The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves & China Miéville
(Del Rey, 2024)
Reviewed by Stuart Carter
Hearing about The Book of Elsewhere, my first thought was: “A Keanu Reeves comic being rewritten as a novel by China Miéville?! DUDE! Someone deserves a pay rise at the publisher!” But, my, what a strange chimera of a book this is—as you might expect of a child born of two such different fathers.
In case you didn’t already know, The Book of Elsewhere is an unexpected collaboration between the famous US film star and the famous UK fantasy writer: one known (loved, even?) for his, shall we say, lack of thespian introspection; the other known (loved, even?) for bringing revolutionary politics into contemporary Fantasy.
And in case you also didn’t know, this cross-media collusion is also a collision of fictional formats. Keanu Reeves wildly popular comics’ series, BRZRKR, created with writer Matt Kindt and artist Ron Garney. is violent, bloody, semi-profound, and follows an immortal warrior called Unute who, as drawn in the comics, bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain Mr K. Reeves, Esq.
And you don’t have to have read The Book of Elsewhere to follow BRZRKR—it works just fine as a stand-alone—but some things will become clearer more quickly if you’ve read BRZRKR.
Keanu—sorry, I mean Unute!—has been alive for 80,000 years. Prone to berserker rages, when roused he is an almost unstoppable force of death and destruction; and although it is possible to destroy him, he will reincorporate from whatever remains are left behind (hatching from a sort of meat egg). But during his long, long life, Unute has become something of a philosopher (not unlike a movie character such as, say, for example, John Wick?), and although he accepts his awful past and lethal nature, he hopes to move past this endless round of birth, killing, death and rebirth.
In The Book of Elsewhere Reeves has given top UK fantasy author China Miéville the opportunity to “play with his toys” and offer a more thoughtful take on Unute’s existence. Set mainly in the present, Unute is part of a US military force cum research team that takes on only the most dangerous jobs (because, for Unute, nothing is really dangerous), while simultaneously trying to understand the mystery that is Unute.
If you’ve read BRZRKR, The Book of Elsewhere is quite a different beast: yes, there is much violence, there is much blood, and there is much death here, but this book is far more of a rumbling, melancholy, philosophical journey, examining what it might be like to have been alive continuously since Palaeolithic times. Because, in Miéville’s capable hands, how could it not have been?
If The Book of Elsewhere has a problem, it’s the question of who its audience might be. Is it fans of the more straightforward action of Reeves’ comic? Because Miéville at times takes a very long while to tell very little story, and, as always, his prose demands your concentration if you’re to understand its deeper purpose and not be tripped up by odd grammar and phrases (the very first chapter, in particular, feels deliberately hard to follow).
And yet, if you’re paying attention, there are allusions to Unute’s backstory sprinkled throughout, which make the story more than a parade of slaughter. There are also regular recollections from those who have known Unute at different times, all written in their own styles, and these are the parts where The Book of Elsewhere shines, and where Miéville almost transcends the limitations of the original clay.
Almost, but not quite.
Review from BSFA Review 25 - Download your copy here.