There are many a writer looking for the golden path—the key to unlock the secret to bestselling success. And then there is China Mieville. Wielding his own key since the beginning, he has even taken his endeavors beyond fiction, not producing a new story since 2016. For whatever reason, perhaps because he's a fan of John Wick, perhaps The Matrix, or more likely Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Mieville chose to team up with Keanu Reeves in 2024 to adapt Reeve's graphic novel BRZRKR to the written word. The Book of Elsewhere is the result.
The Book of Elsewhere tells of an immortal superhero trying to gain mortality. Echoing Neo's character arc from Matrix, our man BRZRKR has punched, kicked, ripped, and torn his way through history, sometimes winning, sometimes, sometimes, losing, sometimes dying, but always coming back to life—no matter how hard he tries to stay dead. Also ignoring time and mortality is a pig, yes, a pig, who uses every chance he gets to stick his tusks in BRZRKR. But there is alight at the end of the tunnel. BRZRKR meets a scientist who begins examining the immortal man, and may be able to uncover the key to his mortality.