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Veniss Underground
In his debut novel, literary alchemist Jeff VanderMeer takes us on an unforgettable journey, a triumph of the imagination that reveals the magical and mysterious city of Veniss through three intertwined voices.
First, Nicholas, a would-be Living Artist, seeks to escape his demons in the shadowy underground—but in doing so makes a deal with the devil himself. In her fevered search for him, his twin sister, Nicola, spins her own unusual and hypnotic tale as she discovers the hidden secrets of the city. And finally, haunted by Nicola’s sudden, mysterious disappearance and gripped by despair, Shadrach, Nicola’s lover, embarks on a mythic journey to the nightmarish levels deep beneath the surface of the city to bring his love back to light. There he will find wonders beyond imagining…and horrors greater than the heart can bear.
By turns beautiful, horrifying, delicate, and powerful, Veniss Underground explores the limits of love, memory, and obsession in a landscape that defies the boundaries of the imagination.
This special edition includes the short stories “The Sea, Mendeho, and Moonlight”; “Detectives and Cadavers”; and “A Heart for Lucretia” and the novella Balzac’s War, offering a complete tour of the fantastic world of Veniss.
Praise for Veniss Underground
“A wonder-filled journey that echoes Dante’s Divine Comedy, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the landscapes of Hieronymus Bosch.” —Publishers Weekly
“Audacious . . . full of beautiful sentences, black humor and terrible wonders.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“[The novel’s] milieu recalls Philip K. Dick, its passages of prose poetry Edgar Allan Poe, its wry fatalism Jim Thompson. Wow!” — Booklist
“In the hands of a brilliant writer like Jeff VanderMeer, writing fantasy can be a means of serious artistic expression . . . also playful, poignant, and utterly, wildly imaginative.” —Peter Straub, author of lost boy lost girl
First, Nicholas, a would-be Living Artist, seeks to escape his demons in the shadowy underground—but in doing so makes a deal with the devil himself. In her fevered search for him, his twin sister, Nicola, spins her own unusual and hypnotic tale as she discovers the hidden secrets of the city. And finally, haunted by Nicola’s sudden, mysterious disappearance and gripped by despair, Shadrach, Nicola’s lover, embarks on a mythic journey to the nightmarish levels deep beneath the surface of the city to bring his love back to light. There he will find wonders beyond imagining…and horrors greater than the heart can bear.
By turns beautiful, horrifying, delicate, and powerful, Veniss Underground explores the limits of love, memory, and obsession in a landscape that defies the boundaries of the imagination.
This special edition includes the short stories “The Sea, Mendeho, and Moonlight”; “Detectives and Cadavers”; and “A Heart for Lucretia” and the novella Balzac’s War, offering a complete tour of the fantastic world of Veniss.
Praise for Veniss Underground
“A wonder-filled journey that echoes Dante’s Divine Comedy, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the landscapes of Hieronymus Bosch.” —Publishers Weekly
“Audacious . . . full of beautiful sentences, black humor and terrible wonders.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“[The novel’s] milieu recalls Philip K. Dick, its passages of prose poetry Edgar Allan Poe, its wry fatalism Jim Thompson. Wow!” — Booklist
“In the hands of a brilliant writer like Jeff VanderMeer, writing fantasy can be a means of serious artistic expression . . . also playful, poignant, and utterly, wildly imaginative.” —Peter Straub, author of lost boy lost girl
278 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2003
211 people are currently reading
6605 people want to read
About the author
Jeff VanderMeer
238 books16.4k followersNYT bestselling writer Jeff VanderMeer has been called “the weird Thoreau” by the New Yorker for his engagement with ecological issues. His most recent novel, the national bestseller Borne, received wide-spread critical acclaim and his prior novels include the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance). Annihilation won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, has been translated into 35 languages, and was made into a film from Paramount Pictures directed by Alex Garland. His nonfiction has appeared in New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Slate, Salon, and the Washington Post. He has coedited several iconic anthologies with his wife, the Hugo Award winning editor. Other titles include Wonderbook, the world’s first fully illustrated creative writing guide. VanderMeer served as the 2016-2017 Trias Writer in Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He has spoken at the Guggenheim, the Library of Congress, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination.
VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.
VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.
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May 25, 2024
Check out our interview with Jeff VanderMeer at Grimdark Magazine.
My complete review of Veniss Underground is published at Grimdark Magazine.
Jeff VanderMeer’s first published novel, Veniss Underground, returns to print in a new twentieth anniversary edition, which also features five short stories and a new foreword by Charles Yu. Veniss Underground is considered one of the definitive novels of the New Weird movement of speculative fiction, combining aspects of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.
The novel takes place in the futuristic metropolis of Veniss, a city of decadence where artists create Living Art through a bizarre recycling of living organisms. But the real terror lies in the labyrinthine underground world of crime and body horror ruled by the mysterious Quin.
Veniss Underground is told from three points of view: twins Nicholas and Nicola and their friend Shadrach. VanderMeer employs first, second, and third person styles of narration for these three characters, respectively. In each case, VanderMeer succeeds at establishing strong emotional connections with the point of view character. The second-person perspective of Nicola works remarkably well at identifying you, the reader, with Nicola. The complex relationships among the three lead characters are also well developed, providing motivation for journeying to the underworld.
Oh, and there are meerkats, including a genetically engineered assassin meerkat. When considering the depravity of human beings, the meerkats might, in fact, consider themselves to be the superior species.
In a novel so unique, it is difficult to pin down specific influences. Perhaps the greatest influence is H.G. Wells, the pioneer of science fiction from a century prior. Like the 1895 H.G. Wells masterpiece, The Time Machine, Veniss Underground features parallel civilizations above and below ground, where the greatest terror is underneath the surface. The engineering of new animals certainly recalls work by the titular character from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896).
Beyond H.G. Wells, there is also a strong connection between Veniss Underground and ancient Greek mythology, particularly the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, with Quin playing the role of Hades, lord of the underworld. VanderMeer’s descriptions of the underworld also recall the various circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno.
VanderMeer’s writing is dense yet accessible. The story is a page-turner, drawing the reader in from the first pages and leaving them wanting more. Fortunately, the twentieth anniversary edition provides exactly that: another 150 pages of content set in the same world, including four previously published short stories and one all-new story. Each of the stories provides another slice of life in the city of Veniss. However, the short stories are more like fragments, none of them reaching the same level of storytelling as the main novel. Nevertheless, readers may appreciate having these additional perspectives on the world.
Veniss Underground is the quintessential New Weird novel, deeply unsettling yet strangely compelling. As in his subsequent work, Jeff VanderMeer truly astounds with the inventiveness of his world and storytelling.
My complete review of Veniss Underground is published at Grimdark Magazine.
Jeff VanderMeer’s first published novel, Veniss Underground, returns to print in a new twentieth anniversary edition, which also features five short stories and a new foreword by Charles Yu. Veniss Underground is considered one of the definitive novels of the New Weird movement of speculative fiction, combining aspects of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.
The novel takes place in the futuristic metropolis of Veniss, a city of decadence where artists create Living Art through a bizarre recycling of living organisms. But the real terror lies in the labyrinthine underground world of crime and body horror ruled by the mysterious Quin.
Veniss Underground is told from three points of view: twins Nicholas and Nicola and their friend Shadrach. VanderMeer employs first, second, and third person styles of narration for these three characters, respectively. In each case, VanderMeer succeeds at establishing strong emotional connections with the point of view character. The second-person perspective of Nicola works remarkably well at identifying you, the reader, with Nicola. The complex relationships among the three lead characters are also well developed, providing motivation for journeying to the underworld.
Oh, and there are meerkats, including a genetically engineered assassin meerkat. When considering the depravity of human beings, the meerkats might, in fact, consider themselves to be the superior species.
In a novel so unique, it is difficult to pin down specific influences. Perhaps the greatest influence is H.G. Wells, the pioneer of science fiction from a century prior. Like the 1895 H.G. Wells masterpiece, The Time Machine, Veniss Underground features parallel civilizations above and below ground, where the greatest terror is underneath the surface. The engineering of new animals certainly recalls work by the titular character from The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896).
Beyond H.G. Wells, there is also a strong connection between Veniss Underground and ancient Greek mythology, particularly the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, with Quin playing the role of Hades, lord of the underworld. VanderMeer’s descriptions of the underworld also recall the various circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno.
VanderMeer’s writing is dense yet accessible. The story is a page-turner, drawing the reader in from the first pages and leaving them wanting more. Fortunately, the twentieth anniversary edition provides exactly that: another 150 pages of content set in the same world, including four previously published short stories and one all-new story. Each of the stories provides another slice of life in the city of Veniss. However, the short stories are more like fragments, none of them reaching the same level of storytelling as the main novel. Nevertheless, readers may appreciate having these additional perspectives on the world.
Veniss Underground is the quintessential New Weird novel, deeply unsettling yet strangely compelling. As in his subsequent work, Jeff VanderMeer truly astounds with the inventiveness of his world and storytelling.
July 31, 2013
Artist Nicholas goes to the sinister Quin to buy a meerkat and winds up missing. His twin sister Nicola combs the city of Veniss looking for him and also disappears and it's up to Shadrach, Nicholas' friend and Nicola's former lover, to find them. Can Shadrach find them before Quin finds him?
Veniss Underground is the first of Jeff Vandermeer's new weird works. While it's not as pants-shittingly awesome as some of his later works, it's still really good.
Veniss takes place in a dystopian future. Artificial life forms abound and life is cheap. Veniss sits atop a vast underworld, an underworld that Shadrach must scour in order to find Nicola. While not as detailed as Ambergris, Veniss is almost a character in its own right. The meerkats, the ganeshas, and the other artificial life forms are really creepy.
The way Vandermeer tells the story is masterful. The first part is told by Nicholas in the first person. The second part is about Nichola and told in the second person, and the third part is told in the third person and features Shadrach. Shadrach's tale is almost a retelling of the story of Orpheus, except with a talking meerkat head glued to a plate and a villian living inside a mile wide fish. Crazy, crazy stuff with lots of grotesque characters.
While I didn't like Veniss Underground as much as I did Finch, it was still one hell of a good read. Highly recommended to all new weird and Vandermeer fans.
Veniss Underground is the first of Jeff Vandermeer's new weird works. While it's not as pants-shittingly awesome as some of his later works, it's still really good.
Veniss takes place in a dystopian future. Artificial life forms abound and life is cheap. Veniss sits atop a vast underworld, an underworld that Shadrach must scour in order to find Nicola. While not as detailed as Ambergris, Veniss is almost a character in its own right. The meerkats, the ganeshas, and the other artificial life forms are really creepy.
The way Vandermeer tells the story is masterful. The first part is told by Nicholas in the first person. The second part is about Nichola and told in the second person, and the third part is told in the third person and features Shadrach. Shadrach's tale is almost a retelling of the story of Orpheus, except with a talking meerkat head glued to a plate and a villian living inside a mile wide fish. Crazy, crazy stuff with lots of grotesque characters.
While I didn't like Veniss Underground as much as I did Finch, it was still one hell of a good read. Highly recommended to all new weird and Vandermeer fans.
March 22, 2015
Plane of Existence
This futuristic, metaphysical tale reminded me a lot of Angela Carter's novels.
It's told in three sections, each of which offers a different, but cumulative, perspective. Together, they work like a multi-faceted jewel.
The first is narrated by holographic artist Nicholas in the first person.
The second, about his twin sister, Nicola, is told in the second person.
The third, which focusses on Nicola’s former lover, Shadrach, is in the third person.
It’s set in the dystopian city of Veniss (formerly known as Dayton Central) - a place that's "like an adder’s kiss, deadly and unpredictable".
It's difficult to tell what is real rather than imaginary; what is organic rather than inorganic; what is natural rather than artificial; what is substantive rather than illusory; what is authentic rather than fake:
"The city is sharp, the city is a cliché performed with cardboard and painted sparkly colours to disguise the empty centre – the hole."
The surface world is dying. Nature is dying. Beneath the surface is a world of different levels or planes of existence, each of which gets more rotten the deeper you go. It's a hell-hole. Capital G God is dead. Man isn’t far behind. The hole is filled by Art. Dead Art is two dimensional, flat, dead. Live Art is three dimensional, holographic, paradoxically life-like.
One more character detail: Quin, the proprietor of "Quin’s Shanghai Circus", is a bioneer, the creator of a future which will survive underground after the cities have gone.
Quin makes critters, creatures, some of which once existed (but don’t now), and some of which never existed, except in myth or in our imaginations. Those for whom he has the greatest ambition are two-meter-plus tall genetically engineered cross-breeds of humans and (vander-) meerkats!
Lost Love
There’s a distinct possibility that Quin created the twins ”from a vat womb like all the other vatlings...grown from the same egg”:
"You. Were. Always. Two. As one. Nicola and Nicholas, merging into the collective memory together, so that...in each moment you spent with him, you lived again that mist-shrouded beginning when the doctor rescued you from the artificial mother’s womb."
They merge like Romeo and Juliette in our memory, as if they were lovers, not just two parts of the same whole. Perhaps they should never have been separated:
"You...the first sight of the world, for you, for Nick…was the other, the twin, the sweet mirror of the flesh."
But Shadrach loves Nicola, too. Nicholas seeks employment with Quin beneath the surface world and becomes the vehicle for his artistic projects. Nicola falls out of love, then disappears, and might even be dead, potentially at the behest of Nicholas and Quin:
"If Shadrach loved her alive, he loved her better, longer, farther, when he thought she was dead..."
Undiscovered Country
Shadrach holds Quin responsible. He resolves to find him deep underground in Quin’s Hell and kill him. In the process, like Orpheus and Eurydice, he hopes to locate, retrieve and revive Nicola.
Shadrach underestimates Quin's power and the protectiveness of the world he has created and populated around him:
"Quin rules the world, Shad...He’s like a god."
Quin’s a misanthrope. He's also one step ahead of or beyond mankind. He's acutely aware that society and nature are falling apart. Social structures are collapsing everywhere. The world is dying on the vine. Quin knows, because he's in the thick of it.
Quin's intuitive response is to embrace entropy. He plans to allow his creatures, his acolytes, to "no longer worship at the altar of Quin. To let them become themselves. Make their own decisions."
This particular god plans to free his creatures without abandoning them. He proposes to replace man with artificial constructs that finally have free will that surpasses that of man living under God.
Not the End of the World
Ironically, VanderMeer draws a sympathetic portrait of Quin. We learn that -
"Quin is the man living in the belly of a giant fish who remakes the world in his own image, but is trapped in its jaws."
At the same time, what motivates Quin is the belief that –
"...the human race is dying. It’s had its time, and yet has done nothing but squander it, each age a fainter echo of the last. Enough, I say. Be done, I say! Let some other species have its turn...If you kill me, the slow unravelling of the human race begins, for this death will be the first sign, the first symbol, from which all the others derive, until one day the humans find their servants have become their masters."
Needless to say, an encounter must take place, a symbolic battle between Good and Evil, albeit one motivated by a love gone wrong.
Shadrach is ostensibly our hero. Only, he’s exhausted and love-sick:
"His mouth was dry. He felt hollow. He felt as if he were dead. He decided that this was a good way to feel, after all of the hate, all of the love that had passed through him. He wanted to be empty for a while."
Is he up to the fight? Is Quin more powerful in the flesh than as an idea?
Ultimately, we learn that "all systems atrophy. All systems die...There are too many systems. Too much confusion. Something has gone wrong."
Shadrach embraces free will and tries to bring down the creator of much of the underground world, if not himself. Still, at the end, VanderMeer has us asking:
"Had he done enough? Could he have done better?"
More than that, I cannot say! I recommend that you find out for yourself!
ADDED EXTRAS:
Memories Are Made of This
This memory
Has been
Separated
From me.
I've documented it,
Here,
In writing.
Now it exists,
It's alive,
Somehow,
Apart from me.
It doesn't need me.
One day, for it,
I won't exist.
I wonder if
It's already
Happened?
Today, it asked me
Who I was.
Well, actually,
"Who is I?"
Is what it said.
I wasn't sure
Which I it was
Referring to.
Nor was it.
I mean I.
"The I Lost in the You"
[Mostly in the Words of Jeff VanderMeer]
How much
Does it hurt
To be lost
In the mind
Of your loved one,
When it seems
They no longer
Love you?
The Construct
"No," it said,
Smiling, as the blood
Rushed to its head,
"This is not me."
The Negation
I'm not myself. I'm just not.
Single Cell Haiku
I am just a memory.
An I for an I
I would give
An I
For an I
That would
Survive
In my
Memory.
GALLERY:
Veniss Underground Environment [Slideshow]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOM9...
SOUNDTRACK [ALL OVER THE MAP]:
Giant Sand - "Faithful"
“Me I was at the height of my powers
There in the small of her neck
Between her compassion and her prowess
Her heart was the compass
And knew when and where I’d wreck...”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdHn-...
Giant Sand - "Yer Ropes"
"They say this place is haunted. Yeah, but only by a ghost."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6PZM...
Giant Sand - "Glum"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9pxH...
Giant Sand - "Increment Of Love"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eqB...
Giant Sand - Live on KEXP
Song List:
Plane Of Existence
Lost Love
Undiscovered Country
Not The End Of The World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN6h3...
This futuristic, metaphysical tale reminded me a lot of Angela Carter's novels.
It's told in three sections, each of which offers a different, but cumulative, perspective. Together, they work like a multi-faceted jewel.
The first is narrated by holographic artist Nicholas in the first person.
The second, about his twin sister, Nicola, is told in the second person.
The third, which focusses on Nicola’s former lover, Shadrach, is in the third person.
It’s set in the dystopian city of Veniss (formerly known as Dayton Central) - a place that's "like an adder’s kiss, deadly and unpredictable".
It's difficult to tell what is real rather than imaginary; what is organic rather than inorganic; what is natural rather than artificial; what is substantive rather than illusory; what is authentic rather than fake:
"The city is sharp, the city is a cliché performed with cardboard and painted sparkly colours to disguise the empty centre – the hole."
The surface world is dying. Nature is dying. Beneath the surface is a world of different levels or planes of existence, each of which gets more rotten the deeper you go. It's a hell-hole. Capital G God is dead. Man isn’t far behind. The hole is filled by Art. Dead Art is two dimensional, flat, dead. Live Art is three dimensional, holographic, paradoxically life-like.
One more character detail: Quin, the proprietor of "Quin’s Shanghai Circus", is a bioneer, the creator of a future which will survive underground after the cities have gone.
Quin makes critters, creatures, some of which once existed (but don’t now), and some of which never existed, except in myth or in our imaginations. Those for whom he has the greatest ambition are two-meter-plus tall genetically engineered cross-breeds of humans and (vander-) meerkats!
Lost Love
There’s a distinct possibility that Quin created the twins ”from a vat womb like all the other vatlings...grown from the same egg”:
"You. Were. Always. Two. As one. Nicola and Nicholas, merging into the collective memory together, so that...in each moment you spent with him, you lived again that mist-shrouded beginning when the doctor rescued you from the artificial mother’s womb."
They merge like Romeo and Juliette in our memory, as if they were lovers, not just two parts of the same whole. Perhaps they should never have been separated:
"You...the first sight of the world, for you, for Nick…was the other, the twin, the sweet mirror of the flesh."
But Shadrach loves Nicola, too. Nicholas seeks employment with Quin beneath the surface world and becomes the vehicle for his artistic projects. Nicola falls out of love, then disappears, and might even be dead, potentially at the behest of Nicholas and Quin:
"If Shadrach loved her alive, he loved her better, longer, farther, when he thought she was dead..."
Undiscovered Country
Shadrach holds Quin responsible. He resolves to find him deep underground in Quin’s Hell and kill him. In the process, like Orpheus and Eurydice, he hopes to locate, retrieve and revive Nicola.
Shadrach underestimates Quin's power and the protectiveness of the world he has created and populated around him:
"Quin rules the world, Shad...He’s like a god."
Quin’s a misanthrope. He's also one step ahead of or beyond mankind. He's acutely aware that society and nature are falling apart. Social structures are collapsing everywhere. The world is dying on the vine. Quin knows, because he's in the thick of it.
Quin's intuitive response is to embrace entropy. He plans to allow his creatures, his acolytes, to "no longer worship at the altar of Quin. To let them become themselves. Make their own decisions."
This particular god plans to free his creatures without abandoning them. He proposes to replace man with artificial constructs that finally have free will that surpasses that of man living under God.
Not the End of the World
Ironically, VanderMeer draws a sympathetic portrait of Quin. We learn that -
"Quin is the man living in the belly of a giant fish who remakes the world in his own image, but is trapped in its jaws."
At the same time, what motivates Quin is the belief that –
"...the human race is dying. It’s had its time, and yet has done nothing but squander it, each age a fainter echo of the last. Enough, I say. Be done, I say! Let some other species have its turn...If you kill me, the slow unravelling of the human race begins, for this death will be the first sign, the first symbol, from which all the others derive, until one day the humans find their servants have become their masters."
Needless to say, an encounter must take place, a symbolic battle between Good and Evil, albeit one motivated by a love gone wrong.
Shadrach is ostensibly our hero. Only, he’s exhausted and love-sick:
"His mouth was dry. He felt hollow. He felt as if he were dead. He decided that this was a good way to feel, after all of the hate, all of the love that had passed through him. He wanted to be empty for a while."
Is he up to the fight? Is Quin more powerful in the flesh than as an idea?
Ultimately, we learn that "all systems atrophy. All systems die...There are too many systems. Too much confusion. Something has gone wrong."
Shadrach embraces free will and tries to bring down the creator of much of the underground world, if not himself. Still, at the end, VanderMeer has us asking:
"Had he done enough? Could he have done better?"
More than that, I cannot say! I recommend that you find out for yourself!
ADDED EXTRAS:
Memories Are Made of This
This memory
Has been
Separated
From me.
I've documented it,
Here,
In writing.
Now it exists,
It's alive,
Somehow,
Apart from me.
It doesn't need me.
One day, for it,
I won't exist.
I wonder if
It's already
Happened?
Today, it asked me
Who I was.
Well, actually,
"Who is I?"
Is what it said.
I wasn't sure
Which I it was
Referring to.
Nor was it.
I mean I.
"The I Lost in the You"
[Mostly in the Words of Jeff VanderMeer]
How much
Does it hurt
To be lost
In the mind
Of your loved one,
When it seems
They no longer
Love you?
The Construct
"No," it said,
Smiling, as the blood
Rushed to its head,
"This is not me."
The Negation
I'm not myself. I'm just not.
Single Cell Haiku
I am just a memory.
An I for an I
I would give
An I
For an I
That would
Survive
In my
Memory.
GALLERY:
Veniss Underground Environment [Slideshow]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOM9...
SOUNDTRACK [ALL OVER THE MAP]:
Giant Sand - "Faithful"
“Me I was at the height of my powers
There in the small of her neck
Between her compassion and her prowess
Her heart was the compass
And knew when and where I’d wreck...”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdHn-...
Giant Sand - "Yer Ropes"
"They say this place is haunted. Yeah, but only by a ghost."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6PZM...
Giant Sand - "Glum"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9pxH...
Giant Sand - "Increment Of Love"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eqB...
Giant Sand - Live on KEXP
Song List:
Plane Of Existence
Lost Love
Undiscovered Country
Not The End Of The World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN6h3...
dreaded-dnf
April 21, 2023DNF at 15%.
The narrators are great, but the story lost me around 10%. It's me, not the book. Or maybe it's just Jeff VanderMeer's style I don't like? Not really sure, but no rating or review.
The narrators are great, but the story lost me around 10%. It's me, not the book. Or maybe it's just Jeff VanderMeer's style I don't like? Not really sure, but no rating or review.
July 31, 2023
I did not expect, in this first wild pulp novel twenty years back, to find already the themes and images that haunt all Vandermeer’s recent work. Here are Borne’s holding ponds, Hummingbird Salamander’s charnel house, the fox’s diatribe from Dead Astronauts. And as with those this is a novel of the late Anthropocene and its end, human structures falling apart and giving way to something else born partly from our own aspirations and errors, partly beyond us. That it’s formed even more completely in the pre-literary vats of genre — though the chimeric genre of the new weird — in some ways removes the dissonance that comes when, say, the clearer sci-fi and horror tropes breach the more ambiguous nightmare landscape of the Southern Reach novels. I love hybrids and muddled genres, to be sure, but there's something to how this more completely settled into its fantastical world, without, presumably, seeking the wider readership later work would manage to reach. Though still chimeric: a transgenic cyberpunk Orpheus plumbing Bosch’s inferno, with the compressed action of a fairy tale. And still unsettlingly relevant to our present path, twenty years on.
This is a well-deserved new edition, with excellent new cover art and a selection of related stories, including one of my favorites of his "Three Days in a Border Town." In The Third Bear, without knowing that it was a Veniss story, it was a strange and alluring mystery; here, in context, it resonates differently but is no less memorable.
This is a well-deserved new edition, with excellent new cover art and a selection of related stories, including one of my favorites of his "Three Days in a Border Town." In The Third Bear, without knowing that it was a Veniss story, it was a strange and alluring mystery; here, in context, it resonates differently but is no less memorable.
February 5, 2011
4.0 to 4.5 stars. Jeff Vandermeer has an amazing imagination and the writing chops to put it down on paper in a way that draws the reader inside his very unusual world where they can truly look around and feel a part of it (which can be a bit unnerving given that he writes about some very dark places). While the entire book is very good, I thought the last section was the best. It details one of the character's decent into the title locale (i.e., Veniss Underground) which is about the most unsual place I have ever read about. The underground is vividly detailed despite being almost indescribable in its weirdness. It was surreal yet potent. My best analogy would be to describe it as Philip K. Dick meets H.P Lovecraft. Defintely worth a look. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!
Nominee: Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel (2004)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best First Novel (2004)
Nominee: World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2004)
Voted #2 on the SFSite Reader's Poll (2004)
Nominee: Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel (2004)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best First Novel (2004)
Nominee: World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2004)
Voted #2 on the SFSite Reader's Poll (2004)
December 12, 2010
I picked up this book on a recommendation as a book that features it's urban setting as an integral character in the story. When I looked at the synopsis, I was glad to see it's a Far Dark Future-y cyberpunky sort of story. It's not like all the other cyberpunk books I've read; the prose is some weird amalgam of stream-of-conscious meets futurewords-without-enough-context. It read like some Important Modern Literature I've seen (and subsequently loathed). I believe our main character, or at least the one who's point of view has most of the words for the part I read, is a starving artist and he's telling me that he's telling me about something that happened to him. That was not a typo back there - the character is actually making a point of saying (over and over) that he's telling me a story. First of all, I'm not a fan of books that address me directly. It's a gimmicky device that's only useful in a small number of (mostly humorous) contexts. Books are for being written and being read, and I'd like to keep the conversation between myself and the author in my very own head, thank you very much. If you want to have a dialogue with me, send me an email or write me a note on a forum; otherwise, stick to writing your story and we'll get along fine. I provide this sentence as exemplary of the way the author uses lots of words and punctuation without saying anything meaningful:
Right about the time I was telling myself, "I'm going to give this book 5% more to figure out how to talk to me, or I'm giving up on it" there's a chapter break and the POV changes. I usually don't like POV changes; it's fine to move between characters but please don't change the narrative POV you're approaching the characters with unless you have a really good reason and you know what you're doing. I never found the former and I'm not convinced of the latter. The narrative changed to second person POV.
I.Fucking.Hate.Second.Person.POV.
I hate it in my bones. The very fiber of my essence quivers with revulsion when my eyes scan second person POV with a disgust that is born of the irrationality that can only be fostered by a childhood full of abuse. Second person narrative makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I don't doubt for a moment that authors feel passionately about their work and they put an amazing amount of effort into writing a book, but that doesn't mean anybody, anywhere, anytime, gets to tell me "You feel (something), you think (something)." I reserve that right for myself alone. The author is more than welcome to try and manipulate my feelings and intellect, but I and I alone get to tell me what I feel and think. The prose doesn't improve much with the change in POV, either. The irony of the following selection is that it's the loser artist's sister talking about the loser artist we met in the first quote, but it could just as easily be talking about the prose:
That was right about where I knew this book and I did not have a future together. I soldiered on for the remainder of my cigarette, glued to my reader like a bystander at a trainwreck and found this gem that, again, could describe my thoughts about this book:
Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of the book. I suppose it isn't poorly written, it's just written in a way that really turns me off. No doubt there's a worthwhile story lurking in the craggy depths of those murky sentences, like coelecanths waiting to be discovered long after they were written off. I'm willing to let other people find it.
So, since Shadrach certainly wouldn't move in to protect me and my art from the cold pricklies of destruction - I mean, I couldn't go it alone; I had this horrible vision of sacrificing my ceramics, throwing them at future Pick Dicks because the holo stuff wouldn't do any harm of a physical nature (which made me think, hey, maybe this holo stuff is Dead Art, too, if it doesn't impact on the world when you throw it) - since that was Dead Idea, I was determined to go down to Quin's Shanghai Circus (wherever that was) and "git me a meerkat," as those hokey nuevo Westerns say. A meerkat for me, I'd say, tall as you please. Make it a double. In a dirty glass cage. (Oh, I'd crack myself up if the Pick Dicks hadn't already. Tricky, tricky pick dicks.)
Right about the time I was telling myself, "I'm going to give this book 5% more to figure out how to talk to me, or I'm giving up on it" there's a chapter break and the POV changes. I usually don't like POV changes; it's fine to move between characters but please don't change the narrative POV you're approaching the characters with unless you have a really good reason and you know what you're doing. I never found the former and I'm not convinced of the latter. The narrative changed to second person POV.
I.Fucking.Hate.Second.Person.POV.
I hate it in my bones. The very fiber of my essence quivers with revulsion when my eyes scan second person POV with a disgust that is born of the irrationality that can only be fostered by a childhood full of abuse. Second person narrative makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I don't doubt for a moment that authors feel passionately about their work and they put an amazing amount of effort into writing a book, but that doesn't mean anybody, anywhere, anytime, gets to tell me "You feel (something), you think (something)." I reserve that right for myself alone. The author is more than welcome to try and manipulate my feelings and intellect, but I and I alone get to tell me what I feel and think. The prose doesn't improve much with the change in POV, either. The irony of the following selection is that it's the loser artist's sister talking about the loser artist we met in the first quote, but it could just as easily be talking about the prose:
You can still hear Nick's sentences, but you don't want to complete them, for they are monstrous, guttural creations, and they reek of blood. They are not the constructions of the Nick you know, the Nick who loves the Canal District for its many-layered conversations, the deals being made, the mysterious magic of it that defies easy definition.
That was right about where I knew this book and I did not have a future together. I soldiered on for the remainder of my cigarette, glued to my reader like a bystander at a trainwreck and found this gem that, again, could describe my thoughts about this book:
Another week passes into gray oblivion. You're a slow dream, an autumn freeze, a ship in the doldrums. Thoughts come slow and ponderous, like deep-sea fish floating heavy and memory-bound to the surface; coelacanth reborn.
Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of the book. I suppose it isn't poorly written, it's just written in a way that really turns me off. No doubt there's a worthwhile story lurking in the craggy depths of those murky sentences, like coelecanths waiting to be discovered long after they were written off. I'm willing to let other people find it.
November 4, 2014
Vandermeer has published many more short stories than novels, and his preference for the short format shows – Veniss is a very short novel (in my edition bundled with an unrelated (?) ‘novella’ (I’d still call it a short story) to fill out the book.
Its length is my biggest complaint with the work. Vandermeer shows the reader an immensely complex, vivid setting – but in around 200 pages, there isn’t time to explore it in the depth one might like to – and the plot itself is very slight.
Veniss is 28th-century Dayton (?) – a crumbling city with wealth on the surface, and untold numbers of literally underground levels filled with the poor, mutants, biohazards, and bioengineered creatures. The milieu is one that’s becoming familiar to readers of SF (although Vandermeer refers to his world as “not SF, but a phantasmagoria”), heavily reminiscent of Mieville, and full of allusions to other mythological and literary works.
But even in this grotesque future, people are just still regular people, trying to make lives for themselves, full of their own concerns.
Nicholas is a failed artist, who pulls in some favors from his friend Shadrach for a meeting with the near-mythical bioengineer Quin, hoping to get a job or commission out of it.
For unknown (?) reasons, Quin, who’s more of an evil cipher than a character, hell-bent on taking over the world with his bioengineered meerkats (!), decides to use Nicholas to go after and kidnap Nicholas’ sister, Nicola, who happens to be Shadrach’s ex-.
Shadrach’s still in love with Nicola, so he goes on an Orphic journey into the Wellsian/Lovecraftian underground levels of hell to rescue Nicola before all her parts are used up by the organ banks.
Of course, this being a dark-and-jaded type of book, one can’t expect an ending full of light and purity… but it doesn’t turn out all that bad, either…
Overall – I liked it. But I’d been hearing such good thing about the book that I guess it didn’t quite live up to the hype.
In the “Afterword,” Vandermeer gives us Quin’s backstory, and an explanation of why he isn’t a fully realized character (we’re supposed to merely be seeing his through the eyes of the ‘narrators’ of the three parts of the book – Nicholas, Nicola and Shadrach) – but the very fact that that explanation is necessary admits to a degree of awkwardness there.
My edition of this novel also included the story “Balzac’s War.”
I loved this story. For me, it packed much more of an emotional punch than ‘Veniss,’ and was really near-perfectly crafted.
In (I believe, a different) decaying future, humans in a crumbling society are being invaded by (possibly) an alien species. The invaders welcome worship, and offer humans ‘immortality’ by the method of transplanting their heads onto a monstrous, engineered, non-human body. However, these monsters with human heads are sent to war against their former compatriots and families. It’s unsure if they are still ‘themselves’ at all…
This story deals with one man in particular dealing with his wife coming back in such a form… Really an amazing, powerful story.
Its length is my biggest complaint with the work. Vandermeer shows the reader an immensely complex, vivid setting – but in around 200 pages, there isn’t time to explore it in the depth one might like to – and the plot itself is very slight.
Veniss is 28th-century Dayton (?) – a crumbling city with wealth on the surface, and untold numbers of literally underground levels filled with the poor, mutants, biohazards, and bioengineered creatures. The milieu is one that’s becoming familiar to readers of SF (although Vandermeer refers to his world as “not SF, but a phantasmagoria”), heavily reminiscent of Mieville, and full of allusions to other mythological and literary works.
But even in this grotesque future, people are just still regular people, trying to make lives for themselves, full of their own concerns.
Nicholas is a failed artist, who pulls in some favors from his friend Shadrach for a meeting with the near-mythical bioengineer Quin, hoping to get a job or commission out of it.
For unknown (?) reasons, Quin, who’s more of an evil cipher than a character, hell-bent on taking over the world with his bioengineered meerkats (!), decides to use Nicholas to go after and kidnap Nicholas’ sister, Nicola, who happens to be Shadrach’s ex-.
Shadrach’s still in love with Nicola, so he goes on an Orphic journey into the Wellsian/Lovecraftian underground levels of hell to rescue Nicola before all her parts are used up by the organ banks.
Of course, this being a dark-and-jaded type of book, one can’t expect an ending full of light and purity… but it doesn’t turn out all that bad, either…
Overall – I liked it. But I’d been hearing such good thing about the book that I guess it didn’t quite live up to the hype.
In the “Afterword,” Vandermeer gives us Quin’s backstory, and an explanation of why he isn’t a fully realized character (we’re supposed to merely be seeing his through the eyes of the ‘narrators’ of the three parts of the book – Nicholas, Nicola and Shadrach) – but the very fact that that explanation is necessary admits to a degree of awkwardness there.
My edition of this novel also included the story “Balzac’s War.”
I loved this story. For me, it packed much more of an emotional punch than ‘Veniss,’ and was really near-perfectly crafted.
In (I believe, a different) decaying future, humans in a crumbling society are being invaded by (possibly) an alien species. The invaders welcome worship, and offer humans ‘immortality’ by the method of transplanting their heads onto a monstrous, engineered, non-human body. However, these monsters with human heads are sent to war against their former compatriots and families. It’s unsure if they are still ‘themselves’ at all…
This story deals with one man in particular dealing with his wife coming back in such a form… Really an amazing, powerful story.
May 15, 2023
I’m honestly not sure what to think of this book. The reader has to go in with an open mind, a VERY open mind, as with many of the author’s other publications.
I’ve read VanderMeer’s work before and felt the same way. Some parts I could understand, and others were beyond my grasp.
This is a fluid book, filled with weird and horrific imagery, vibrant chaos, and is quintessentially “VanderMeer”.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this reissued story!
I’ve read VanderMeer’s work before and felt the same way. Some parts I could understand, and others were beyond my grasp.
This is a fluid book, filled with weird and horrific imagery, vibrant chaos, and is quintessentially “VanderMeer”.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this reissued story!
October 23, 2018
Jeff Vandermeer’s first novel takes us to the city of Veniss, a sprawling dystopian metropolis, where strange creatures, created from biological and mechanical parts roam the city. In the background looms a mysterious character named Quin, who seems responsible for all the strange automatons and creatures walking the city. The novel follows a failed artist, his sister and her former lovers’ journey into the bowels of the city and the sheer madness that has been built in the name of Quin.
This is the first novel I’ve read by Vandermeer, who’s been a household name in both weird fiction and sci-fi for some years now, and I’m not sure if I like the novel. There is so much going on with the descriptions of sights, sounds, and scenery, and it can be overwhelming at times. In some scenes it is almost as if Vandermeer is trying to cram as many strange descriptions as possible on to the page, overloading the reader with information. But every now and then Vandermeer has descriptions that really sparks up the imagination and lights it on fire, painting strange surreal pictures of multi-colored decrepitude and impossible sights that shine through the rest of the prose. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen often enough throughout the novel.
It is not a bad novel, but I had a certain feeling of déjà vu as I read it and neither the world or the characters managed to interest me much, this paired with the overloaded prose left me unimpressed. Not really my cup of tea.
This is the first novel I’ve read by Vandermeer, who’s been a household name in both weird fiction and sci-fi for some years now, and I’m not sure if I like the novel. There is so much going on with the descriptions of sights, sounds, and scenery, and it can be overwhelming at times. In some scenes it is almost as if Vandermeer is trying to cram as many strange descriptions as possible on to the page, overloading the reader with information. But every now and then Vandermeer has descriptions that really sparks up the imagination and lights it on fire, painting strange surreal pictures of multi-colored decrepitude and impossible sights that shine through the rest of the prose. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen often enough throughout the novel.
It is not a bad novel, but I had a certain feeling of déjà vu as I read it and neither the world or the characters managed to interest me much, this paired with the overloaded prose left me unimpressed. Not really my cup of tea.
June 23, 2025
DNF at 25%. I’m sorry, excuse my language, but what the actual fuck was this??? I couldn’t go on any further…I even tried to audiobook this to try to help me get through it, obviously it didn’t help. Even if this was the last book on earth, I wouldn’t pick it up again.
June 3, 2023
TL;DR A weird, gruesome adventure that was fast-paced and a blast to read. I recommend.
I don't know how to start this review. Book awesome. Book have cool concept. Jerry like. Thank for read Jerry writing. That's all I got.
Anyways, Jeff Vandermeer's debut novel was fantastic! The novel is a weird sci-fi, urban fantasy, bio-horror mix with a dying earth backdrop. The book is split into three parts, each with a different point of view (first, second, and then finally third person), and we follow three different but connected characters and the unfortunate events that befall them in the sprawling city of Veniss. I don't want to delve deep into the plot, since it is a fast-paced read and I try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but adaptations to biological life abound in the city and it's seemingly depthless underground, centered around a mysterious "bioneer" called Quinn. In this edition, we also get a bit of backstory on Quin as well as a badass novelette titled Balzac's War where humanity fights a devastating war against its own creations. The result is a terrifying yet enrapturing vision of humanity's future that chilled me to the bone.
My favorite part of the book is the setting. Veniss is a cool city, but the sprawling, grimdark underground is where the book really captured me. With a focus around organs, body parts, and adaption of the human form, the underground is a horrifying slum that only gets worse as you go deeper, reminiscient of the Circles of Hell from Dante's Inferno. In fact, the entire third section of the book is a Dante-esque hellquest with horrors straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting. I'm also reminded a bit of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, in that the structure of Veniss consists of sharply contrasting civilizations: the aboveground and belowground. I'd love to pick his brain on what inspired him while writing this book.
The biological horror in the novel is overt yet well-done, and Vandermeer manages to paint a grotesque scene without overdoing the horror of it. While the characters aren't the best since we don't send a ton of time with them, the world around them compensates for this, in my opinion. The additional stories after the main story are intriguing without being exhausting, and Balzac's War was just a brutal, gut-wrenching blast to read.
If you can't tell, I love this book. It is a macabre foray into the depths of human depravity and progress that seems strangely plausible. I wouldn't recommend this for those who get queasy, but if you want a thought-provoking and original story about the consequences of reckless human advancement, definitely pick this one up.
I don't know how to start this review. Book awesome. Book have cool concept. Jerry like. Thank for read Jerry writing. That's all I got.
Anyways, Jeff Vandermeer's debut novel was fantastic! The novel is a weird sci-fi, urban fantasy, bio-horror mix with a dying earth backdrop. The book is split into three parts, each with a different point of view (first, second, and then finally third person), and we follow three different but connected characters and the unfortunate events that befall them in the sprawling city of Veniss. I don't want to delve deep into the plot, since it is a fast-paced read and I try to keep spoilers to a minimum, but adaptations to biological life abound in the city and it's seemingly depthless underground, centered around a mysterious "bioneer" called Quinn. In this edition, we also get a bit of backstory on Quin as well as a badass novelette titled Balzac's War where humanity fights a devastating war against its own creations. The result is a terrifying yet enrapturing vision of humanity's future that chilled me to the bone.
My favorite part of the book is the setting. Veniss is a cool city, but the sprawling, grimdark underground is where the book really captured me. With a focus around organs, body parts, and adaption of the human form, the underground is a horrifying slum that only gets worse as you go deeper, reminiscient of the Circles of Hell from Dante's Inferno. In fact, the entire third section of the book is a Dante-esque hellquest with horrors straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting. I'm also reminded a bit of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, in that the structure of Veniss consists of sharply contrasting civilizations: the aboveground and belowground. I'd love to pick his brain on what inspired him while writing this book.
The biological horror in the novel is overt yet well-done, and Vandermeer manages to paint a grotesque scene without overdoing the horror of it. While the characters aren't the best since we don't send a ton of time with them, the world around them compensates for this, in my opinion. The additional stories after the main story are intriguing without being exhausting, and Balzac's War was just a brutal, gut-wrenching blast to read.
If you can't tell, I love this book. It is a macabre foray into the depths of human depravity and progress that seems strangely plausible. I wouldn't recommend this for those who get queasy, but if you want a thought-provoking and original story about the consequences of reckless human advancement, definitely pick this one up.
January 20, 2024
Gotta love Jeff, when you read his books you just have to accept that the learning curve is impossible and revel in it. This was just so creative and interesting to me, although somewhat hard to recommend. I haven’t enjoyed reading a Vandermeer novel this much since Borne, it’s an insane first novel!
January 21, 2009
This is one of those books that you can't put down once you start it. You get sucked in immediately and as things unfold throughout the book, you can't stop reading. I would recommend it for readers who like sci-fi & don't mind some graphic (ick) scenes. And I also recommend it for anyone looking for a new reading experience.
Brief (and I mean brief) plot summary
Set very much in the future, the story is set in the city of Veniss, which used to be known as Dayton Central, until the government collapsed and then its inhabitants "started calling it Veniss -- like an adder's hiss, deadly and unpredictable." (11). Nick is an artist who does living art, but the tools of his trade were stolen & he couldn't afford to replace them. He decides to call upon one Mr. Quin, whose realm is the underground. To get there & to get an introduction, he goes to his friend Shadrach, who tells him exactly what to do when he gets there & how to deal with Quin, after having warning Nick not to do it. Shadrach works for Quin and spent much of his life underground, so he makes Nick promise he will follow his instructions to the letter. But as the weeks go by, and Nick's sister Nicola hasn't heard from Nick, she begins to get worried & starts investigating on her own. This, of course, gets her involved in Nick's problems and as a result some of her own. Shadrach, who is in love with Nicola, then goes to help Nicola. That's the nutshell version.
What really makes this book, though, is not so much the plot, but the incredibly vivid imagery of life in the future in the city of Veniss, both above and underground. It is a world where ganeshas (you know, the Hindu gods with many arms that look like elephants) work as security guards & messengers and meerkats 4 feet tall also fulfill different functions among the humans. And in Shadrach's quest underground to find Quin, the images are astounding. It's almost like reading Dante's Inferno where at every level & at every step along the journey there is always something new & intriguing to witness. Furthermore, even though the weird creatures think and act and speak English, you just get to a point while reading where you accept that this could be plausible, as Vandermeer makes this unreality so incredibly real for the reader.
I would definitely recommend this to readers who wish to put in the time...believe me, you'll want to go over this one again. I did.
Brief (and I mean brief) plot summary
Set very much in the future, the story is set in the city of Veniss, which used to be known as Dayton Central, until the government collapsed and then its inhabitants "started calling it Veniss -- like an adder's hiss, deadly and unpredictable." (11). Nick is an artist who does living art, but the tools of his trade were stolen & he couldn't afford to replace them. He decides to call upon one Mr. Quin, whose realm is the underground. To get there & to get an introduction, he goes to his friend Shadrach, who tells him exactly what to do when he gets there & how to deal with Quin, after having warning Nick not to do it. Shadrach works for Quin and spent much of his life underground, so he makes Nick promise he will follow his instructions to the letter. But as the weeks go by, and Nick's sister Nicola hasn't heard from Nick, she begins to get worried & starts investigating on her own. This, of course, gets her involved in Nick's problems and as a result some of her own. Shadrach, who is in love with Nicola, then goes to help Nicola. That's the nutshell version.
What really makes this book, though, is not so much the plot, but the incredibly vivid imagery of life in the future in the city of Veniss, both above and underground. It is a world where ganeshas (you know, the Hindu gods with many arms that look like elephants) work as security guards & messengers and meerkats 4 feet tall also fulfill different functions among the humans. And in Shadrach's quest underground to find Quin, the images are astounding. It's almost like reading Dante's Inferno where at every level & at every step along the journey there is always something new & intriguing to witness. Furthermore, even though the weird creatures think and act and speak English, you just get to a point while reading where you accept that this could be plausible, as Vandermeer makes this unreality so incredibly real for the reader.
I would definitely recommend this to readers who wish to put in the time...believe me, you'll want to go over this one again. I did.
February 3, 2021
I have the greatest respect for Jeff Vandemeer and his work, generally speaking. Veniss Underground is his first novel and can be described as nightmarish, experimental and deeply unpleasant.
This is one of my Dad's favourites. He admires it's originality, it's vast imagination and it's signature blend of horror.
Personally, I found it just too gruesome. Reading it, I felt like I did as a child when I first encountered the paintings of Bosch. Horrified and nauseated. My appreciation of art is for it's beauty... why would someone unleash this hellish creation on the world?
It is rare for me to have a visceral reaction to a book - I don't usually respond as violently to literature as I do to, say, imagery in films - but there was a scene in Veniss Underground (the Cathedral) that nearly made me bring up my lunch.
Interestingly, Jeff Vandemeer took inspiration from York Minster just down the road from me...
Stylistically, he ran with all the writing techniques I hate:- overdone simile and metaphor, unwieldy sentences, USE OF THE SECOND PERSON (this should never be used ever, imo), switching between 1st / 2nd / 3rd person, repeating sentences "for effect"... I would have been more forgiving of this (the effect is good even if the execution is pretentious) if it hadn't ruined my day.
Veniss Underground does give a fascinating tableau of revoltingly original half-creatures and bizarre scenery. The horror, it has to be owned is very accomplished. The author would probably be pleased that his creations had come to life in such a repulsive and vivid fashion!
I also enjoyed the relationship between Shadrach and his decapitated friend. It even provoked the odd giggle.
He didn't quite voice Nichola right. Jeff Vandemeer struggles to find a convincing "female" voice - something I noticed in Annihilation. Not important, but it made the character feel a little undecided, whereas Nick and Shadrach were full of personality and purpose.
In conclusion, if you like (or are immune to) body horror, this is your lucky day! There are more mangled, organ-slopping, mutated hybrids to be found here than in Flanimals. Being the sensitive soul that I am, I found the overwhelming, claustrophobic mulch was just too much.
Thanks, Dad.
This is one of my Dad's favourites. He admires it's originality, it's vast imagination and it's signature blend of horror.
Personally, I found it just too gruesome. Reading it, I felt like I did as a child when I first encountered the paintings of Bosch. Horrified and nauseated. My appreciation of art is for it's beauty... why would someone unleash this hellish creation on the world?
It is rare for me to have a visceral reaction to a book - I don't usually respond as violently to literature as I do to, say, imagery in films - but there was a scene in Veniss Underground (the Cathedral) that nearly made me bring up my lunch.
Interestingly, Jeff Vandemeer took inspiration from York Minster just down the road from me...
Stylistically, he ran with all the writing techniques I hate:- overdone simile and metaphor, unwieldy sentences, USE OF THE SECOND PERSON (this should never be used ever, imo), switching between 1st / 2nd / 3rd person, repeating sentences "for effect"... I would have been more forgiving of this (the effect is good even if the execution is pretentious) if it hadn't ruined my day.
Veniss Underground does give a fascinating tableau of revoltingly original half-creatures and bizarre scenery. The horror, it has to be owned is very accomplished. The author would probably be pleased that his creations had come to life in such a repulsive and vivid fashion!
I also enjoyed the relationship between Shadrach and his decapitated friend. It even provoked the odd giggle.
He didn't quite voice Nichola right. Jeff Vandemeer struggles to find a convincing "female" voice - something I noticed in Annihilation. Not important, but it made the character feel a little undecided, whereas Nick and Shadrach were full of personality and purpose.
In conclusion, if you like (or are immune to) body horror, this is your lucky day! There are more mangled, organ-slopping, mutated hybrids to be found here than in Flanimals. Being the sensitive soul that I am, I found the overwhelming, claustrophobic mulch was just too much.
Thanks, Dad.
May 21, 2015
A fast-moving, grotesque parade. Jeff VanderMeer has an excellent imagination, and that is something I always appreciate. Veniss Underground has some structural issues, pieced together sections with disparate viewpoints (including some jarring 2nd person), and some common issues among first novels, but ones I was able to overlook. It's broken into three sections, the first that I believe was originally published as a stand-alone story, and it gets better as it progresses. Worth a read.
July 12, 2025
Vandermeer, “L’Alchimista della parola“
Romanzo d’esordio di Jeff Vandermeer, pubblicato in Italia sull’onda della fama dei suoi recenti successi (Trilogia dell’area X, Colibrì-salamandra) che hanno fortemente contribuito a rilanciare il sottogenere fantascientifico “New Weird”.
Come era prevedibile si tratta dell’opera piuttosto acerba di un autore di sicuro talento, ma non ancora del tutto padrone della struttura narrativa del racconto; risalta come sempre la grande abilità nella creazione di mondi e ambienti in decomposizione post-catastrofe, popolati da mutanti, immagini olografiche e ibridi di sperimentazioni organiche generate da oscure tecnologie di manipolazione genetica, accanto a residui inorganici di macchinari di cui si è perduta la funzione, lo scopo, l’utilità e che si evolvono o mantengono a dispetto dell’irreversibile incuria da parte dei superstiti della specie umana.
Il visionario filo narratologico della prosa di Vandermeer tende tuttavia a disperdersi verso direzioni spesso indecifrabili, caricando la lettura di suggestioni affascinanti e misteriose ma allo stesso tempo ai limiti, ed oltre, della comprensibilità e della coerenza.
Ma questo è il marchio inconfodibile dell’autore, qui alle prese con una bizzarra contaminazione fra una fantasmagoria di Bosch riprodotta sotto allucinogeni, una metropoli simil-Blade Runner estrema, e una rivisitazione di un “Cuore di tenebra” dove l’artefice principale dell’incubo malefico che “l’eroe” Shadrach vuole estirpare non risiede alle sorgenti del fiume, bensì nel più profondo dei sottolivelli della città caotica, inquinata e marcescente di Veniss.
Vandermeer si è talmente appassionato all’ambientazione ideata, da creare ed annettere al romanzo principale altri quattro racconti brevi, slegati fra loro come trama e personaggi, ma accomunati dalla medesima atmosfera e ispirazione.
Romanzo d’esordio di Jeff Vandermeer, pubblicato in Italia sull’onda della fama dei suoi recenti successi (Trilogia dell’area X, Colibrì-salamandra) che hanno fortemente contribuito a rilanciare il sottogenere fantascientifico “New Weird”.
Come era prevedibile si tratta dell’opera piuttosto acerba di un autore di sicuro talento, ma non ancora del tutto padrone della struttura narrativa del racconto; risalta come sempre la grande abilità nella creazione di mondi e ambienti in decomposizione post-catastrofe, popolati da mutanti, immagini olografiche e ibridi di sperimentazioni organiche generate da oscure tecnologie di manipolazione genetica, accanto a residui inorganici di macchinari di cui si è perduta la funzione, lo scopo, l’utilità e che si evolvono o mantengono a dispetto dell’irreversibile incuria da parte dei superstiti della specie umana.
Il visionario filo narratologico della prosa di Vandermeer tende tuttavia a disperdersi verso direzioni spesso indecifrabili, caricando la lettura di suggestioni affascinanti e misteriose ma allo stesso tempo ai limiti, ed oltre, della comprensibilità e della coerenza.
Ma questo è il marchio inconfodibile dell’autore, qui alle prese con una bizzarra contaminazione fra una fantasmagoria di Bosch riprodotta sotto allucinogeni, una metropoli simil-Blade Runner estrema, e una rivisitazione di un “Cuore di tenebra” dove l’artefice principale dell’incubo malefico che “l’eroe” Shadrach vuole estirpare non risiede alle sorgenti del fiume, bensì nel più profondo dei sottolivelli della città caotica, inquinata e marcescente di Veniss.
Vandermeer si è talmente appassionato all’ambientazione ideata, da creare ed annettere al romanzo principale altri quattro racconti brevi, slegati fra loro come trama e personaggi, ma accomunati dalla medesima atmosfera e ispirazione.
November 5, 2023
I would have really loved this book even if I'd never read VanderMeer before. But, if you have, here are the roots of so many of his recurring ideas; bioengineering, what it means to be human (and whether it really matters); conservation and transformed landscapes. Veniss is a crazy city with even crazier underground levels, and bioengineered beings who have their own, shadowy agendas. Noir meets cyberpunk meets climate fiction.
My copy includes four other stories which look at the same world from outside the city, and all of them pack a punch.
My copy includes four other stories which look at the same world from outside the city, and all of them pack a punch.
October 25, 2023
Weird. SO weird. I wanted to quit by about 25% but told myself it would improve and that it was all leading to something really cool, but it was a disappointment. The universe in which it takes place is worth exploring, but I couldn’t get past the weird characters and bizarre turns.
July 18, 2009
A short, dense novel, Veniss Underground is perhaps the defining work of the New Weird. Urban and decaying, dark and grotesque, it is heavy with mythic and literary echoes. The plot pushes characters into hopeless situations and surrounds them with terrifying strangeness, and the plot's turns and denouement subvert typical narrative expectations. In Veniss Underground, Weird is not the exception, but the rule: it surrounds, encroaches, violates, and blossoms.
The city of Veniss rots under the weight of its own decadent technological obsessions. Above ground cyberpunk-esque technologies provide endless entertainments and distractions, while governments bicker and dissolve and the few who care try to stave off a final collapse of the city's vital systems. Underground, hidden and ignored, a Living Artist named Quin crafts flesh and splices DNA, birthing strange new races and impossible creatures, sometimes beautiful but mostly unimaginably horrifying. Quin fancies himself a dark god, gleefully watching as his creatures blight the city like maggots, while he languishes in his vast laboratory of dying flesh.
Shadrach, the protagonist, must penetrate Quin's underground hell to save the woman he loves. As dark and impossible as Orpheus' journey to save Euridice, Shadrach's journey is populated by Quin with bodies suffering biopunk torments that echo Dante's Inferno and Hieronymus Bosch's conception of hell. Shadrach must face not only his own death, but the death of Veniss itself: VanderMeer makes his characters confront the death of the human race, at the hands (and paws) of Quins own twisted creations.
And then, of course, there are the Meercats.
The city of Veniss rots under the weight of its own decadent technological obsessions. Above ground cyberpunk-esque technologies provide endless entertainments and distractions, while governments bicker and dissolve and the few who care try to stave off a final collapse of the city's vital systems. Underground, hidden and ignored, a Living Artist named Quin crafts flesh and splices DNA, birthing strange new races and impossible creatures, sometimes beautiful but mostly unimaginably horrifying. Quin fancies himself a dark god, gleefully watching as his creatures blight the city like maggots, while he languishes in his vast laboratory of dying flesh.
Shadrach, the protagonist, must penetrate Quin's underground hell to save the woman he loves. As dark and impossible as Orpheus' journey to save Euridice, Shadrach's journey is populated by Quin with bodies suffering biopunk torments that echo Dante's Inferno and Hieronymus Bosch's conception of hell. Shadrach must face not only his own death, but the death of Veniss itself: VanderMeer makes his characters confront the death of the human race, at the hands (and paws) of Quins own twisted creations.
And then, of course, there are the Meercats.
July 10, 2024
Jeff VanderMeer's debut novel, "Veniss Underground," is a thrilling journey through a meticulously crafted world. Divided into three parts, each narrated from a distinct perspective—first person in Part 1, second person in Part 2, and third person in Part 3—the novel showcases VanderMeer's versatility and mastery of narrative technique.
Like his later works, "Veniss Underground" immerses us in a landscape that is at once recognizable yet profoundly alien, where the boundaries of morality and identity constantly shift. Echoes of iconic dystopian visions, from the futuristic Los Angeles of "Blade Runner" to the cyberpunk sprawl of William Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy, resonate throughout the novel. Part 3 reminded me at times of the more horrific moments of Frank Herbert's "Hellstrom's Hive" and even more so of Phil Tippet's stop-motion nightmare of a film, "Mad God." (Let me just make it very clear, Part 3 is genuinely horrifying). All put together, it adds a uniquely unsettling dimension to VanderMeer's narrative. (Add in a dash of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau," for good measure).
VanderMeer deftly explores themes of art, creation, and the perils of unbridled technological progress. "Veniss Underground" is not an easy read, with its dense prose and haunting imagery, yet ultimately, we are rewarded with a thought-provoking narrative that lingers long after the final page. It is not merely a cautionary tale but a philosophical inquiry into the ambitions of humanity and the consequences of striving for perfection.
It also reminded of Emily St. John Mandel's "Sea of Tranquility," not in the content of either novel, but in their meta-qualities—how Mandel's novel reflects her own life’s trajectory and how VanderMeer's protagonist, Nick, might serve as a proxy for the author himself: a solitary artist relentlessly pursuing innovation, grappling with artistic obscurity, and delving deep into the labyrinthine realms of creativity to uncover hidden truths about the world's workings…or maybe not. Regardless, this was an unforgettable reading journey that I wouldn't suggest for those with a delicate stomach or a preference for straightforward plots. However, if you're up for an adventure, dive in—it's almost certain you've never encountered anything quite like it before.
(Meerkats are also a big part of the novel, MEERkats…VanderMEERkats perhaps? Reaching? Probably, lol).
Like his later works, "Veniss Underground" immerses us in a landscape that is at once recognizable yet profoundly alien, where the boundaries of morality and identity constantly shift. Echoes of iconic dystopian visions, from the futuristic Los Angeles of "Blade Runner" to the cyberpunk sprawl of William Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy, resonate throughout the novel. Part 3 reminded me at times of the more horrific moments of Frank Herbert's "Hellstrom's Hive" and even more so of Phil Tippet's stop-motion nightmare of a film, "Mad God." (Let me just make it very clear, Part 3 is genuinely horrifying). All put together, it adds a uniquely unsettling dimension to VanderMeer's narrative. (Add in a dash of H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau," for good measure).
VanderMeer deftly explores themes of art, creation, and the perils of unbridled technological progress. "Veniss Underground" is not an easy read, with its dense prose and haunting imagery, yet ultimately, we are rewarded with a thought-provoking narrative that lingers long after the final page. It is not merely a cautionary tale but a philosophical inquiry into the ambitions of humanity and the consequences of striving for perfection.
It also reminded of Emily St. John Mandel's "Sea of Tranquility," not in the content of either novel, but in their meta-qualities—how Mandel's novel reflects her own life’s trajectory and how VanderMeer's protagonist, Nick, might serve as a proxy for the author himself: a solitary artist relentlessly pursuing innovation, grappling with artistic obscurity, and delving deep into the labyrinthine realms of creativity to uncover hidden truths about the world's workings…or maybe not. Regardless, this was an unforgettable reading journey that I wouldn't suggest for those with a delicate stomach or a preference for straightforward plots. However, if you're up for an adventure, dive in—it's almost certain you've never encountered anything quite like it before.
(Meerkats are also a big part of the novel, MEERkats…VanderMEERkats perhaps? Reaching? Probably, lol).
August 8, 2019
“The scrawled letters form words, the words form lines, the lines form a poem. Your eyes scanning across the page give the poem life.”
Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer is a story about a trio living in a dystopian world called Veniss. There are many levels to this metropolis and the further down you go the more decrepit it becomes. Nicholas is in desperate need to escape his demons and in doing so makes a deal with the devil, intent on finding him, his twin Nicola embarks on a search which takes her to the belly of the underground. Feeling at a loss, Nicola’s lover Shadrach undertakes his own journey uncovering the many metaphysical secrets the city holds and uncovers the most harrowing sights.
I had no idea I was going to fall in love with this book after the first few chapters. It was because of Katya I decided to finally pick this book up. It is a surreal trip into a melancholic world which breathes life, love, power, despair and captivity like you haven’t experienced before. What I enjoyed the most about this book was the style of writing, at the most disgusting and horrific moments the words read like poetry.
The focus is on our trio of protagonists but as always there is a bad guy, the creator of the mighty Veniss Underground. This explores so many themes with the relationships and particular the desperate obsession each character has, they are fixated on one inevitable task which comes at a mighty cost for all.
This particular edition has notes by the author and a couple short stories including Balzac’s War set in the universe of Veniss Underground.
This book came as a surprise, it was an easy read into a surreal fantasy adventure. I can’t recommend this book enough. I’ve only read Annihilation by the author and now will more than likely seek out some of his other books.
Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer is a story about a trio living in a dystopian world called Veniss. There are many levels to this metropolis and the further down you go the more decrepit it becomes. Nicholas is in desperate need to escape his demons and in doing so makes a deal with the devil, intent on finding him, his twin Nicola embarks on a search which takes her to the belly of the underground. Feeling at a loss, Nicola’s lover Shadrach undertakes his own journey uncovering the many metaphysical secrets the city holds and uncovers the most harrowing sights.
I had no idea I was going to fall in love with this book after the first few chapters. It was because of Katya I decided to finally pick this book up. It is a surreal trip into a melancholic world which breathes life, love, power, despair and captivity like you haven’t experienced before. What I enjoyed the most about this book was the style of writing, at the most disgusting and horrific moments the words read like poetry.
The focus is on our trio of protagonists but as always there is a bad guy, the creator of the mighty Veniss Underground. This explores so many themes with the relationships and particular the desperate obsession each character has, they are fixated on one inevitable task which comes at a mighty cost for all.
This particular edition has notes by the author and a couple short stories including Balzac’s War set in the universe of Veniss Underground.
This book came as a surprise, it was an easy read into a surreal fantasy adventure. I can’t recommend this book enough. I’ve only read Annihilation by the author and now will more than likely seek out some of his other books.
October 23, 2022
I should say I didn’t completely finish the book but it was only because I couldn’t bare to. So maybe there is an amazing and completely surprising ending that will change my mind but I kinda don’t think so……The world building is near the only reason for the two stars. Mostly in the sense that it was interesting to see where Sci-Fi writers from the 80s guessed where technology and politics would end up, very creative and unique. Shoddy character development, motivation, and ground work. Female characters completely absent besides one who has to purpose other than to help her “men” do what they need to do. Dark and depressing with no break and not well written enough to pull it off.
June 4, 2023
I am going to give this a three star based on the fact that it is well written and well thought out; however, it isn't my cup of tea, and the book cover isn't my favourite
The story and the characters were super imaginative and well throughout - so my rating has nothing to do with the story and character.
However, the genre is something other than what I typically participate in. Therefore, I can't appreciate the nuisances of the story.
The story and the characters were super imaginative and well throughout - so my rating has nothing to do with the story and character.
However, the genre is something other than what I typically participate in. Therefore, I can't appreciate the nuisances of the story.
February 25, 2016
Cartea este structurata in doua parti distincte.
In prima faza avem povestirea Veniss Underground cu trei capitole in care sunt urmarite motivatiile si actiunile personajelor principale, Nicholas, Nicola si Shadrach si o a doua parte in care sunt prezentate o alta serie de mici povestiri ce se pot citi si separat, insa continua, pe o anumita linie, si completeaza evolutia lumii si a entitatilor, legate de oras.
Veniss Underground (cu trimitere evidenta la Venetia) este un oras halucinant cu cartiere la suprafata dar si o lume subterana spectaculoasa, in care se impletesc tehnologii ale viitorului cu artefacte ale trecutului, totul intr-un amalgam fascinant cu proprietati magnetice, si cred ca nu exagerez cand afirm ca totul hipnotizeaza, indemnand la contemplarea lacoma a unei lumi extatice. De la Arta Vie, abilitatea de a obtine si a crea fiinte cu mutatii si diverse evolutii pina la rodul, mai mult sau mai putin al acesteia (uneori se intervine si chirurgical pentru a se desavarsi opera), suricatele folosite ca animale de casa sau ganesii cu cap de elefant, aducand foarte mult cu zeitatile indiene, inlantuite toate cu elemente specifice sci-fiului clasic, holograme sau entitati artificiale avem un peisaj viu si pulsatil.
Povestirea la persoana a doua, in care eroii ti se adreseaza ca unui vechi prieten, te poarta cu usurinta prin increngatura literara a autorului oferind o mai buna perceptie asupra actiunii si motivatiilor de ordin sufletesc a personajelor. Stilul literar prezent in povestirea principala, dar mai pregnant in nuvelele sale, ce continua cartea, imi aduce aminte foarte mult de Viriconium-ul lui M.J. Harrison, de aliajul special si greu digerabil in care-si imbraca acesta ideile, cu mentiunea ca viziunea lui Vandeermer este una mai plastica, mai la indemana noastra, a cititorilor. Iar daca ar fi sa-l compar cu un alt scriitor din punct de vedere al imaginilor si viziunii lumii create as spune ca poate fi investit ca fiind un mandru urmas a lui Clive Barker ale carui Books of Blood au readus in atentia publicului genul horror.
Am citit-o pe nerasuflate, atras de peisajele mirobolante ale unui oras puternic bioenginerizat, de povestea lui Nicholas ramas fara un scop in viata dupa ce cotcarii i-au golit apartamentul de operele de arta, de aventurile Nicolei, sora sa geamana, in incercarea de a afla mai multe despre disparitia fratelui sau, de calatoria intreprinsa de Shadrach pentru a-si confirma sie insusi ca pentru dragoste se poate sacrifica la orice ori din zi sau noapte, oricat de oarba ar fi ea. Ritmul nu este unul alert, actiunea curge usor, in parametri normali, oferinduni-se posibilitatea de a ne transforma in insotitori ai personajelor de-a lungul peregrinarilor in hatisul exotic si periculos ,deopotriva, al orasului miraculos.
Abia acum cred ca este momentul in care pot puncta ceea ce s-a observat de-a lungul recenziei, ca Jeff VanderMeer este unul din reprezentantii de seama ai noului val de scriitori ce-i place sa scrie si pentru altii, si unul din sustinatorul literaturii New Weird prin construirea antologiei cu acelasi nume la care adera si el prin talentul, valoarea si natura scrierii sale, in concluzie “e altceva” ( revista Locus ) intr-adevar.
http://www.cititorsf.ro/2008/09/22/ve...
In prima faza avem povestirea Veniss Underground cu trei capitole in care sunt urmarite motivatiile si actiunile personajelor principale, Nicholas, Nicola si Shadrach si o a doua parte in care sunt prezentate o alta serie de mici povestiri ce se pot citi si separat, insa continua, pe o anumita linie, si completeaza evolutia lumii si a entitatilor, legate de oras.
Veniss Underground (cu trimitere evidenta la Venetia) este un oras halucinant cu cartiere la suprafata dar si o lume subterana spectaculoasa, in care se impletesc tehnologii ale viitorului cu artefacte ale trecutului, totul intr-un amalgam fascinant cu proprietati magnetice, si cred ca nu exagerez cand afirm ca totul hipnotizeaza, indemnand la contemplarea lacoma a unei lumi extatice. De la Arta Vie, abilitatea de a obtine si a crea fiinte cu mutatii si diverse evolutii pina la rodul, mai mult sau mai putin al acesteia (uneori se intervine si chirurgical pentru a se desavarsi opera), suricatele folosite ca animale de casa sau ganesii cu cap de elefant, aducand foarte mult cu zeitatile indiene, inlantuite toate cu elemente specifice sci-fiului clasic, holograme sau entitati artificiale avem un peisaj viu si pulsatil.
Povestirea la persoana a doua, in care eroii ti se adreseaza ca unui vechi prieten, te poarta cu usurinta prin increngatura literara a autorului oferind o mai buna perceptie asupra actiunii si motivatiilor de ordin sufletesc a personajelor. Stilul literar prezent in povestirea principala, dar mai pregnant in nuvelele sale, ce continua cartea, imi aduce aminte foarte mult de Viriconium-ul lui M.J. Harrison, de aliajul special si greu digerabil in care-si imbraca acesta ideile, cu mentiunea ca viziunea lui Vandeermer este una mai plastica, mai la indemana noastra, a cititorilor. Iar daca ar fi sa-l compar cu un alt scriitor din punct de vedere al imaginilor si viziunii lumii create as spune ca poate fi investit ca fiind un mandru urmas a lui Clive Barker ale carui Books of Blood au readus in atentia publicului genul horror.
Am citit-o pe nerasuflate, atras de peisajele mirobolante ale unui oras puternic bioenginerizat, de povestea lui Nicholas ramas fara un scop in viata dupa ce cotcarii i-au golit apartamentul de operele de arta, de aventurile Nicolei, sora sa geamana, in incercarea de a afla mai multe despre disparitia fratelui sau, de calatoria intreprinsa de Shadrach pentru a-si confirma sie insusi ca pentru dragoste se poate sacrifica la orice ori din zi sau noapte, oricat de oarba ar fi ea. Ritmul nu este unul alert, actiunea curge usor, in parametri normali, oferinduni-se posibilitatea de a ne transforma in insotitori ai personajelor de-a lungul peregrinarilor in hatisul exotic si periculos ,deopotriva, al orasului miraculos.
Abia acum cred ca este momentul in care pot puncta ceea ce s-a observat de-a lungul recenziei, ca Jeff VanderMeer este unul din reprezentantii de seama ai noului val de scriitori ce-i place sa scrie si pentru altii, si unul din sustinatorul literaturii New Weird prin construirea antologiei cu acelasi nume la care adera si el prin talentul, valoarea si natura scrierii sale, in concluzie “e altceva” ( revista Locus ) intr-adevar.
http://www.cititorsf.ro/2008/09/22/ve...
April 30, 2020
Done! I think I liked it. It was like swimming in a fantasy world, some sort of futuristic Brave New World dream, and most of the time I was sort of lost. Haven‘t read much science fiction but this was beautiful, a story about love between twins and other characters which kept it all together. Would probably need to re-read in order to tell you what this was all about. But that‘s the thing with art sometimes, you sense that it‘s great even though you may not truly be getting it in the moment.
March 20, 2021
Difficult to rate. I didn't NOT like it, but during the reading experience I alternated being right into the descriptive narrative and finding it tedious. It is really well done for what it is - other reviewers have described it as 'powerful' and 'outstanding' and the author as a 'literary alchemist' I am not saying I disagree with any of them.
It is lushly descriptive, very organic horror at times. At others, a wildly chaotic medley of biological intricacy and genetically manipulated insanity. And I did very much like these descriptions. The future world of chaos, made creatures, underground levels and so on is also pretty intriguing, points for that construction.
The actual plot is more of a frame to hang the world and descriptions off, or that is the way to seemed to me. We have three characters, we start with Nicholas who is a failed artist recently recovering from a assault and robbery. For some reason, which I kind of got glimmering of, he goes looking for this legendary genetic 'living artist' who creates monstrosities and more functional bioengineered creatures. Nicholas finds this elusive character with the help of Shadrach who used to be the lover of Nicholas' twin Nicola.
When Nicholas' section is over we swap over to Nicola, who is a successful programmer and we learn a bit more about the world from her view point. Worried about Nicolas after a while, she too goes looking for Shadrach who does not help her. Nicola's section was good, I liked it but it ends badly for her.
Next we get Shadrach looking for Nicola (everyone is looking for something) and this search is the majority of the story, the most icky and squishy bits and ends up taking us underneath the city. It is a pretty good section and I did enjoy it.
This is for the most part squishy, organic, horror writing. The whole time I was reading it, it kept reminding me of other books and other characters which was not a bad thing, most of them were pretty good, but it meant I was mentally reaching for something just out of sight a lot of the time I was reading.
The plot was good, but it was thinly laid on. Very VERY thinly. It was almost a plot free book because almost all of the writing is descriptive. Describing the city, both over and under I am on board with, describing mounds of dead/dying and wishing-it-could-die flesh - I would have loved it as a kid, I think but at times it was tedious.
The avidly detailed descriptions of bioengineered creatures now, these concepts are quite unique, often out of control impossible and often kind of mind boggling. These types of descriptions seemed to me to make up about one third of the whole writing. That's ok, it is the main purpose of the novel I guess, but this reading experience proved variable in enjoyment factor for me.
After we finish the story comes an 'Afterword' that is really a prequel and is pretty interesting. Next we have a novella called Balzac's War which annoyed the hell out of me because I could not tell what relationship it was meant to have to the last two offerings. I gather the author has done a lot of short stories and this is one of them. I have no idea why it is tacked on and if I could slip a message to yesterday-me I would say skip it entirely and not expect it to meet up with the other two writings.
It is lushly descriptive, very organic horror at times. At others, a wildly chaotic medley of biological intricacy and genetically manipulated insanity. And I did very much like these descriptions. The future world of chaos, made creatures, underground levels and so on is also pretty intriguing, points for that construction.
The actual plot is more of a frame to hang the world and descriptions off, or that is the way to seemed to me. We have three characters, we start with Nicholas who is a failed artist recently recovering from a assault and robbery. For some reason, which I kind of got glimmering of, he goes looking for this legendary genetic 'living artist' who creates monstrosities and more functional bioengineered creatures. Nicholas finds this elusive character with the help of Shadrach who used to be the lover of Nicholas' twin Nicola.
When Nicholas' section is over we swap over to Nicola, who is a successful programmer and we learn a bit more about the world from her view point. Worried about Nicolas after a while, she too goes looking for Shadrach who does not help her. Nicola's section was good, I liked it but it ends badly for her.
Next we get Shadrach looking for Nicola (everyone is looking for something) and this search is the majority of the story, the most icky and squishy bits and ends up taking us underneath the city. It is a pretty good section and I did enjoy it.
This is for the most part squishy, organic, horror writing. The whole time I was reading it, it kept reminding me of other books and other characters which was not a bad thing, most of them were pretty good, but it meant I was mentally reaching for something just out of sight a lot of the time I was reading.
The plot was good, but it was thinly laid on. Very VERY thinly. It was almost a plot free book because almost all of the writing is descriptive. Describing the city, both over and under I am on board with, describing mounds of dead/dying and wishing-it-could-die flesh - I would have loved it as a kid, I think but at times it was tedious.
The avidly detailed descriptions of bioengineered creatures now, these concepts are quite unique, often out of control impossible and often kind of mind boggling. These types of descriptions seemed to me to make up about one third of the whole writing. That's ok, it is the main purpose of the novel I guess, but this reading experience proved variable in enjoyment factor for me.
After we finish the story comes an 'Afterword' that is really a prequel and is pretty interesting. Next we have a novella called Balzac's War which annoyed the hell out of me because I could not tell what relationship it was meant to have to the last two offerings. I gather the author has done a lot of short stories and this is one of them. I have no idea why it is tacked on and if I could slip a message to yesterday-me I would say skip it entirely and not expect it to meet up with the other two writings.
November 21, 2010
Having read (and loved) 'City of Saints and Madmen', I had a fair idea what flavor of weirdness I was getting myself into with 'Veniss Underground'. For instance, the three portions of the book are delivered in the first, second, and third person perspectives respectively. An interesting idea, but unfortunately not interesting enough to make up for how annoying it is to read anything written in the second person perspective.
If there's one thing Vandermeer knows, it's creating locales that are strange enough to maintain your curiosity and interest while simultaneously remaining familiar enough to seem real and relatable. This is true of both the city of Ambergris (of 'City of Saints and Madmen') and the sprawling, futuristic, dilapidated metropolis that is Veniss.
Reading the first portion of 'Veniss Underground' got me hooked by presenting a vivid and enticing introduction to the city via a protagonist whose artistic plight (and resulting poverty) is perhaps a recurring theme of Vandermeer's works.
If I weren't so very captivated by the first portion I fear I would not have had the stamina to wade through the awkward prose of the second. Mind you, the actual narrative of the second portion is just as interesting as the first; it is only its presentation in the second person perspective that had me tripping over my own thoughts as I tried to read it. But I'm VERY glad I stuck with it, because it isn't until the third portion that 'Veniss Underground' really comes into its own.
The titular underground is an absurd, almost surreal place abounded with visceral grotesqueries (both literally and metaphorically speaking). There is a curious dreamlike quality to the entirety of the journey underground that only becomes more and more absurd as the protagonist presses ever forward, ever deeper into what I can only describe as some sort of strange, bio-mechanical hell.
I wouldn't readily suggest 'Veniss Underground' as an introduction to Vandermeer's works, but those who are already familiar with his wonderfully esoteric, eccentric style may really enjoy themselves here.
If there's one thing Vandermeer knows, it's creating locales that are strange enough to maintain your curiosity and interest while simultaneously remaining familiar enough to seem real and relatable. This is true of both the city of Ambergris (of 'City of Saints and Madmen') and the sprawling, futuristic, dilapidated metropolis that is Veniss.
Reading the first portion of 'Veniss Underground' got me hooked by presenting a vivid and enticing introduction to the city via a protagonist whose artistic plight (and resulting poverty) is perhaps a recurring theme of Vandermeer's works.
If I weren't so very captivated by the first portion I fear I would not have had the stamina to wade through the awkward prose of the second. Mind you, the actual narrative of the second portion is just as interesting as the first; it is only its presentation in the second person perspective that had me tripping over my own thoughts as I tried to read it. But I'm VERY glad I stuck with it, because it isn't until the third portion that 'Veniss Underground' really comes into its own.
The titular underground is an absurd, almost surreal place abounded with visceral grotesqueries (both literally and metaphorically speaking). There is a curious dreamlike quality to the entirety of the journey underground that only becomes more and more absurd as the protagonist presses ever forward, ever deeper into what I can only describe as some sort of strange, bio-mechanical hell.
I wouldn't readily suggest 'Veniss Underground' as an introduction to Vandermeer's works, but those who are already familiar with his wonderfully esoteric, eccentric style may really enjoy themselves here.
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