Why did I read this one? Blame Facebook. I did one of those mad little “which book are you?” things for a bizarro question, and ended up being told I was Veniss Underground by Jeff Vandermeer. Well, I thought. I can’t very well go on being a book I haven’t read now, can I? So I ordered it in and gave it a darn good read.

Mister Vandermeer has created a wonderful world in this novel. It’s slick, it’s nasty, it’s biological and mechanical. It’s one of those books which would be a fantastic movie in cgi with lots of darkness and a punk soundtrack surrounded by classical opera. It’s just insanely visual that way. When reading it, I was thinking of Coheed and Cambria and AFI with a bit of Orff just for the hell of it. I’m sorry – I’m just built this way.

The book concerns a few characters, mainly the selfish artist Nick, his somewhat more mainstream sister Nicola and her old boyfriend-turned-rescuer, Shadrach. The book switches seamlessly between these three in three acts, almost, going from Nick to Nicola to Shadrach and finishing with the hopeful combination of Nicola and Shadrach. It’s an intriguing way he wove their perspectives. It is a true shift in narrative, such that I did feel a bit sad to lose Nick’s perspective, who I was just getting the hang of, before the book shifted to Nicola.

Plotwise, Nick is abducted by Quin (evil scientist dude), and Nicola investigates but has to be rescued by Shadrach, who feels responsible for Nick’s disappearance but is more guilty regarding Nicola. Shadrach journeys into the deep subterranean world beneath the city in search of Nicola, before moving on to deal with the root of the problem – Quin. Along the way he battles a meerkat assassin, several biologically-altered freaks and a couple of truly weird entities. It’s a wild and untamed ride down there! I wouldn’t want to catch the train!

There are some glitteringly surreal scenes in this book, and some fine ideas. The animals, for example are a wonderful concept. Created by an insane scientist (who else?) they are almost a final legacy of man in a dying world. At least, that’s how our professor sees it. Let the meerkats inherit the earth? Their little world deep beneath the surface, was an amazing place – and I almost felt the fear of these vast hordes of animals rising up from the depths to turn the balance of power back from human to animal once more. I’m simple that way. I didn’t get the whole Orpheus reference as I hadn’t read Orpheus. Sorry.

Mister Vandermeer’s power lies in the gentle way his narrative moves forward. It doesn’t lurch, or leap. It just flows along nicely, letting you sink deeper into the world even as his characters sink deeper into the underground, where the mines have given way to something much more sinister. I felt the terrible blackness and the crazed insanity of the wildly mad Quin (the mad as a hatter professor). I felt the almost brutish heroic Shadrach as something so determined and human – yet nearer to being animal than he’d be willing to admit. This concept of who had the “right” to the world above really makes you think about the future of mankind.

Overall, a wonderfully surreal and subtle novel with the touch of a master at the helm. I loved the ride, and will most certainly be hunting further for Mister Vandermeer’s books (a trifle hard to find here in Australia, but YAY to the internet!). I’m also rather proud to be, according to my Facebook question thingy, this very book.

So, go ahead: Read me!