- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Night Shade Books (12 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1892389614
- ISBN-13: 978-1892389619
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 16.4 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,230,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Dreamwatch, October 2003
A timely and cautionary tale regarding the manipulation of genetics...a marvellous trip into a future world...
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"A magnificently phantasmagoric account of an epic journey of discovery. It is rare to find such intense visual imagery combined with such a fast-paced and far-reaching narrative, and the alloy is as hectically exciting as it is luminously brilliant. Brian Stableford "A dark, phantasmagoric tale... that echoes Dante's Divine Comedy, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the landscapes of Hieronymus Bosch" PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'Veniss Underground' is a short novel by Jeff VanderMeer, a leading light in the 'New Weird' subgenre of fantasy. VanderMeer first came to attention as a writer of short stories, but has written other novels and multimedia works, and has a considerable profile as an editor and blogger.
If 'The New Weird' means anything - and meaningful definitions are hard to come by - it appears to mean a form of hyper-romantic fantasy that draws at will on urban fantasy, dark fantasy, SF, horror, noir and thriller elements. Its direct ancestors include Michael Moorcock, Angela Carter and, even more pertinently, M. John Harrison, whose 'Viriconium' stories are the template for 'Veniss' and similar work by other writers - notably China Mieville. More generally, this is fleshy fantasy, post-Cronenberg, post-Barker, post-Gaiman.
This makes 'Veniss' sound more attractive than it is. In practice, VanderMeer lacks the imagination of the writers mentioned, and especially Harrison's acute feel for tone, essential when dealing with deliberately mannered prose. The brief opening section of the book is quite horribly overwritten; almost a textbook example of how to alienate a reader by being simultaneously pretentious, obscure and coy. I almost abandoned the book at this point. I wonder how many readers have never progressed further?
The second and third sections are more lucidly written, but what emerges, disappointingly, is a standard fantasy narrative, loosely derived from the classical myth of Orpheus's descent into the underworld. VanderMeer packs a great deal of hectic incident and implication into a relatively small space, but as a result much of what happens feels underexplained, unmotivated and repetitious - as though 'weirdness' (and a very adolescent, Dali-Bosch idea of weirdness) for its own sake was the governing aesthetic.
This borrowed visual imagination means that VanderMeer's Veniss never makes an indelible impression, resembling as it does too many similar creations in familiar films and books. The emotional temperature too is operatically overwrought throughout, as though the fate of the universe were at stake, but the characters are so thinly imagined that it's never clear why we should care about them.
I understand that VanderMeer has written better elsewhere, but 'Veniss Underground' left me with little enthusiasm to investigate further.
If 'The New Weird' means anything - and meaningful definitions are hard to come by - it appears to mean a form of hyper-romantic fantasy that draws at will on urban fantasy, dark fantasy, SF, horror, noir and thriller elements. Its direct ancestors include Michael Moorcock, Angela Carter and, even more pertinently, M. John Harrison, whose 'Viriconium' stories are the template for 'Veniss' and similar work by other writers - notably China Mieville. More generally, this is fleshy fantasy, post-Cronenberg, post-Barker, post-Gaiman.
This makes 'Veniss' sound more attractive than it is. In practice, VanderMeer lacks the imagination of the writers mentioned, and especially Harrison's acute feel for tone, essential when dealing with deliberately mannered prose. The brief opening section of the book is quite horribly overwritten; almost a textbook example of how to alienate a reader by being simultaneously pretentious, obscure and coy. I almost abandoned the book at this point. I wonder how many readers have never progressed further?
The second and third sections are more lucidly written, but what emerges, disappointingly, is a standard fantasy narrative, loosely derived from the classical myth of Orpheus's descent into the underworld. VanderMeer packs a great deal of hectic incident and implication into a relatively small space, but as a result much of what happens feels underexplained, unmotivated and repetitious - as though 'weirdness' (and a very adolescent, Dali-Bosch idea of weirdness) for its own sake was the governing aesthetic.
This borrowed visual imagination means that VanderMeer's Veniss never makes an indelible impression, resembling as it does too many similar creations in familiar films and books. The emotional temperature too is operatically overwrought throughout, as though the fate of the universe were at stake, but the characters are so thinly imagined that it's never clear why we should care about them.
I understand that VanderMeer has written better elsewhere, but 'Veniss Underground' left me with little enthusiasm to investigate further.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
as a reader of jeffs short stories-a big reader of them, i have them all- and really thinking they were good, espcially the writing, i was shocked to read this book. It might as well have been written by someone else. none of the elegant similies and graceful literary devices that adorn his short stories are present.
I canr even remeber what this novel was about it was so average. Something about a Giant Meerkat that was sent to kill this woman because her twin brother pissed off the Government or something like that. it was a dreary affair.
I canr even remeber what this novel was about it was so average. Something about a Giant Meerkat that was sent to kill this woman because her twin brother pissed off the Government or something like that. it was a dreary affair.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is Vandermeer's first Novel and is wonderfully crafted. It reminds me of a Dali painting - both grotesque and glorious on the same page. This is not a typical Science Fiction book. It has elements of the finest horror and fantasy in a world just about familiar enough to believe in. His style is free flowing and easy, with language that makes you feel you are with the characters. The three main Characters are written in different tenses, this just adds to the feel of the book and Characters. I read this in one sitting and at times wanted to block out some the images Vandermeer made me create in my head, but at the same time wanted to know what happened next. A wonderful journey and a lesson as to where our world might go.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Novel, inventive and darkly intriguing...
I picked up Jeff Vandermeer's debut novel on a whim and am sure to investigate his work further having enjoyed this surreal and poignant offering immensely! Read more
Published on 25 May 2009 by D. Laurikietis
A dark fantasyland evocatively portrayed
Nicholas, a washed-out holo artist, is desperate to secure the patronage of a mysterious man only known as Quin who, through biological engineering, creates fantastic creatures to... Read more
Published on 23 May 2009 by Richard Kunzmann
Not Carried Away
Low marks from me for this debut effort from Mr Vandermeer, but it might be your thing. I'll try to be as objective as possible... Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2008 by Big Dead
Am I missing the plot?
I have read 28 pages of this book and while most of the words would be found in the Oxford English dictionary, the don't actually mean anything in the order that they have been... Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2007 by Dawn
Veniss Underground - A Fantastic and Absorbing World
Meerkats are benign creatures, are they not? The sort of small furry mammal that peers timidly from a burrow with a David Attenborough voiceover, harmless, cuddly even, if you got... Read more
Published on 25 July 2004
A breathtaking debut, one to watch
I got this as a present for Christmas and knew nothing about it. I started on a Sunday afternoon and before I knew it, it was dark and I was desperate to finish reading. Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2004 by "gwb199"
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