An immortal warrior…
A fight through the ages…
A quest to end an endless existence…
The Book of Elsewhere is the story of B. (short for Berserker, who also goes by Unute as his ancient name). A man with unnatural strength, prone to violence, and seemingly immortal, he has lived for 80,000 years. He has mastered hundreds of languages, experienced every emotion and experience a man can savour. He's gained amazing insight from some of the greatest minds in history. But he also has a great sadness and loneliness at his core. He is the only person of his kind (or he thinks…) He can never have children. He has lost every woman and man he has ever loved and known. He doesn't know if he's a God, a man or an alien. He doesn’t know who he can trust. And he also starts to think that someone is following him, slowly across centuries…
There are two main narrative threads to the book.
One thread is set in the present day, in which our anti-hero B. is working in the special forces of the US government. He is used as a fighting weapon, travelling around the world to take out undesirable enemy targets, in exchange for help from the government’s scientists to research his immortality. When the character B. experiences violence or stress, his eyes glow blue and he goes into a fugue state of violence (hence berserker) and becomes a near unstoppable superhuman force. Handy for killing bad guys. He is very tough, but can experience dying, and then he comes back to life. The chapters when this process is described are remarkable.
The other thread of the novel brilliantly builds the back story of B’s long life, exploring his life across history, either told from his perspective or from other figures in history who knew him (including Freud in the first chapter after the prologue). Many of these chapters are virtuoso in their writing, often written in the vernacular of the time, or in dialects of the different characters.
Gradually, the threads intertwine to one hell of an ending. The past reveals the present. The title The Book of Elsewhere refers to an eponymous text in the novel. It lists the details of the rare instances in B.’s life when he is reborn in a different place to the site of his ‘death.’ This book, and these deaths, may hold the truth to B’s immortality, and the shadowy characters that are starting to hunt him.
Author Biography
Keanu Reeves (Author)
As a remarkably eclectic actor, Keanu Reeves has made an indelible mark on
the world
of entertainment through the diverse roles he has played. He is most known for
his
starring roles in The Matrix and John Wick franchises. Reeves made his comic
book-
writing debut in 2021 with BRZRKR, a twelve-issue and graphic novel limited
series
distributed through BOOM! Studios, which quickly became the highest-selling
original
comic book series debut in over twenty-five years. In 2023, he returned to the
big screen
in John Wick: Chapter 4, which became the highest-grossing film in the
franchise. His
other recent projects include The Matrix Resurrections, John Wick 3: Parabellum,
Always
Be My Maybe, Toy Story 4, and the video game Cyberpunk 2077. Raised in
Toronto,
Reeves performed in various local theatre productions and on television before
relocating
to Los Angeles.
China Mieville (Author)
China Miéville is a New York Times bestselling author of fiction and
nonfiction. His novels
include The City & The City, Embassytown, and Perdido Street Station.
A recipient of the
Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction, he has won the World Fantasy, the Hugo, and
the
Arthur C. Clarke Awards, among others. His nonfiction includes a study of
international
law and a history of the Russian Revolution.
