The Book of Elsewhere written by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville was an interesting read. It is about Unute, also known as B, who is apparently some kind of immortal soldier. He currently works with some kind of shadow unit for the government and is dealing with the aftermath of one of the other soldiers trying to kill several of the unit. As the story progresses it reveals more of Unute’s background. He is not an immortal in the traditional sense, meaning that he is unable to die. Unute actually dies quite frequently it seems but he always comes back. Whenever he dies his remains coalesce into an egg of some kind that he later hatches from. Sometimes the egg is in the same place that he dies, other times it appears elsewhere. Either way, Unute would like for it to change and for him to at least have the option of being mortal even if he doesn’t actually want to die. In fact, this is his primary motivation for working with the shadow unit and this search, both by him and by the unit, is what leads to events quickly spiraling out of control.
Going into this story I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I am not much of a movie person and my only real experience with Keanu Reeves was watching Bill and Ted when I was younger. I have never read anything by China Miéville so going in I was almost a blank slate, so to speak. In all honesty, I probably would not have read this if my stepfather hadn’t given it to me to try. That was mostly because I hadn’t heard of it yet. I probably would have eventually tried it once I had seen a copy but I probably would not have gone out of my way to find it. Having said that I am glad that I did read it as it was actually pretty good. That being said, I was genuinely impressed by the story. The interweaving of Unute’s background and history with the events currently going on as he searches for answers was incredibly well done. Getting small glimpses of his past and his previous interactions with other people reveals that despite being an immortal soldier with a tendency to go berserk, Unute is also still ultimately human. He still makes connections and cares about people, and most importantly he is capable of making mistakes. It was fascinating and a very enthralling read with numerous twists and turns. In fact, this was one of the things that impressed me the most about the book. I read a lot of books, in a lot of different genres, and from a lot of different time periods. Because of this I am extremely good at predicting what is coming next in any given book. So much so that I have unintentionally ruined future books in a series with my predictions. With this book I was perpetually surprised by what was happening in terms of events, but also in terms of the characters and their shifting allegiances. Trust me when I say that this is a good thing to have in a book for a voracious reader like myself. I think this book deserves 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This is a large part of why I not only enjoyed the story but passed it on to my family when I was done. Mind you, my stepfather who bought the book did request ahead of time to read it when I was finished. I did however recommend it to my mother who is a Keanu Reeves fan. Would I recommend it to others? Yes, mostly to people who are interested in the weird and unusual in terms of fiction. As you have gathered from my discussion it doesn’t really fit into any one genre as it kind of crosses over a lot. If you enjoy works that toe the line between sci-fi and fantasy then you would probably enjoy this book. It is also, in many ways, a thriller so if you are the kind of person that enjoys that, then it is highly possible you would enjoy this. I thought it was a really good blend of these genres and would definitely recommend it. Warning though that there is references to violence and gore throughout so be careful if that is not something you can easily handle. I hope if you do end up deciding to read it that you enjoyed it as much as I did. Let me know in the comments if you did or if you have suggestions for similar works that I could try out. I am always looking for something new to read.