A review by emmaraeempowered
Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer

3.5

I would consider myself a fan of Jeff VanderMeer yet I could not find myself being a fan of Veniss Underground. I had a hard time visualizing most of this which is funny because in the afterward he talks about when he was first writing this story and how he couldn't visualize a certain place (I'll let you find out what place). That was oddly affirming that while the author had a very intense setting picked out he also couldn't picture it at first. 
I also struggled with the gore. Normally I can read very gory things but something about this literally would make my stomach turn. Which honestly is a good point toward this book because those parts were very descriptive and vivid in my mind. 
The aspect that I enjoyed most about this was the POVs and how they switched from one to the other. The beginning we are with Nicholas, then his twin sister Nicola, and then Nicola's ex Shadrach. It felt like a relay of the story. Each character showing you something different, new motivations, new aspects on the world, a totally different feel between them all. I think this enhanced the story so so much. 
All in all it was a good read. I'm glad I read it to expand on how much of VanderMeer's catalog I've read. I'm looking forward to picking up Ambergris by him hopefully soon. 
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