I picked up with this book with relatively low expectations, I had been reading a lot of cerebral books lately and thought, based on the books premise, that it would be a straightforward and fun read. It was neither of those things. It was interesting, as a case study, but not as a book.
I've only read one other book with two authors (at least that openly advertises itself that way) that I can recall, and though that previous book (Good Omens) did a pretty solid job of coming across in a unified voice, The Book of Elsewhere's dual authorship seemed very tangible to me throughout. The final result feels remarkably disjointed, and though I don't know the details of the two authors' working relationship on this project, I would guess that Reeves supplied most of the plot and Mieville did most of the writing, or, at least, did extensive polishing to the final draft. What you end up with is something like a Vin Diesel movie directed by Coppola, or a soliloquy about a fart, something that in and of itself could be entertaining with a degree of self-awareness, but because it lacks that very quality it ends up confused and embarrassing.
The book is flawed on nearly every level, the prose tries much too hard, making the reading of many sections feel like a brisk walk through deep mud. You will get tiny bits of relatively unimportant exposition delivered to you through entire chapters dedicated to characters that had some past affiliation with the main character (most of these chapters being mind-numbingly boring), and giant revelations appearing entirely out of left field at the climax. The main character is a raging narcissist with a cool guys don't look at explosions vibe. He has all of the mysteries of ancient history at his disposal, and while he'll hint at Atlantis and ancient science and technology, what you'll end up hearing about is living with pigs in Oceana, and a couple random girlfriends in historically ambiguous times. In a constant attempt to subvert expectations the book feels as though it squanders chances to lean into anything that might make it actually interesting.
I could drone on endlessly about the books shortcomings but that would be as tiresome as the book ultimately ended up being. I'd suggest skipping this one and waiting for the inevitable movie to come out. In the hands of a capable director this story might actually understand who its audience is, but as a book I certainly can't tell you that.
by the-bends