Name: The Book of Elsewhere
ISBN: 9780593446591

China Miéville

Keanu Reeves

The legendary Keanu Reeves and inimitable writer China Miéville team up on this genre-bending epic of ancient powers, modern war, and an outcast who cannot die.

A Novel

The Book of Elsewhere

Paige Leitner

"They'd rather have rules I don't care about," B said, "and that I break, than not have them at all. Insubordination's a lesser evil than independence, I guess."

I'm giving this a three and a half stars for a few reasons. While I think the story was unique and fitting of the genre, I did lose interest about mid-way through the book. There are a lot of flashbacks/sidequests/characters throughout the book that complicate the actual plot. While this is essential of the genre, it did take me out of the story quite a bit, which left me feeling like i was playing catch-up most of the time. The actual science premise for the novel was interesting, if not a bit grandiose and the characters felt quite detached from me as a reader. 

The story is written in a very intriguing way (I would expect nothing less from China Miéville) and the aspects of storytelling and writing had me gripped from a structural standpoint. 

The story itself was good, but there were some elements that just made it not my favorite read of the year.

I'm giving this a three and a half stars for a few reasons. While I think the story was unique and fitting of the genre, I did lose interest about mid-way through the book. There are a lot of flashbacks/sidequests/characters throughout the book that complicate the actual plot. While this is essential of the genre, it did take me out of the story quite a bit, which left me feeling like i was playing catch-up most of the time. The actual science premise for the novel was interesting, if not a bit grandiose and the characters felt quite detached from me as a reader. 

The story is written in a very intriguing way (I would expect nothing less from China Miéville) and the aspects of storytelling and writing had me gripped from a structural standpoint. 

The story itself was good, but there were some elements that just made it not my favorite read of the year.

The Book of Elsewhere A Novel