Reviews

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Only show reviews with written explanations

outcolder's review against another edition

4.0

This is the darkest of the three, and the one I read last. All three are amazing and if you like fantasy at all and you haven't been to Bas Lag yet, get on it already.

This next bit might be a spoiler, so, be warned.

I thought it was interesting how the two consciousnesses that Isaac combines to make the crisis engine in a battle with the slake moths were both, like, sociologists. The Weaver just automatically sees all the connections as a web and it's cosmic. The Construct Council is ... okay, just trying to "maximize" itself as Isaac puts it ... trying to learn everything about the city and to do so it must connect itself into a giant network everywhere. Well, okay, I guess it is a stretch to say sociologists, but they are both about making connections across society and the space it occupies and then experiencing those connections inside themselves yet they are opposite enough in the way that they do it so that they can kind of represent pure id and pure ego respectively. Like the id and the ego of New Crobuzon. Yeah, so that was cool. Like, philosophy.

I like this kind of urban fantasy a lot more than Tolkien and his derivatives. Also, I dig the politics.

vvitchprincess's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

sirpatrik's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

kivt's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Loved it all around! Mieville is verbose and needs to find new adjectives (filthy shows up at least once per description of ANYTHING) but his style didn't detract from the story at all. I still wish there had been more women and that the strongest of the two hadn't been maimed for more or less no reason, but the politics were good. The strike was probably my favorite part, and the Weaver my favorite character/concept.