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Veniss Underground

Jeff VanderMeer (Goodreads Author)

3.77 · Rating details · 1,858 Ratings · 155 Reviews

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 ...more

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Paperback, 278 pages

Published September 27th 2005 by Spectra (first published 2003)

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Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

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May 07, 2009 Dan Schwent rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-weird, 2010

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. A ...more

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Nov 13, 2012 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it really liked it

Shelves: vandermeer, read-2015, reviews, reviews-4-stars

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 ...more

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Aug 16, 2008 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fantasy, award-nominee-bram-stoker, multiple-award-nominee, sfsite-reader-s-poll-top-10, award-nominee-world-fantasy, to-re-read, on-deck-next, award-nominee-locus, weird-and-new-weird, 2000-2005

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 unsua ...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Brainycat rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: I don't know who would like this prose

Shelves: read_in_2010, a-long-story, dark-and-dystopic, in-a-time-far-far-away

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 leas 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:

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.

...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Althea Ann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 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.
...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Keith Deininger rated it really liked it

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.

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Apr 01, 2013 Bogdan rated it it was amazing

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 carti 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... ...more

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Jul 18, 2009 c rated it really liked it

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 wei ...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Tamara Romero rated it really liked it

Shelves: weird-oriented

All was flesh and weirdness in Veniss Underground. Unexpected goresque sections for me, mixed up with some brilliant and hilarious humor spots. Reading this stuff makes me wonder what's in Vandermeer's head. The best was the brilliant structure into three parts (being my favourite the whole chapters into Nicola's place). It does not get 5 stars though, because of this strong feeling I had, of imprecision, around the whole story. The constant trip of the protagonist did not let me get more detail ...more

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Aug 28, 2017 Henry Oldie added it · review of another edition

Джефф Вандермеер: «Подземный Венисс».
(Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer)
Вторая прочитанная мной на сегодня книга Джеффа Вандермеера. Если сравнивать ее с «Городом святых и безумцев» того же автора, то придется не без удовольствия констатировать: эта книга совершенно иная. Иная манера повествования, иная стилистика, иная композиция, иные время и место действия... Не хуже и не лучше – просто другая. Эта книга написана куда динамичнее «Города...», жестче структурирована, она, в отличие от «Горо Джефф Вандермеер: «Подземный Венисс».
(Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer)
Вторая прочитанная мной на сегодня книга Джеффа Вандермеера. Если сравнивать ее с «Городом святых и безумцев» того же автора, то придется не без удовольствия констатировать: эта книга совершенно иная. Иная манера повествования, иная стилистика, иная композиция, иные время и место действия... Не хуже и не лучше – просто другая. Эта книга написана куда динамичнее «Города...», жестче структурирована, она, в отличие от «Города...», имеет единый сквозной сюжет... Неизменными остались, пожалуй, лишь литературное мастерство Вандермеера и засасывающие хитросплетения инфернальных и сюрреалистических картин и образов, чья плотность постепенно нарастает к концу книги.
Да, Джеффа Вандермеера не зря причисляют, наряду с Чайной Мьевилем, к лидерам направления «New Weird» («Новые странные»). Определение «странные» отлично подходит к обеим прочитанным мною книгам Вандермеера. «Подземный Венисс» -- что это? «Генетическая опера»? Пост-киберпанк? Биопанк? Нуар-футуризм?..
Представьте себе «Остров доктора Моро» Герберта Уэллса, опрокинутый в будущее, отраженный в кривых голографических зеркалах мегаполиса двадцать восьмого века... – и вы получите лишь отдаленное и неполное представление о «Подземном Вениссе». Здесь все утонченней и жестче, мрачней и запутанней – и, тем не менее, даже в этом безумном и безжалостном мире далекого будущего еще осталось место для нормальных человеческих чувств, для любви и самоотверженности, упорства и надежды...
Отдельно хотелось бы сказать пару слов о персонажах. Мало того, что Вандермееру отлично удались образы всех трех главных героев книги, мало того, что все они выписаны объемно и живо, и все изъясняются по-разному, сообразно их ярким индивидуальностям. Вандермееру удалось большее: перед нами предстают не просто различные герои со своими характерами и судьбами, но три совершенно разных типа мышления и мировосприятия.
И что тут скажешь, кроме: «Браво, маэстро!»?
При полной оригинальности книги, при полной ее непохожести на что бы то ни было, «Подземный Венисс» весь пронизан аллюзиями и намеками, прямыми и скрытыми цитатами – от Толкиена до Данте, от «Волшебника страны Оз» до спускающегося в Аид Орфея; а буквально с первых строк автор передает большой привет Эдварду Уитмору с его «Шанхайским цирком Квина». Но ближе к концу книги эта постмодернистская игра, перерастая саму себя, обретает поистине символический смысл.
Сильная книга. Оригинальная, ни на что не похожая. Стильная и отлично написанная. Мрачная, сюрреалистичная, но отнюдь не безнадежная.
В общем, вы уже поняли: рекомендую. ...more

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May 17, 2018 Rae rated it it was ok

Shelves: grotty-and-unpleasant

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 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 the overwhelming, claustrophobic mulch was just too much.

Thanks, Dad. ...more

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Feb 12, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

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 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. ...more

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Jun 10, 2010 neko cam rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: new-weird, romance

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 st 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. ...more

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Jul 25, 2008 John rated it liked it

Shelves: sf-fantasy, horror-dark-fantasy

Veniss Underground tries very hard to be an atmospheric weird sci-fi thriller, and about two thirds of the way through it starts to succeed quite magnificently. The novel has a very clever (maybe too clever) structure: part 1 is a first person narrative of a guy who goes missing (though short it contains some of the best writing of the book); part 2 is a second person narrative of his sister who discovers he is missing and goes looking for him; and part 3 is a third person narrative account of a ...more

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May 04, 2009 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-of-the-best

You can almost see the emotion this book was written with permeating from it. VanderMeer is quickly, and surprisingly, becoming one of my favorite authors- now risen to the same level as Mieville imo. This book is going straight to my 'best of the best' shelf.

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Apr 25, 2009 Christy Stewart rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, speculative-fiction, bizarro, urban-fantasy, experimental-writing, scarred, emotionally-scarred, romance, paranormal

This is now one of my favorite books and because of that I can't review it well enough.

If you've ever trusted my judgment of books you should at least read the description.

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Mar 16, 2015 NessunDorma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: extremely-favourite

Smells like "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" in the beginning.

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Apr 27, 2018 Nicola Mansfield rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Hauntingly horrific! Wow, just fantastic. This is VanderMeer's first novel and is set in a dystopian future where government has collapsed and bioengineering is the norm. With Quin being the dangerous man in charge of it all. It's also a story of love: between twins, lovers and the unrequited kind. Now that I've read most of VanderMeer's novels I can say that I know what to expect. He draws you in with superb writing of dysfunctional societies/worlds then he will spring upon you the horrific. Hi ...more

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Jul 09, 2017 Ludmila Kovaříková rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

Děsivé, apokalyptické, místy nechutné, když autor popisuje pokusy na zvířatech a lidech. Povídky, některé delší a výpravnější, jiné krátké. V popisu příběhu jednoho člověka zobrazuje staletí lidské budoucnosti. Stále někdo ztrácí milovaného. Experiment s formou - nejsme si jistí hlavní postavou, vyprávěcí 2. osoba, posuny v čase... Slabší jsou některé motivy (umístění položivých lidí pod hromadou nohou).

Výpisky:
Když lidé začnou pomíjet zázrak, znamená to, že pozbyl svou zázračnost?
Co to znamená ...more

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Apr 19, 2018 Justin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

2.5 - 3 stars. Surprisingly I didn't really love this. It's dark and I thought the plot was retread. I liked the novella Balzac' War (included in ebook) a lot more. Read Annihilation instead

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Aug 31, 2017 Jonathan Lee B. rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Veniss Underground is chewing a gumball that is too big and too chewy.

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Apr 20, 2011 Sonia rated it liked it

Shelves: df-summer-2011-reading-challenge, have, e-book

Coming straight out of Blood Meridian, I maybe should have gone with a lighter read. Mind you, I didn't really realize how heavy Veniss Underground would ultimately end up being. The section of the novel following Shadrach (still wondering how the biblical connotation of this name figures into the theme of the book) was so dark and grueling. The stand out imagery for me was his visit to the donation clinic when he finds Nicola buried in a pile of legs. Thankfully those moments were offset by the ...more

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Aug 22, 2015 Florin Purluca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

E o carte interesantă, dacă poți să treci peste doza puternică de ciudățenie. Deși inițial am abandonat lectura - o scriitură muuult prea greoaie - la un timp după, trebuie să recunosc, am revenit. Și mult mai straniu, parcă mi-a fost dor cumva de expresiile complexe ale lui VanderMeer.
Dacă vrei o carte în care acțiunea curge lin, asta nu-i cartea ta. Caută alta, pentru că Jeff VanderMeer e altceva, nicicum autorul obișnuit de ficțiune speculativă.
Mă gândesc, pe viitor, aș încerca seria Souther ...more

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Apr 26, 2008 Andreas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Veniss Underground gehört zu den Büchern, die den Leser mit ihrer Sprache magisch in den Bann ziehen. Die Handlung ist relativ simpel und gerät schnell in den Hintergrund, stattdessen lässt man die phantasmagorischen Bilder auf sich wirken und ergötzt sich an jedem einzelnen Satz. Die Liebe als treibende Kraft einer gefährlichen Suche ist zwar ein uraltes Motiv, wird hier aber überzeugend umgesetzt.

Interessant ist die Erzählweise. Im ersten Teil wird die erste Person benutzt, im zweiten Teil die ...more

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Jun 06, 2015 Tasula rated it liked it

Veniss is VanderMeer's first novel. It reminded me a bit of Annihilation, but was less structured, and not in this world. It also had some of the otherworldly detail which fills Mieville's work. There are 3 protagonists, each of who narrate one of 3 consecutive parts: Nicholas, twin sister Nicola, friend/lover Shadrach. The entire book is populated with unreal creatures and locations, many gruesome or repulsive. Nicholas' part had a poetic feel- he is a Living Artist (creates art from living cre ...more

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Oct 06, 2015 Drew rated it really liked it

4.5 out of 5. The wobbliness of the beginning of the novel is forgiven by the end, especially once it’s revealed that the wobbliness was purposeful – and there were moments where I could see the authorial voice that I now know so strongly in a still-nacent form, rough around the edges – but all in all, Veniss shows that Jeff was as talented and inventive at the beginning of his career as a novelist as he is now. We’re lucky to have a mind so fertile creating such worlds for us – and any & al ...more

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May 03, 2016 Kristin-Leigh rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-reads

"Okay," not great - more aesthetic concept than narrative.

Dystopian novel about a guy who genetically modifies people and animals into entirely new organic creations, and a few characters connected to him. It comes across as more of a writer's exercise in worldbuilding than a novel in the classic sense, as there wasn't a lot of plot or depth of character to it, but it was interesting all the same to watch the unfolding of VanderMeer's crafted universe. It feels very much like the building block ...more

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Feb 28, 2016 David rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ciencia-ficción, cyberficción, policiaca-espionaje

Durante más de la mitad de la novela estuve deslumbrado ante el escenario tan imaginativo que propone el autor. Incluso llegué a pensar que estaba ante la mejor novela cyberpunk que había leído. Pero llegó un momento (no se en que punto exactamente) en el que comencé a sentir que la trama y la tensión no estaban a la altura del decorado.
Para mí es de agradecer que una novela no se alargue más de lo necesario (250 páginas pueden dar para mucho), pero aquí eché en falta un desenlace más trabajado ...more

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Mar 22, 2016 Vicky Collar rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, spanish, comprado, 2016

Después de leerme "Aniquilación" tenía muchas ganas de leer otra cosa de este autor y empecé este libro con ganas de disfrutarlo. Poco a poco me fui aburriendo cada vez más hasta que al final lo terminé por orgullo. Si "Aniquilación" es raro, este lo es por triplicado, apenas tiene sentido nada de lo que cuenta y no conseguí meterme en la historia en ningún momento. No creo que sea culpa del libro, es que simplemente el "New Weird" no es mi género

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Jan 05, 2009 Zach rated it it was ok

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, science-fiction

There is one absolutely amazing scene near the beginning of this book where the narrator can sense these THINGS moving in behind him right before he is kidnapped for good. That section, which is both beautiful and suffused with a kind of haunting dread, anticipates Vandermeer's far-superior work in Ambergris.

The rest of the book didn't make much of an impression on me, though.

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Goodreads Librari...: Correction to Veniss Underground being part of Ambergris series	3	15	May 23, 2018 10:03AM
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About Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer

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NYT 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 translat ...more

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City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris, #1)

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Quotes from Veniss Underground

“He stumbled, almost fell, and decided to sit down, with his back against the tunnel wall, his feet resting against the opposite wall. Roaring out of the morass of pity, terror, happiness, joy, sadness, elation that he had inherited - shooting forth from this void, the single sharp thought: She does not love me. It was almost more than he could take. But he was not the kind of person to fold, to crack, to be broken, and so instead, in those moments after the realization, he bent - and bent, and kept on bending beneath the pressure of this new and terrible knowledge. Soon he would bend into a totally new shape altogether. He welcomed that. He wanted that. Maybe the new thing he would become would no longer hurt, would no longer fear, would no longer look back down into the void and wonder what was left of him.

She did not love him. It made him laugh as he sat there -- great belly laughs that doubled him over in the dust, where he lay for a long moment, recovering. It was funny beyond bearing. He had fought through a dozen terrors all for love of her. And she did not love him. He felt like a character in a holovid - the jester, the clown, the fool.” — 7 likes

“Let me tell you what happens when you burn a person's body, pull out all of his teeth, glue his head to a plate, and shove a bomb in his ear. You become that person's object of undying hatred.” — 4 likes

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