The Book of Elsewhere follows Unute or B an immortal warrior who seeks a way to die. He has seen and caused countless deaths for thousands of years.

If you haven’t read China Melvilles writing before then I think this will feel very marmite. If is confusing and … whimsical and can be frustrating at times trying to grasp the story. The ending is very similar in confusion but I wouldn’t have expected anything less.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

A great sci-fi, really incentive premise with great characters! The way the story is told is super interesting, and relatively easy to follow

My thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for a free DRC of "The Book of Elsewhere" by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville.
As someone who loved some works by China Miéville I was excited about this collaboration.
Not only is the narrative confusing, grim and violent, but the dialog sounded so pretentious in many occasions. No matter how many notes I took, or how hard I tried to see the story in a better light, it just gave me a depressing feel.
Maybe fans of Grimdark Fantasy will love this work, but unfortunately it did not work for me.

This was not what I was expecting. I’ve tried to read it a few times but unfortunately can’t get into it, and I so want to because it’s Keanu!!! I think the writing style is just a bit too out there for me. I love the BRZRKR mangas but ive had to DNF this at 32%.

This was amazing. As a person who doesn't read these kind of books I was so invested into this that I wish I had read it sooner. The style of the book was fantastic. The characters so mysterious and yet so human.

There have been legends of a warrior who cannot be killed and had been known by many names

A US Black Ops team have been tasked with finding said Warrior and helping him with a seemingly impossible request, to die, but they want something in return

Written in a very lyrical manner with a lot of jumping around in terms of characters and timelines, I'll admit this book was really hard to follow at times and I did place it on pause for a while

However, due to the writing, some scenes were very intriguing and left an impression so I've increased the rating for that

Really wanted to love this more than I did, I wonder if I'd read the graphic novels in the world before if that would have helped

While I finished this book and there were some interesting passages of Mieville's writing, I don't feel that the premise was enough to carry it. Probably a very good action comic, but I felt the character was constrained to not develop in ay interesting way, and what depth there was, was in the side characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advance reader copy.

I didn’t know what to write for this review as I don’t know how I felt about the book. It took a lot of time for me to get to around 20% and I felt like I didn’t know what was happening half the time.

The writing style wasn’t one I think worked for me and couldn’t get into the main story.

I might come back to this at a later date but for now was confused and this book felt like work.

A huge fan of China's work, this was an interesting collab between himself and Reeves. This is going to be a bit like marmite for a lot of people.

I wanted to love this so bad but honestly the book just made me feel so stupid. I found it so confusing and hard to read and spent most of the book not really knowing what was going on. Unfortunately this 9ne just felt far to much like homework that I had to drag myself to finish.

I found this to be a huge disappointment. Reeve's BSRKR is an excellent comic but somehow mixing it with China Mievilles bizarre imagination and language doesn't gel at all for me. Wish it was a lot better than it is, I'm afraid.

I'm sorry to say that while I liked parts of The Book of Elsewhere other parts, not so much.
I will admit I'm a huge fan of Keanu Reeves, and this was a huge reason I wanted to read this book as well as it sounded really good.
One of my biggest problems with the book in the end was the writing. It was really bad and made it near impossible to read at times.

There was definitely a lot of good things in the book as I did like the story and characters, and they were some great ideas. So there definitely were parts I really liked.
I would still recommend this book as I think some people probably would still enjoy it!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

I was very excited when I first discovered this book. Keanu Reeves is a man of inimitable coolness and China Miéville is one of my favourite sci-fi novelists with five-star classics such as 'Perdido Street Station' and 'Embassytown'. It has been a long wait since his last book. Based on the character of B, co-created by Reeves for a graphic novel series, the story follows his immortal quest for meaning and company as he works alongside a shady government agency. Reeves and Miéville worked on the plot together, but the writing is predominantly the latter's. That just makes it all the more disappointing. I found this very difficult to get into (or even wrap my head around what was happening) and a bit of a sludge from start to finish. The majority of characters are difficult to distinguish from one another, there is very little drive to the plot, and mere morsels are offered in terms of exploring its intriguing themes.

I hoped for a lot more from this book, but it left me with an appreciation of what the tediousness of eternity might feel like to its central character.

I have read China's books before, but I found the narrative of this one to be almost impossible to wade through. The use of such intense and dense language really took away any excitement the plot itself had for me. I have featured it on my instagram stories but won't be reviewing it anywhere else.

Was nervous to go into this, wasn’t sure how Keanu and Miéville would go together, but it was excellent

Fans of Keanu Reeves' artistic films will be thrilled by this collaborative fiction with China Miéville. Entering with high expectations for an original, compelling, and emotionally evocative narrative, I’m pleased to say those expectations were met.

The book's unique stylistic approach makes it challenging to review using the usual plot, character, and setting framework. Instead, I’ll focus on the immersive and trippy experience of navigating the three branches of the narrative.

The first branch is set in the present, in a futuristic world where B, the main character, is over 80,000 years old and part of a military special force. This segment is told in the traditional third-person past tense. The second branch consists of flashbacks to B’s experiences, narrated in the second person, adding a creative and immersive layer. Finally, the third branch features first-person memoirs from individuals who have interacted with B. These memoirs read like powerful short stories, each with its own emotional arc and distinct voice, enriching the portrayal of B as a layered, tragic, and complex character.

The first-person memoirs stand out with their strong character voices and beautiful, evocative language, offering poignant insights and developing B’s character further. The second-person flashbacks are particularly bold, conveying B’s alien experiences and revealing his deep-seated longings and pain.

This artistic delivery effectively fosters a connection to a character who might otherwise seem too alien to relate to or care about, making the narrative a captivating and memorable read.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

After getting over the rather unusual writing style I really got sucked into the story of this immortal warrior with the remarkably soft heart. I also kept imagining the whole thing as a film with Keanu Reeves in the main role, so there's that.
The story itself is rather convoluted, many viewpoints, long flashbacks, but never too much.
It was definitely fun reading.

Unfortunately this book read as if John Wick movies fell into a blender together with a few of China Mielville books. Neither of these things is bad per se, but overall the impression was of something that was just fine, and not new. I understand the appeal of big names, and the book itself wasn't bad, not at all. It just wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, and in a way I'd say capitalising on a name would make me expect a better book than if the same story was written by just another decent writer. I might be in the minority here, and can see many readers picking up this book just out of simple curiosity.

Weird however captivating. Strangely odd but if you read the comic I am sure you will have loved it. However not for me. I couldn't get into it.

I appreciate the chance to read this early and apologise for my late review, however this took several attempts to read and the longest I got to was 27%. It was a struggle.