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Veniss Underground Paperback – September 27, 2005

by Jeff Vandermeer (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 46 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Spectra; First Printing edition (September 27, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0553383566
  • ISBN-13: 978-0553383560
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsDark, modern myth
By Amazon Customer VINE VOICE on September 1, 2003
Format: Hardcover
In "Veniss Underground" Jeff VanderMeer has produced a fascinating retelling of the underworld mythology that so riddles our collective subconscious. Although clearly inspired by Dante and the myth of Orpheus and Euridcye, there is also a more primal, basic undercurrent that infuses his work. Specifically, it is the divine, yet flawed spark that inhabits each human being; the desire to exercise god-like powers even though we must inevitably pass our own shortcomings into any creation.
Set in the future, one's instinct is to read "Veniss Underground" as science fiction, but to do so would mean missing something very fundamental at work. In reality, the novel is set in the future because it allows VanderMeer the freedom to use certain plot devices to propel his story forward. However, the real power of the novel comes from its exploration of our humanity.
That said, his future is a fascinating construct: set in a world where each city has become a power unto itself, surrounded by impassable wastelands of human creation. In this regard, VanderMeer again harkens back to mythology, as Athens and the like were beacons in a strange, dangerous world. Veniss is a city where genetically engineered meerkats talk and act as servants, and where walking, breathing Ganesha's provide security and courier services. Moreover, the city itself is a marvel, a world unto itself. However, Veniss is coming unglued, and it is all its fragmented leadership can do to keep it together. Moreover, Veniss survives because of the Underground, a sort of slum where untold thousands live out their lives in a kind of indentured servitude, hoping only to escape their all to literal hell.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsShort But Intense
By Sven Reiche on July 7, 2004
Format: Paperback
Although, or better to say because, the book is rather short (I needed about 4 hours to read it) it is intense and grotesque in many aspects.
First, the formal layout of the book is three chapters, written in the first, second and third person perspective. This produces in particular for the two first two chapters a personal almost intimidating experience. This is emphasized by the rather erratic language, which are more an assembly of half-sentences and second thoughts than well written prose, but it serves its purpose to enhance the claustrophobic, dooms-day feeling of the main characters.
The central part is the last chapter (I regard the first two chapter as a prologue to it) describing the voyage from the surface to the deepest level of the underground. It feels like a modern version of the Dante's Inferno. Vandermeer describes that which the progress in the underground humanity is more and more withdrawn. First it is only reflected in the behavior of people living there in despair. Then even their appearance alters (like the reappearance of the main character of the first chapter). Further down the underground is populated with creatures which only remaining humane character treat is suffering because they recognized the agony to live in that place and the awareness of their own doomed and flawed existence. At the end even that is gone and what remains is a chaotic dog-eats-dog world.
I rarely encountered a book which provoke so much emotion while reading and long after that. The book defies any classification into SF or Mystery and its use of first and second person narrative makes it so distinct to other who tried a similar approach.
Highly recommended
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn ambitious work that exceeds its promise
By D. Read on March 29, 2003
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
.... At the risk of overselling, I was floored by this book. I've been a fan of Jeff's work for over a decade (and, in the interest of full disclosure, a friend), so I've known he was a great writer for a long time. But this, his first novel, surpassed any expectation I could have had and made clear to me how good he really is--and he's just getting started!
"Veniss Underground" succeeds on so many levels. First, it has fully realized characters who fully engaged me. Not only did I see them as real, their respective plights became important to me.
Second, it has a simultaneously exotic, beautiful, terrible, and revolting far-future setting that is vividly described. One thing that I especially appreciated about Jeff's work on the settings is that he never feels the need to describe how such a crazy place came to be, what century we're in exactly, or what part of the world. The city of Veniss just *is*.
Third, the action and pacing are brisk enough to keep the book moving and create suspense, but just leisurely enough to allow lingering on the settings and the abundance of strange creatures. The third section of the book, in particular, is a hell of a ride. There are scenes in this third section that will stay with me forever. I can't provide much description of the third section of the book without spoiling the fun and surprises, so I won't try.
Fourth, the prose itself is near-perfect. As always with Jeff's work, each sentence is so obviously crafted with loving care. As a writer myself, I know the kind of painstaking, repeated rewriting that it takes to get prose that is both this poetic and this tight.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsWonderfully Odd

Love his writing. Every sentence feels crafted.

Published 27 days ago by Greg Sorensen
4.0 out of 5 starsAn insightful rendering made masterfully accessible by one of the best...

A fascinating tumble into the pits of imagined branching of futures, at once far removed and yet tangible in light of our present. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Fast T Friend
4.0 out of 5 starsThe Golden Road to Devotion following a trail of poisoned breadcrumbs

Some comparisons have been made to the author China Mieville's 'Perdido Street Station' (PSS) in terms of descriptive power. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Sabooski's Meow
5.0 out of 5 starsEven the gritty bits were written with beautiful detail; I love when a...

Excellently written, dark and gritty. Even the gritty bits were written with beautiful detail; I love when a writer can take something ugly and make it beautiful.

Published 10 months ago by Whitney
5.0 out of 5 starsvisually immersing

Way out of my comfort zone. Learned of this book reading an article. I'm so glad I did. It pushes the boundaries of visualization, the only thing I wish is for a little more length... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Zach Tyo
3.0 out of 5 starsAlright

Vandermeer writes about very grotesque topics and gore is a common theme. It seems like he is always trying to one up his last description of biological abnormality. Read more

Published on March 6, 2014 by Stephen
5.0 out of 5 starsTwisted

Vandermeer has an imagination unlike any I've encountered. Visions of Hieronymus Bosch & Peter Breugel apply here. Read more

Published on June 17, 2013 by Steven R. Stewart
4.0 out of 5 starsVeniss deep down

All was flesh and weirdness in Veniss Underground. Unexpected goresque sections for me, mixed up with some brilliant and hilarious humor spots. Read more

Published on May 12, 2013 by Tamara
4.0 out of 5 starsThe second book I read of Vandermeer.

This fit more with what I read fantasy for, with more of an action orientation. Still has some trouble with suspension of disbelief as some of the images evoked in this book are... Read more

Published on July 12, 2012 by Doug Dandridge
4.0 out of 5 starsMyth, horror, and sci-fi in an intricate dance

Written in three movements, the three perspectives in Veniss Underground are steeped in textural myth and literary history. Read more

Published on April 17, 2012 by 2theD

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