80k years old and kinda sick of living)

2) B's flashbacks
=> these tell of several different encounters and experiences he's made that shaped his character

3) memories of other people
=> encounters of a host of different people with B and how he influenced their lives

How do you keep them apart? Well, the tense in which the stories are written are a giveaway (we have the usual 3rd-person, 2nd-person, and 1st-person narration).
Personally, I liked being disoriented at first. It can be a turn-off, but if done right, it's an absolut blast - which it was thanks to Miéville's writing skills. It kinda made you slowly piece together clues like for a puzzle or a mystery while everything was definiely WEIRD. *lol*

So again, what is this about? Well, life and death.
OK, granted, that sounds pretentious AND could mean ANYTHING. But it's true. It's about life, living (not just having a pulse), what matters in life, how we choose to end our story (if there is an end to it), why there NEEDS to be an end no matter how good a story was.

The book is also about humanity being addicted to negativity and obsessed with death while fearing and hating it in equal measure, mostly because it's something we don't want but need and certainly cannot control (beyond simply killing someone, which is no actual control).

Deep, right? Yep. That's the book: gripping, disorienting, deep, puzzling (a bit bizarre even), demanding, creepy, and yet (or therefore) total fun! I honestly didn't expect it to be THIS good so I am not only very happy now but downright elated!

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

How would one describe a story about an undying warrior and the immortal pig which hunts him?

Boar-ing

[Char]

DNF @20%
I’m not in the right brain space for this right now.

[Heather Sebastian · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
I’ve seen a bunch of reviews calling this cerebral, and I guess if you consider that a synonym for incomprehensible then I’d agree. Full disclosure I only got about 20 pages in, then decided I’d suffered enough. Sorry, Keanu

[Erin Clemence · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Book of Elsewhere” by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville is a sci-fi novel? Or maybe more of a fantasy novel? In truth, I picked it up mostly to satisfy my curiosity on how much of the novel Keanu wrote and exactly how good the novel as a whole would be. I cannot figure out who wrote what components, but Reeves has some background with his graphic novel series so this novel tracks with his genre.

Unute, or “B” as he is affectionately known, is a literal myth come to life. Dubbed “The Child of the Lightning”, urban legends depict him as the spawn of a female mother impregnated by a lightning strike. He has been followed for years, by many different cultures and societies who believe Unute has magical powers. The one thing Unute knows for sure is- he can’t die. Every time he is killed, he comes back to life, hatching as a fully formed adult. After eons and eras and centuries on Earth, Unute just wants to be able to die and of course, a secret U.S government Black Ops group promises they can give Unute what he wants. But what will it cost him, or even the entire world, if he gets his wish?

For those who are looking for light, easy reading, “Elsewhere” is not the novel for you. In fact, it requires full-time, fully focused, no distractions kind of attention, or you will miss something pertinent. That, and the language is verbose and intellectual in spots, with scientific subject matter that will overwhelm you if you let it. If you enjoy intellectually stimulating writing where deep themes play hide-and-seek in the pages, then “Elsewhere” may be just what you’re looking for.

There are several protagonists in this novel and each of them tell the story from their perspective. B, of course, as well as a few scientists who work for the “secret government organization”. There are chapters in the novel that are narrated by others from Unute’s past “lives”, which helps the reader unravel a little more about who he is (or at least who others believe he is) and how he has come to be. The different segments are annotated by page breaks, symbols and even different fonts, so it’s not hard to follow along (at least in that aspect).

I was curious enough in the plot to finish “Elsewhere” through to the end, although it is not a novel that is going to be for everyone (and I won’t judge you for DNF’ing it!). Graphic novels fans, especially those who admire Mieville or the author component of Reeves, will definitely want to explore this one. Even if you are just checking it out for curiosity’s sake (like myself), it is a head scratcher that is unlike anything you will have ever read before.

[Queralt✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Keanu Reeves co-authors a book, you read it. That is the law. But yikes.

2.5*

At the time of reviewing this, The Book of Elsewhere has no blurb. So yes, I admit to having read it because of Keanu Reeves. Incidentally, I’m not into weird fiction and this is my first China Miéville, so maybe I was doomed from the beginning.

Unute, also known as B. He’s been called a demigod, a god, a weapon from the aliens, a brother, chaos, the Angel of Death, a ghost. He’s an enigma, mostly. And what a boring enigma he is.

This is the type of book for readers who don’t mind not understanding what is going on. I’m not this type of reader. The first 50 pages, I didn’t get anything. It was a very frustrating experience. Then I started seeing the book as a scavenger hunt: in every chapter there will be one sentence that would be the topic of the next chapter, and so on.

The thing is, the chapters itself were confusing because the writing danced around the topics and actions instead of saying things. For example, something happens to Diana. She meets B to talk about it. Around 15 pages are wasted with him being vague AF and then it all concludes with him not saying anything. Then we get an ‘interlude’ of 20 pages when, in the end, you get a hint of maybe perhaps what could be related to what happened to Diana (and again, a sentence in the interlude introduces something that will be brought up next).

You’d expect a scavenger hunt to have some sort of reward, and the only sweet reward I got from this book was that it ended. It was redundant, vague, and it honestly felt irrelevant. It’s actually sad because most of it was fascinating, but it was as fascinating and creative as it was pointless. I was very intrigued by most of it, but the slow and murky unravelling of it all was brutally underwhelming. I did like the ending but I couldn’t appreciate it because I was fed up with it all.

I’ll just conclude by saying that if I was an immortal being and my only boons were glowy eyes and a pig that followed me around, I’d pass.

Content warning: animal torture (pigs)

[Brian Stabler · Rating 1 out of 5]

China Mieville is an author I can take or leave. It took me until about the 10% mark to decide this collaboration with Keanu Reeves was the latter and a further 10% before it was clear there were better things I could be reading and I DNFed.

Terrible prose, a confusing narrative and characters dropped en masse with little or no explanation are just a few of The Book of Elsewhere's problems. A lot of the time it reads more like a script than a novel. I mean...

'A room, full of violence to come. Then with the nasty white light of LEDs. Then a man came in and sat between the metal lockers. He took a machine from his pack and ran protocols on it. Alone awhile, he stared at its screen. His comrades followed him in at last. The man kept on with his preparations.'

That's just the first paragraph, but there's more like it and worse.

Sorry. This one wasn't for me, but thanks anyway to NetGalley, Del Rey and the authors for an advance copy.

[Lunnaku · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'd. This was written so poorly It's like how a 14 year old might imagine intellectual fiction should be written.

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I am not alone in having been caught off guard by the announcement that China Mieville and Keanu Reeves would be collaborating on a book. I had not ever thought of them as potential co-authors, they seemed to gravitate into wildly different spaces, but here we are, with a book based on Reeve’s BRZRKR graphic novels, which I had never even heard of before (I live under a rock). Apparently, Reeves is a Mieville fan, and he asked, and China said yes – it must be pretty awesome to be Keanu Reeves! So, I picked up this book with little to no info on what I was getting into, but that is often the case with books by Mieville, and I have complete trust in his process, so I wasn’t too worried about going in blind.

B (or Unute) is an immortal soldier who has been alive seemingly as long as Earth has been habitable: he has seen all of history and had fought in wars all over the world. As he puts it himself, he doesn’t really want to die so much as he doesn’t want to be immortal anymore – and who can blame him, really? When the story begins, he is working with a black ops squad in exchange for their help in figuring out a way to help him become mortal, but there is a snag: a fellow solider who should have died during a mission has come back to life. And other evidence seems to indicate that some kind of entity, possibly as powerful as B, is awake and active, and no one really knows what it wants or what it plans to do.

I understand a few elements of B’s life are references to Reeves’ life, and if that’s the case, hats off to Mieville for skillfully weaving those details into B’s story and memories. He developed the character with a very layered and human history – despite the fact that said-character is clearly not human at all.

I chuckled a bit when I started reading this: it’s been a while since I had some fresh fiction by Mieville, who is one of my favorite writers, and I delight in his linguistic acrobatics, and his challenging yet rewarding story-telling structure – but I know he really annoys other readers with that. In my opinion, they are missing out, but even if you like Mieville’s style, you need to be awake and alert to tackle this story. He drops you into this world with no exposition: you just have to figure it out as you go along. This is where I imagine people familiar with Reeve’s graphic novels will probably feel a bit less lost than I did! But it didn’t take me that long to find my way, so no worries.

The atmosphere is pure Mieville: rooted in the familiar, but lushly developed to make things dark and weird in the best possible way. His characters are rarely softies, if anything, they are hardened by life, and the universe of the BRZRKR works well with this: mercenaries, scientists working on top secret projects and of course, a man who can’t die and who has literally seen everything. I’ve heard that the graphic novels are pretty violent, and while there is definitely some of that here (Mieville is not afraid of horror), I think that he brought something philosophical and existential to the story of B that doesn’t often work in graphic novel format. One of Mieville’s great strength is the way he builds atmospheres for his characters to evolve in, and this story gives him the perfect opportunity to take us into isolated, dark and sterile places you can imagine someone like B and the squad he works with end up. He also manages to make many elements very poignant, and in a story about immortality, grief is unavoidable, and tactfully portrayed.

I can see this being too dense for some readers. It requires quite a bit of focus, especially when the plot gets non-linear and when POVs shift around, but I think it’s a rewarding book if you keep at it patiently. I am a big Mieville fan, so I may not be very objective, but I recommend it to fans of his work and for brave readers who are curious to read this military history/sci-fi tale about an immortal warrior. I am going to keep my eyes peeled for the Netflix adaptation (with Keanu as B, obviously!), which I believe is due next year!



I got my copy at the wonderful The City & the City Book Store in Hamilton, Ontario (https://www.thecityandthecitybooks.ca/). And yep, the store is named after the brilliant Mieville novel, so it felt very appropriate to pick it up there. If you are ever on Ottawa Steet, go check it out: they have a beautifully curated stock of new and used books.

[#AskMissPatience · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why did I pick this book? On a recommend without reading the summary.

Be aware, my inclusion of the spoilers is an attempt to help a reader understand the action. Not ruin the plot. If I had not read reviews would have tossed this one into the DNF pile.

Do not read further if details that explain the plot a bit are gonna ruin the story, for you.

If you are shopping for help to ‘get it’ this might be a helpful review. Carry on.

The book became confusing with time jumps so headed to the summary overview. This was not helpful so visited reviews. What this helped me understand in short, if you have read the comics & know Mr. Reeves personal history might understand the book that is said to become a movie.

The story is difficult to follow from someone who knows zero of the comics or a lot about Mr Reeves. Oh, and he did not write to contribute. Brainstormed ideas mostly from what I read in reviews. MC cant die but wants to at some point is my understanding. Story is a challenge to follow. This said, I did not give up.

The last half dozen sections, about two hours, of The Book of Elsewhere is very good, imo. Made the most sense. By this time I had looked up the story from reviewers so this helped the best.

It’s a very deep meaningful book.

If there is follow through with Reeves being in this as a show or movie I would watch.

It helps to know the MC dies over and over. Reanimates each time. The novel shares lots of his time jumps for this reason.

The journal he keeps shares lessons and info from each time.

Another character to understand is the pig. Had to look this up.

Book tip, sometimes when reading a novel that’s out of the familiar instead of tossing into DNF (did not finish) do a little digging to help me relate to the story. Most of the time the summary helps if I get stuck when I hadn’t preread this.

Here’s the summary I found.

“In The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville, the pig, specifically the babirusa, functions as a powerful symbolic monster representing profound existential themes. The babirusa's unique physical characteristic—its tusks growing back towards its own face—serves as a metaphor for self-inflicted harm, self-destruction, or a form of self-trepanning for enlightenment, potentially interpreted as a self-lobotomy for peace. This image evokes the idea that the real "big bad" is not an external force, but the void, stillness, and the end, which are central antagonists in the narrative. The pig thus embodies the internal struggle between life and death, change and stillness, and the painful, ongoing process of existence.”

If you do a little research when you feel disconnected from the story would help with this one big time.

I might reread because knowing what I do now helps it make a lot of sense.

Remembering books and movies that made little sense or once doing research connected on a deeper level with the story.

Thinking of a comic theme, The Walking Dead. Though not a book or series is a comic. I started watching after the fourth season from the beginning in syndication. When researching the show found a YouTube channel that shared about the comics which developed the characters better than the show could.

The result of this was a better relationship to the show and it was easy to tell the difference between the readers and the show alone folk based on their depth of connection to the characters beyond the television show. It is simpler to empathize with a character like Negan when we know his why, for example.

It is similar to watching a movie before or after reading the book. I find the book is most often better but sometimes only if I read it first.

When my son was growing up we would read the book and see the movie. Do a compare and contrast exercise discussion.

I forgot to pick up Into the Wild from the library before the movie came out. We had to put it on hold again. We watched the movie first. This mistake affected the story when we read it. My son and me expected the story to be about one person but it was about a lot of different people who had similar experiences.

World War Z, the movie inspired me to borrow the book. Sometimes I am late to the party and did not find out about the book before seeing a movie.

Since this experience check if an upcoming movie or show is based on a book and borrow it first.

Anyway, the examples are meant to encourage different ways to get the most out of a read. Like The Book of Elsewhere.

Right now, I am a three star. Due to my lack of understanding to begin with impacted my enjoyment of the book during the first half. With a little research decided to brave it out and finish. Glad I did.

When the show drops will be in line to watch. Because the characters are interesting and the story has merit. We just need to open ourselves up to metaphors and deeper thought to expose the parts of us the book endeavors to inspire.

Hoping the review gives ideas about enjoying this book and other stories that might become confusing or disconnecting. Building a relationship, in my view, is part of our job as a reader sometimes.

Developing a connection is what mythic worlds encourage. Inviting us to new places to meet new people and learn new things.

Though this book does not appeal to everyone it may turn into a cult classic if the show ever drops. Improving its value and meaning to a wider audience.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[jordan! · Rating 2 out of 5]

The good: “I’ve watched a snail petition its gods.”
The bad: “chimerical cunny-pizzle at my thighs.” And just about everything else.

It's truly impressive that anyone could craft a story about a man who has lived through everything, who has seen it all, and have it be so immensely BORING. This man contains the sum of human experience, except that of having a personality or care about anything. He can’t die and he has a power that renders him into this amoral fugue of indiscriminate violence. But while he’s capable of so much remarkable violence, leaving a blood trail that spans throughout the millennia, there is no reflection on this. The violent fugue makes it so that he is entirely blameless for the misery he wreaks, and that is a position he maintains! He doesn’t give a shit. He is the world’s specialest boy, guided by nothing except the sheer banality of violence. There is no greater goal, there is no reflection. There is simply indiscriminate destruction. He feels nothing about this – he is so removed from humanity that all he is is a tool, and apparently has no issue with this. The sheer lack of NOTHING about him is what turns him into a one-dimensional shell of a character, with gratuitous violence his one character trait.
I can’t begin to put words to the strange dissonance I feel while reading this. China Miéville is known as a scholar of international law, communism, and the Russian Revolution. And yet, this story is merely one of unquestioning alignment with American military objectives. There is no interrogation, no thought given. B is merely a tool of one of the most violent military regimes, without a single care. It’s not as though there’s a compelling reason for B to align himself with the US military – he merely does. He’s no sycophant or zealot, he doesn’t care for the why or the what of his work. Instead, he is America’s dog of war, their prime Black Ops operative, there to kill anyone that is identified as a threat to their military prowess. This ambivalence is disgusting, and it is BORING. There is no foresight, no hindsight, no critique of what he does. Instead, he continues to kill without question, a pawn in America’s endless topography of proxy wars and black sites and military bases.
Even worse, there’s dialogue that shows that B is aware of the false pretenses! “And they know you’d obey orders without them conjuring up some bogeyman Islamo-socialism… It’s like they think they’re supposed to lie, that that’s less undignified than just telling you to kill some reds because they say so.”
*insert Regina George meme* so you agree? truth doesn’t matter to the American war machine?
There is no broader reflection or question of his role. He doesn’t attempt to shirk this duty of death – he doesn’t try and use this power to run into burning buildings or rescue people from disaster zones. He doesn’t CARE about these greater questions, and so as a reader there is no reason to care either. B is held at such an arm’s length of vague narratives or outsiders falling over themselves in awe that if there IS this sort of reflection, we’re not privy to it.
The premise of immortality offers a LOT of possibilities – a lot of broader questions and theoreticals to consider. The immortal could be engaging with what it means to live and die and live and die in an endless cycle while wanting death more than anything; what it means to question this legacy of violence and the way your actions have influenced society; what it’s like to want an end; how it feels to lose everyone you care for over and over again; the tipping point of when one has been alive for so long that humanity feels like an entirely separate notion; what the magnitude of contemporary violence means when in the context of millennia of the same. Instead of any meaningful questions about humanity, about civilization, about love, and about violence; we get a blank wall so soaked through with blood that it’s moldering. We get a character so dedicated to violence that all we have is blameless violence for violence’s sake.
Much of what is above was written when I was about halfway through this book. My feelings remain unchanged, and maybe even more disappointed than I was. It tries at the end to do a broad wrap-up of “everything’s connected my golly”, but doesn’t do it well. The end leaves an entire babirusa shaped plot hole, with characters throwing around words and concepts that are supposed to matter but really don’t. So in the end, we’re left with Thowless, a plot load-bearing bit of cardboard, and the knowledge that B’s penis was once ripped off and preserved in a jar of honey.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unreadable

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 stars. Because that's how rounding works.

I've noticed that other reviewers have claimed a lack of readability on the part of this new collab novel by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville. In truth, I only noticed that in the first chapter, where an elite unit of soldiers get their guts blown out of their bodies. The writing was stilted and staccato, almost a match to the carnage it described. I did not find this writing in quality, as the next chapter, which jumped place and time, was written with an eloquent touch.

This book has got to be one of the strangest I have read this year. It's based off the graphic novels of Reeves, such as BRZRKR, Volume 1, (currently up on Netgalley!) about an immortal warrior, Unute, who may or may not be the personification of Death. Having been around 80,000 years, let's just say that Unute is a tad bit lonely and has questions about his origin and purpose. There's a babirusa pig, also immortal, that has been tailing him for the last 78,000 years. And currently, a super-secret government team that's trying to splice him to create super-soldiers.

I enjoyed the book much more that I thought I would, and especially liked the interlude stories, of characters such as the Stowaway or the Doctor or the Wife, people with whom B had come into contact with and change the story's perspective in small or large ways.

Overall, this is a win for me. I'm going to delve into the graphic novels next. Thanks Netgalley, et al!

[Димитър Цолов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Редно е, по скромното ми мнение, читателите първо да се запознаят с комикса, защото иначе рискуват да пропуснат някои важни детайли от историята. А тя, замислена от актьора Киану Рийвс, е относително праволинейна в същността си:

Преди 80 000 години жена от племе, подлагано на непрекъснати убийства, изнасилвания и грабежи от по-могъщите му съседи, извършва тайнствен ритуал и успява да призове свръхестествена сила, Светкавицата, с помощта на която зачева неунищожимо дете. Всеки път, щом го убият, Анют, или Б, съкратено от Берсерк се завръща, излизайки от някаква яйцевидна структура, пашкул. Понякога се появява на същото място, където са го ликвидирали, понякога - на стотици километри оттам.

Не звучи кой знае колко оригинално, нали, обаче точно тук, подозирам, се задейства болният (в хубавия смисъл) размах на фантазията на Чайна Миевил - и романът в крайна сметка е изключително любопитно решен в структурно отношение. Вървят три повествователни линии: първата - от настоящето (трето лице), в което Анют сътрудничи на секретна правителствена организация в Щатите – предоставя тялото си за научни изследвания и изпълнява разни мокри поръчки; другите две са ретроспективни – спомените му (второ лице) за особено важни събития в хилядолетния му живот и разкази на очевидци (първо лице), докоснали се до безсмъртната му същност. Проследяваме изпълнения с насилие поход на Анют през вековете, опитите му да открие какво точно представлява и дали има и други като него, докато древни цивилизации се въздигат и рухват, митични континенти потъват и пренареждат световната карта, а култовете на поклонниците и враговете му са вчепкани в непрестанна борба.

И на финала, вече станалата традиционна похвала за страхотното оформление на изданието.