Veniss Underground
by Jeff Vandermeer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jeff VandermeerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-27
ISBN: 0553383566
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Spectra
Book Reviews of Veniss Underground
Book Review: Not Free SF Reader
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
This 2003 collection from Tor 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.
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 wetwork 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
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
4.5 out of 5
Summary of 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.
Dark Fantasy Books
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