The Book of Elsewhere

It saddens me that this book gets so many mixed reviews. It's not a bad book at all. It is however, as expected from an author that describes his work as 'weird fiction', a little bit weird. I think the marketing is somewhat wrong and it seems that a lot of people started reading with the wrong expectation.

Read this if you want a story with a very crafty way of writing and a really interesting worldbuilding. This is a book about humanity, ideas, light vs dark, storytelling, ...

Don't read this just because you are a fan of Keanu Reeves. Don't read this if you want a fast-paced action packed military sci fi. Don't read this if you want a lot of character work.

DNF at 28% (~99 pages)

I definitely gave this a decent shot. There were bits that intrigued me, but it's definitely one of those books that you have to focus in on to avoid getting lost. Maybe I would have liked and understood this better had I read the BRZRKR series – I think The Book of Elsewhere is supposed to act as a standalone, though. I didn't hate it, but I kept finding myself wanting to pick up other books instead. I think I'm just not the target audience for this, and that's okay. I decided to DNF instead of wading through it only to give it a likely two stars.

A gloriously silly concept (immortal warrior is chased by a similarly immortal vengeance obsessed pig) but the authors lean into it so hard that it becomes a genuine epic, a comics and pop culture inflected Beowulf. Unfortunately the plotting can't quite sustain the epic tone and the last quarter pretty much falls apart in front of your eyes, but it's a fun ride getting there.

Definitely not for me.