Veniss Underground

by Jeff VanderMeer

Book Overview

Jeff VanderMeer's first novel is set in the mysterious and magical city of Veniss, a surreal metropolis that sits over an underground labyrinth of tunnels and mines. In this tale, epic and mythological in scope, VanderMeer takes the reader below the surface of the earth to the dark and decadent future. It's a world where Living Artists craft works out of biological material, and humans are either tossed out or recycled into something wholly unrecognizable...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250860954
• ISBN13: 9781250860958
• Release Date: April 2023
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Short But Intense

Although, or better to say because, the book is rather short (I needed about 4 hours to read it) it is intense and grotesque in many aspects.First, the formal layout of the book is three chapters, written in the first, second and third person perspective. This produces in particular for the two first two chapters a personal almost intimidating experience. This is emphasized by the rather erratic language, which are more an assembly of half-sentences and second thoughts than well written prose, but it serves its purpose to enhance the claustrophobic, dooms-day feeling of the main characters. The central part is the last chapter (I regard the first two chapter as a prologue to it) describing the voyage from the surface to the deepest level of the underground. It feels like a modern version of the Dante's Inferno. Vandermeer describes that which the progress in the underground humanity is more and more withdrawn. First it is only reflected in the behavior of people living there in despair. Then even their appearance alters (like the reappearance of the main character of the first chapter). Further down the underground is populated with creatures which only remaining humane character treat is suffering because they recognized the agony to live in that place and the awareness of their own doomed and flawed existence. At the end even that is gone and what remains is a chaotic dog-eats-dog world.I rarely encountered a book which provoke so much emotion while reading and long after that. The book defies any classification into SF or Mystery and its use of first and second person narrative makes it so distinct to other who tried a similar approach.Highly recommended

Plotting Meerkats, Twisted Flesh, Bizarre Underground

What an interesting and grotesquely beautiful book, painted in vivid shades of despair! I picked Veniss Underground up on a recommendation, and am very glad that I did.Overall, it is the story of a man seeking to save his lover, and perhaps also his soul, for he blames himself for her circumstances.On Veniss, the cities are compacted into worlds of their own, each with their own political forces and policing policies; not only above ground, but beneath the world are levels extending far down into the deepest and most despairing depths.The story picks up with Nicholas and Nicola, brother and sister formed in the same vat, birthed and raised together. Nicholas is an artist and Nicola a civil programmer, so very close when they were young, they were now miles apart both mentally and socially.Shadrach is friend to Nicholas and former lover of Nicola, a large man who used to run supplies across the wastes in-between cities and now has a deep-rooted fear of the Underground.When Nicholas goes missing, Shadrach doesn't give it much thought until he finds that not only is Nicola also missing, but pieces of her have turned up at a rich woman's estate.Shadrach knows that Nicholas was last seen heading for the headquarters of his own mysterious boss, Quinn. Quinn is the ultimate "Living Artist", creating brand new lifeforms both useful and hideous. Nicholas had wanted to purchase a Meerkat from Quinn, in order to protect him from the police who robbed him.Shadrach vows to find Nicola, and kidnaps the head of her former Meerkat to take into the Underground with him on his quest for Nicola, and his drive to hunt down and kill the enigmatic Quinn.What makes Jeff Vandermeer's novel so very intriguing is his tri-view approach to telling his tale. The first book, Nicholas, is written in first-person perspective. The second book, Nicola, is written like a dream. That is, the story is told as if someone were telling you what has happened to you and how you felt about it; almost like hypnotism. Extremely unique and surreal angle, Vandermeer manages to pull it off. The third book is told in standard third perspective, as Shadrach descends below Veniss.The city is fantastic, the underground disturbing and deadly, and the monstrous creations roaming the streets and alleys are truly frightening in their grotesqueries. Mr. Vandermeer's striking vision of the train deep in the depths of the Underworld and the outlandish deeper levels chilled my blood to a comfortably numb state, leaving my eyes widened in shock and my brain reeling with macabre wonder.I will mention that the book is a bit slow to begin, but I urge you to have patience and stick with it, you will not be disappointed in Veniss. Enjoy!

Dark, modern myth

In "Veniss Underground" Jeff VanderMeer has produced a fascinating retelling of the underworld mythology that so riddles our collective subconscious. Although clearly inspired by Dante and the myth of Orpheus and Euridcye, there is also a more primal, basic undercurrent that infuses his work. Specifically, it is the divine, yet flawed spark that inhabits each human being; the desire to exercise god-like powers even though we must inevitably pass our own shortcomings into any creation.Set in the future, one's instinct is to read "Veniss Underground" as science fiction, but to do so would mean missing something very fundamental at work. In reality, the novel is set in the future because it allows VanderMeer the freedom to use certain plot devices to propel his story forward. However, the real power of the novel comes from its exploration of our humanity. That said, his future is a fascinating construct: set in a world where each city has become a power unto itself, surrounded by impassable wastelands of human creation. In this regard, VanderMeer again harkens back to mythology, as Athens and the like were beacons in a strange, dangerous world. Veniss is a city where genetically engineered meerkats talk and act as servants, and where walking, breathing Ganesha's provide security and courier services. Moreover, the city itself is a marvel, a world unto itself. However, Veniss is coming unglued, and it is all its fragmented leadership can do to keep it together. Moreover, Veniss survives because of the Underground, a sort of slum where untold thousands live out their lives in a kind of indentured servitude, hoping only to escape their all to literal hell. To say more, would give away too much, but the resonances VanderMeer has created with our shared histories should be somewhat clear from this overview.Stylistically, "Veniss Underground" is arranged in a manner that seems almost pretentious at first, but actually proves to be quite effective. The novel is divided into three sections, each devoted to three of the main characters. The first is told in the first person by Nicholas, the instigator of the book's plot, but perhaps the least important character. His voice is that of our most base instincts as humans; he is selfish, utterly self absorbed, and short sighted. As such, the first person is the perfect choice, as we can all see ourselves reflected in his failures.The second section is to told in the second person, which was difficult to adapt to, but nonetheless perfectly chosen. The reason for this is that Nicola, Nicholas' sister, is the purest aspect of a horribly twisted world. While she is ultimately no better than anyone else, she is placed on a pedestal by the use of the second person, and thus becomes objectified as what one aspires to be, or to posses. Nicola's voice is both the most enigmatic and the most effective because she is held above and apart from the fray, even as it swirls around her.Finally, there is the th

Dante's Inferno of the Far Future

A mesmerizing tale of damnation and salvation set in a horrific far future where human bodies are infinitely malleable material for artistic manipulation. This novel is definitely not for the squeamish but it has a real integrity of vision that is both uncompromising and unfliching. But beyond the dazzling narrative of a half-man half-golem Orpheus's descent into hell in search for his beloved, there is a real emotional and moving tale of a lost soul in search of itself, its identity, and the solution to the riddle of its past. And it is this natural blending of an enormous, apocalyptic plot and an intimate portrayal of a vulnerable searcher that makes this novel so intruiging and profound. Highly recommended for those who seek works that use imagery and concepts from sci-fi and fantasy at the highest literary level. A great achievement by one of the most innovative and intelligent writers in the field.

An ambitious work that exceeds its promise

.... At the risk of overselling, I was floored by this book. I've been a fan of Jeff's work for over a decade (and, in the interest of full disclosure, a friend), so I've known he was a great writer for a long time. But this, his first novel, surpassed any expectation I could have had and made clear to me how good he really is--and he's just getting started!"Veniss Underground" succeeds on so many levels. First, it has fully realized characters who fully engaged me. Not only did I see them as real, their respective plights became important to me.Second, it has a simultaneously exotic, beautiful, terrible, and revolting far-future setting that is vividly described. One thing that I especially appreciated about Jeff's work on the settings is that he never feels the need to describe how such a crazy place came to be, what century we're in exactly, or what part of the world. The city of Veniss just *is*.Third, the action and pacing are brisk enough to keep the book moving and create suspense, but just leisurely enough to allow lingering on the settings and the abundance of strange creatures. The third section of the book, in particular, is a hell of a ride. There are scenes in this third section that will stay with me forever. I can't provide much description of the third section of the book without spoiling the fun and surprises, so I won't try.Fourth, the prose itself is near-perfect. As always with Jeff's work, each sentence is so obviously crafted with loving care. As a writer myself, I know the kind of painstaking, repeated rewriting that it takes to get prose that is both this poetic and this tight. The prose is lush without ever bogging down--as beautiful as the prose in, for instance, Pynchon's "Crying of Lot 49," but you never have to stop and re-read a sentence because it falters under its own weight.In addition, Jeff takes some risks with the storytelling technique that totally succeed. Again, I don't want to spoil surprises, but I do want to say that this technique succeeds so well because it allowed me to see the characters in a way I don't think I otherwise would have been able to. I am in awe of what Jeff pulls off here.I predict that this book will find a large audience because Jeff has managed to write a highly accessible book filled with beautiful prose; surreal, exotic, vivid settings; compelling characters; and a great story. Throughout the book, there are moments of laugh-out-loud humor side-by-side with moments of horror and revulsion side-by-side with moments of true beauty. "Veniss Underground" is one of those rare novels that possesses real popular appeal *and* true literary merit worthy of study, in the same package with elements of fantasy, a far-future setting, imagined technologies, and just plain surrealism. Don't miss this.