Three characters find themselves drawn into their home city's underground regions.

This is most definitely a New Weird novel, and it's weird-ass sh*t at its best. The atmosphere is remarkable. The themes are subtle but accessible. The science is bizarre. The darkness is thick and dangerous. The whole thing is completely over the top, but the characters keep it grounded. If you're interested in the changing face of speculative fiction, it is most definitely worth your time

VanderMeer does a couple of very simple technical things that are still pretty durned clever. The novel's structure is the most prominent of these. We open with Nicholas's first person account of the events that got the ball rolling. Next up is Nicola's second person look at the aftermath. We end off with Shadrdach's third person journey through Veniss Underground. First, second, third. It's so simple that it borders on corny, but it works. It draws us into the story, slowly but surely. We identify with Nicholas, prat that he is, because he's speaking directly to us. We actually become Nicola. By the time Shadrach comes to the forefront, we've gotten to know him through the other two and are in a position to connect with him.

VanderMeer also draws on a couple of older stories, including that of Orpheus and Euridice, but he updates them considerably. Other critics have also compared the story to Dante's Inferno, and I think that's fair. Veniss Underground is not a nice place, and its many levels have some clear parallels to the nine circles of hell.

And on top of all that, VanderMeer has done some truly gorgeous things with the atmosphere. He manages to make this distinctly uncomfortable world comfortable enough that we want to know more about it. We want to understand all the enigmatic little details he throws out there. It's beautifully done.

My copy, (the Bantam Spectra edition), also includes some short stories and a novella set in the Veniss universe. These pieces build off of Shadrach's actions at the end of VENISS UNDERGROUND. I can't say for sure, but the reviews I've read lead me to believe that the other edition contains different material.

I most definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good, dark read with lots of depth. It's not a comfortable book, but it's a worthwhile one.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

This book was written just for me, or so it seems, combining a mystical, philosophical cyberpunk world with a touch of the sapience question and what it means when genetic manipulation removes humanity. These are all elements that have spoken to me a time or two, or three or four. The tone of the novel is surreal, the information offered through a mist where the POV characters can only see as far as they can stretch their hands and yet still strike out as best they can to change what they don’t want to admit is true. Powerful writing that’s very evocative. I don’t think this book is everyone’s cup of tea, and there are many moods when it wouldn’t have called so strongly, but if you’re interested in the test of human psyche, in the way people react when thrust into extreme conditions of civilization, this is a solid contender. The novel itself becomes Living Art, something you’ll understand when you read it.

Jeff Vandermeer here mixes point of view; from first person to second to third limited in a ambitious and challenging story that mixes horrific images of genetic freaks and phantasmic scenes into a melange that will carry you the his extreme dreamland nightmare. The book to me has hints of Hunter S Thompson, Poe, Dick and Lovecraft in a bizarre dystopian soup. Tae a ride to this thrilling and horrific place with Jeff as your guide... Lovely really a must have ( )

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for a while. I'm not keen on horror so was a little nervous when I started this book. I was surprised that it wasn't the horror aspect that made this novel difficult for me, but rather the wooden half developed characters. I didn't feel that I'd been given enough time to get to know them before the story moved on. ( )

Do Meerkats Bladerun from The Island of Doctor Moreau? after reading Jeff VanderMeer's Veniss Underground, you will probably have an opinion on the subject.

The 2003 Tor collection of three related stories of increasing length, the last hence being a novella. Each different story features a different main character, and they are all known to each other, whether acquaintance, sibling or lover.

The Spectra collection adds four other Veniss-milieu short stories to the other 3. The ones with the capitalised titles, or the last four. It almost omits the add-on story fragment/origin of Quin and afterword in the Tor version. The extra stories aren't all as good as the related initial 3, which would make this version a not quite 4.25 sort of book overall, but you could also look at it as bonus material I suppose - although the left out Quin part is certainly interesting. The two best of these are also online at infinity plus.

A setting that has parts reminiscent of what two other men with guns have found when going searching, whether in Logan's Run, or perhaps the movie version of Blade Runner.

However, the weird biotech is brought to the fore in this book. Whereas most of us think meerkats are cute pack oriented little furry creatures we see in zoos, none of us have met uplifted highly intelligent four foot tall assassin gourmets with kangaroo and gorilla genes as found in the second story. Nor carried their disembodied heads in our pockets, either, as per the third.

There are many more weird things to be found, similar creatures in micro-elepants.

Each of the three characters is looking for something, or someone, and in the last and best part of the book, VanderMeer a la Saberhagen (and the odd ancient Greek bloke) has his main character head for the underworld in search of a woman --a strange place as is mentioned more than once "You hardly knew there was a tenth level below ground". Nine levels is not enough in this world, it seems.

The Moreauesque figure is the Quin of the alternative title to the first story, a man whom many seek.

There is where it gets weird, and nasty, and you pretty much know early on in the piece that it ain't just the animals being experimented upon.

Veniss Underground : Nicholas [Quin's Shanghai Circus] - Jeff VanderMeer
Veniss Underground : Nicola - Jeff VanderMeer
Veniss Underground : Shadrach - Jeff VanderMeer
Veniss Underground : THE SEA, MENDEHO, AND MOONLIGHT - Jeff VanderMeer
Veniss Underground : DETECTIVES AND CADAVERS - Jeff VanderMeer
Veniss Underground : A HEART FOR LUCRETIA - Jeff VanderMeer
Veniss Underground : BALZAC'S WAR - Jeff VanderMeer

Meerkat commerce.

3.5 out of 5

Giving me crabs is ok if you cook them, fuzzy, but killing me for dessert isn't on the menu.

3.5 out of 5

In the Underworld Revolution Furnace, having Gun Without Occasional Music.

4 out of 5

No swimming.

3.5 out of 5

Muttie corpse wave.

3 out of 5

Meerkat commerce, again.

3.5 out of 5

"So, she's a dog..."

4 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/07... ( )