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.

I'm not sure where to start with this book. I was intrigued by the synopsis but the moment i started reading it, i struggled to get through a sentence fluently. There was just so many words thrown together that it wasn't making any sense to me. I found it so confusing and stressful as it just felt like words on paper. There was no connection with the characters or plot and it felt like reading a script. I even took a break from reading it to see if i could get into it after stepping away from it for a while but, unfortunately, it didn't get any better so i had no choice but to DNF it at 11%. I would have stopped reading at the very beginning but i thought i'd give it a chance. It's a shame as it could have been great but it wasn't executed very well. It was boring and failed to do what a book should.

I thank netgalley and random house for giving me a chance to try it out.

Can't say that this is a terrible read, but it didn't have much of a hold of my attention much to my disappointment, unfortunately. Made it through the middle, maybe slightly more before I left it be. To be fair, I liked it enough to acquire a physical copy of the book for a future reading - a second attempt of some sort. Perhaps I'm just not used to the style of writing. If I had previously read some Mievilles, I reckon I would be able to have a better time reading this one. Probably I like the idea of a book written partly by Keanu Reeves than the act of actually reading it. I dare say that that applies for quite a significant number of readers attempting this as well. It is what it is but it still makes me want KR to do another, if that's any consolation?

I was looking forward to reading this book, but sadly it wasn't for me. I couldn't get into it much as i tried.

I enjoyed parts of this and the general tone. I heard Keanu's voice throughout which was great, love that man. Really liked the mc Unute/B and his back story bits were my fave. Didn't really like the military stuff, but that's just me and my preferences. The dark depressive vibes were good and suited the story. It was both atmospheric and dull at times, violent and melancholy.

I didn't read the Keanu Reeves c0-created comic BRZRKR when it came out (I have subsequently picked it up), but I was aware of the general gist. It was broadly a more lonely and emo Highlander, an immortal guy who normally heals from any injury living an eternity subject to Berserker rages to the degree everyone calls him The Berserker. The twist on this scenario, if twist it is, is that the immortal is drawn to look uncannily like Keanu Reeves. The cynic in me saw this of another case of an actor trying to create IP for himself, and indeed it has been picked up by Netflix. Which makes The Book Of Elsewhere a particularly odd endeavor. From an IP perspective, there is no need for it, it completely muddies the waters as it takes the same premise as BRZRKR and then does something else with it, its is functionally set in a different universe (hence the gnomic title I guess). And equally, China Miéville doesn't need to do this, he's pre-eminent in his field and some sort of comics / IP tie-in seems far from where his career is right now. That said, it is awfully flattering when a Hollywood actor bangs on your door and fanboys you into working with him, and indeed his name on the cover suggests this is more than a vanity ghost-write. But what is it?

The issue with BRZRKR as a property is there really isn't much to it (the immortal guy does violence, and tries to understand why he is the way he is). The opportunity is also quite large - immortality gives you a lot of backstory to delve into. That is how this is structured, a chapter in the present where our lead (Unute) is working for the secret off-books governmental organisation, and lots of chapters from the past of Unute's life. Truth be told, I could have happily just read the back story, as it fluttered about entertainingly - mixing perspectives of those who fought, loved or cared for Unute. The general sense of immortality as absolute torture though permeates the book, particularly when we discover a second immortal being - a pig (a babirusa - but if that sends you scurrying to Wikipedia, so did I). If Unute is confused about his existence, the boar is just furious constantly and is drawn to Unute in its will misunderstanding rage. It is the conceptual silliness of the pig nemesis that ends up being the saviour of the book, even when there turns out to be a third immortal and you wonder if this is actually going to turn into Highlander after all.

The Book Of Elsewhere is a bit of a mess, but its a bit of a mess written with Miéville's precision and Reeves's sense of storytelling (how the labour was split between the two of them it is unclear though my sense is that Miéville did most of the actual ideas into words bits). Whilst I found the modern conspiracy stuff flat for the first half of the book, even it picks up near the end when revelations are uncovered - albeit I could do without more secret societies tinkering with the fate of humanity. Its messiness is eventually its charm, and even if it doesn't work for you as a whole, there are about ten short stories in the back story that all stand up on their own, so it won't be a waste of your time.

DNF 21%
It was evident from the first page that I wasn't going to like this book. I didn't like the way it was narrated and it felt very alien. I tried to stay interested but I kept zoning out and have no idea what was going on. I found myself not caring at all what happens in the end and I just couldn't go on. It was like watching paint dry