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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Yes
adventurous
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:
Yes
This book was amazing. The characters and the world that China Miéville creates are incredibly unique. As soon as I started reading I wanted to sit down and draw the characters. The book may start off a bit slow but it makes up for it in the sheer wonder of the world. The plot picked up and made me devour the last of its 700 pages. The world that Perdido Street Station is set in has a very steam punk feel to it. The story is a bit dark and takes place in the dingy city of New Crobuzon. Magic is treated as a kind of science. This is the first fantasy novel of its kind that I have encountered. I highly recommend it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book hit a little harder during this second time around. I think the first time I was dazzled by the weirdness of it and relished those aspects. This time around I am in awe of the deep characters and the layers in the story. Some parts fly by, other parts drag a little bit, but the world is so alive - it seems in spite of its surroundings and circumstances - that I was always interested in what was on the page. I feel like this book is just brimming full of ideas that China thought were cool. Yeah, why not throw the mantis-clawed guy in at the end. How about AI? How about a race of beetle-headed creatures who are refugees? Oh, and what if there are whole groups of people who receive horrible body-modifications as a form of punishment? Yeah, throw that in there. But what if people chose to alter themselves in weird ways? Sure why not. Also, Hell is real. And there's a giant inter-dimensional spider. Hmm, what else? How about cherubs, but instead of angelic, they are quasi-human and shit everywhere? Yeah, I guess so. And that's not even getting into the main plots of this book, most of those things are incidental. So many ideas and concepts in here. I feel like nowadays, this book would be edited way down, and it would lose a large part of the magic of it. I love these sprawling books because they feel alive; its not just whittled down to the necessary components for a fast moving plot. And that's not to say that the plot doesn't move fast, because after a certain point it just flies by. I did not want to stop reading it, and that, to me, is a sign of a great book.
Legit an all-timer for me!!
Mieville is a verbose author - sometimes to the point of amusement. Not quite hilarity, I'd say, because I do think that the baroqueness of the verbiage is thematically appropriate to the wild sprawl of New Crobuzon. In fact, two of the recurring nouns (and Mieville actually loves to make nouns recur close to each other in even short clauses) that are crucial to understanding what Perdido Street Station is all about are "crisis" and "palimpsest."
What a lovely coincidence that I had just last year taken an Architectural History course so I knew what "palimpsest" means!
So yeah PSS is all about that friction point where a thing turns into another thing! Where stuff is grafted onto other stuff! Where potential energy turns into kinetic energy! I'm probably a basic b for laying out some obvious themes but Lauren always provides me with examples of dumb libs barely able to process words so yay for smarty pants Luana.
This is perfectly reflected in Yagharek, whose "choice-theft" triggers an unwanted change-state in him, which he comes to New Crobuzon to reverse once again. It's reflected in Mr. Motley, whose whole being is defined by palimpsests. And it's reflected in New Crobuzon itself, the real protagonist of PSS.
I always used to say that "descriptions" were just uninteresting filler (oh god transition me away from this terrible person, HRT) but honestly? The deep dives into the city, the snapshots of its people and its architecture and its layers of social structures are among the most fun parts.
The descriptions of khepri society and religion, and Lin's break from them, were my favorites in the books. And they're just LORE DUMPS essentially! I mean talk about dopes online going "hehhh well show don't tell a cardinal rule" being fulla shit. It's prose! TELL ME SHIT!
And yeah, I definitely want Mieville to tell me more in the future.
Mieville is a verbose author - sometimes to the point of amusement. Not quite hilarity, I'd say, because I do think that the baroqueness of the verbiage is thematically appropriate to the wild sprawl of New Crobuzon. In fact, two of the recurring nouns (and Mieville actually loves to make nouns recur close to each other in even short clauses) that are crucial to understanding what Perdido Street Station is all about are "crisis" and "palimpsest."
What a lovely coincidence that I had just last year taken an Architectural History course so I knew what "palimpsest" means!
So yeah PSS is all about that friction point where a thing turns into another thing! Where stuff is grafted onto other stuff! Where potential energy turns into kinetic energy! I'm probably a basic b for laying out some obvious themes but Lauren always provides me with examples of dumb libs barely able to process words so yay for smarty pants Luana.
This is perfectly reflected in Yagharek, whose "choice-theft" triggers an unwanted change-state in him, which he comes to New Crobuzon to reverse once again. It's reflected in Mr. Motley, whose whole being is defined by palimpsests. And it's reflected in New Crobuzon itself, the real protagonist of PSS.
I always used to say that "descriptions" were just uninteresting filler (oh god transition me away from this terrible person, HRT) but honestly? The deep dives into the city, the snapshots of its people and its architecture and its layers of social structures are among the most fun parts.
The descriptions of khepri society and religion, and Lin's break from them, were my favorites in the books. And they're just LORE DUMPS essentially! I mean talk about dopes online going "hehhh well show don't tell a cardinal rule" being fulla shit. It's prose! TELL ME SHIT!
And yeah, I definitely want Mieville to tell me more in the future.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book handled its action and plot masterfully, only to fumble at the last second.
The nature of the garuda’s crime was obvious the moment they called it “choice theft”. It wasn’t a surprise. I am just disgusted at the way it ended up factoring into the story. The rapes of two female characters are only used so our male protagonist can have his little moral dilemma. The victims are given no agency. This book wants the shock value of rape but has zero interest in its victims. So fucking gross.
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For me, this book had the type of world that immediately sucks you in, even if nothing much is happening plot wise. When it leaned into the science piece of this new weird/science fantasy genre it did really well. Even just hearing about the discoveries was something that kept me turning the page. As it slowly shifted away from that discovery phase, it became a bit less in my eyes. For all of the clear explanation (even if fantastical) in the first third, as the antagonists begin to appear, so many things just tend to happen exactly as needed.
I found 'The City' and Rudgutter to be much more intriguing antagonists thanThe slake moths . The book obviously had a very cynical tone absolutely bleeding through every page, and yet it seemed to leave all of the systemic issues behind for a large chunk of the back half. I think I would have enjoyed a focus much more surrounding the vice the powerful have on the little people rather than a sort of generic monster hunter fantasy.
Lin's arc also disappointed me. She was such an interesting opposite to Isaac as the book began, but basically got fridged. I can't really see the point in her arc at all. It almost caused me to drop another .25 stars.
I found 'The City' and Rudgutter to be much more intriguing antagonists than
Lin's arc also disappointed me. She was such an interesting opposite to Isaac as the book began, but basically got fridged. I can't really see the point in her arc at all. It almost caused me to drop another .25 stars.