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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fabulous world building
Second time trying this one. I think I'd like the story but it's just too gross for me
Ο σχεδόν άγνωστος στην Ελλάδα (επειδή Έλληνες εκδότες) China Miéville παραδίδει σεμινάριο γραφής με ένα από τα πιο εμβληματικά βιβλία της αυγής του 21ου αιώνα (εκδόθηκε το 2000, άρα τεχνικά ανήκει στον 20ο) εκπροσωπώντας θεωρητικά το κίνημα New Weird, αλλά όπως αρκετά βιβλία τέτοιου διαμετρήματος έχει έντονα στοιχεία από αρκετά gernes (φαντασίας, steampunk, τρόμος).
Στον εξαιρετικά πλούσιο και καλοχτισμένο κόσμο της μητρόπολης New Crobuzon η ιστορία ξεκινάει αργά και κάποια στιγμή κυριολεκτικά «ροπιάζει» αφήνοντάς σεμαλάκα Παυλόπουλο άφωνο. Μια χαοτική δυστοπία βιομηχανικής φαντασίας, ένας κυκεώνας διαφθοράς και επικίνδυνων τεχνολογιών φιλοξενεί αριστουργηματικούς χαρακτήρες που ξεφεύγουν από τα συνήθη στερεότυπα κινούμενοι σε ένα ζοφερό ημίφως ωμής σκληρότητας.
Αφότου πάρει το χρόνο του για να δομήσει το κόσμο του New Corbuzon, το βιβλίο μπαίνει για τα καλά στην κεντρική ιστορία δημιουργώντας μια μοναδική ατμόσφαιρα. Ωστόσο, ίσως κάποιοι ελβετόψυχοι τα παρατήσουν πριν φτάσουν εκεί. Αυτοί χάνουν. Κάποιοι, ίσως απογοητευτούν από το φινάλε, όπου δεν έχει γάμο «πρίγκιπας και τη χιονάτης με χαρούμενα κουτάβια golden retriever να παίζουν στα πόδια τους», αλλά η ομορφιά αυτού του κόσμου ανήκει σε όσους μπορούν να την εκτιμήσουν.
Ένα αριστούργημα, σίγουρα «όχι για όλους».
Υ.Γ. Θυμάμαι ακόμη την ανατριχίλα στην περίπτωση ενός βίαιου εγκλήματος, που αυτό που βαραίνει περισσότερο από το ίδιο το «φυσικό» αδίκημα είναι η στέρηση του θύματος στο δικαίωμα της επιλογής…
Στον εξαιρετικά πλούσιο και καλοχτισμένο κόσμο της μητρόπολης New Crobuzon η ιστορία ξεκινάει αργά και κάποια στιγμή κυριολεκτικά «ροπιάζει» αφήνοντάς σε
Αφότου πάρει το χρόνο του για να δομήσει το κόσμο του New Corbuzon, το βιβλίο μπαίνει για τα καλά στην κεντρική ιστορία δημιουργώντας μια μοναδική ατμόσφαιρα. Ωστόσο, ίσως κάποιοι ελβετόψυχοι τα παρατήσουν πριν φτάσουν εκεί. Αυτοί χάνουν. Κάποιοι, ίσως απογοητευτούν από το φινάλε, όπου δεν έχει γάμο «πρίγκιπας και τη χιονάτης με χαρούμενα κουτάβια golden retriever να παίζουν στα πόδια τους», αλλά η ομορφιά αυτού του κόσμου ανήκει σε όσους μπορούν να την εκτιμήσουν.
Ένα αριστούργημα, σίγουρα «όχι για όλους».
Υ.Γ. Θυμάμαι ακόμη την ανατριχίλα στην περίπτωση ενός βίαιου εγκλήματος, που αυτό που βαραίνει περισσότερο από το ίδιο το «φυσικό» αδίκημα είναι η στέρηση του θύματος στο δικαίωμα της επιλογής…
I’m not even sure where to begin this book. I thought it was sci-fi when I began, but it rides that line between sci-fi and fantasy. That is to say it doesn’t fit a category very well. I guess you’d call it steampunk, and this is the first novel I’ve read under that heading.
In terms of creativity, this is one of the most creative books I’ve read. A lot of the negative reviews seems to lament that fact that this novel isn’t formulaic. What a strange complaint. China Mieville has devised a world and cast of characters that is totally unique. Admittedly, it is a dark world where anything resembling hope is quashed and an Orwellian power structure rules the city-state. Again, this is another area of complaint, that it is too dark. It’s not too dark. If you want dark, read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The city, New Crobuzon is gritty, filthy and full of vermin. The mood is pervasive and settles into the pores of every resident. However, the novel is not overly graphic it just evokes such harshness in its descriptions.
I will grant at times it is overly descriptive and long, however, that’s what skimming is for. There were small sections where nothing really happened, it was just describing a neighborhood of the city for two pages and didn’t add that much to the narrative. Does that detract from the novel, not really, I’d rather have too much and skim than a skeleton-like setting.
The other point that really impressed me are the risks the writer took. Mieville doesn’t take the easy way out. Betrayal and misfortune visit the characters repeatedly. Perhaps there can be no truly happy endings in New Crobuzon, but I feel like most writers would have tried to make that happen. The ending in Perdido Street Station is the one that works the best.
Mieville explores so many themes in this novel from, what is sentience to race relations? There’s a lot here and it’d definitely worth reading.
In terms of creativity, this is one of the most creative books I’ve read. A lot of the negative reviews seems to lament that fact that this novel isn’t formulaic. What a strange complaint. China Mieville has devised a world and cast of characters that is totally unique. Admittedly, it is a dark world where anything resembling hope is quashed and an Orwellian power structure rules the city-state. Again, this is another area of complaint, that it is too dark. It’s not too dark. If you want dark, read Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The city, New Crobuzon is gritty, filthy and full of vermin. The mood is pervasive and settles into the pores of every resident. However, the novel is not overly graphic it just evokes such harshness in its descriptions.
I will grant at times it is overly descriptive and long, however, that’s what skimming is for. There were small sections where nothing really happened, it was just describing a neighborhood of the city for two pages and didn’t add that much to the narrative. Does that detract from the novel, not really, I’d rather have too much and skim than a skeleton-like setting.
The other point that really impressed me are the risks the writer took. Mieville doesn’t take the easy way out. Betrayal and misfortune visit the characters repeatedly. Perhaps there can be no truly happy endings in New Crobuzon, but I feel like most writers would have tried to make that happen. The ending in Perdido Street Station is the one that works the best.
Mieville explores so many themes in this novel from, what is sentience to race relations? There’s a lot here and it’d definitely worth reading.
interesting mix of steampunk and urban fantasy! Great read.
Rewelacyjne sf napisane przez przystojnego socjalistę z ogromną wyobraźnią. Świat tak bogaty i sugestywny, że przeczesałem parę razy Google Image Search w poszukiwaniu grafik inspirowanych przez tę powieść (są!). Faktycznie, jak wspomnieli inni oceniający, Mieville pisze ze słownikiem wyrazów trudnych przy boku (sultry pall of variegated musk, anyone? retinues of exhausted smelters?), ale da się przebrnąć :)
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Skilled, amazing writer--filled with wonderful ideas and a diamond-hard commitment that is required to make a great book. But Perdido Street Station won't make my forever list.
Perdido Street Station is almost a Terry Pratchett Discworld book. It's based in New Crobuzon (Ankh-Morpork), it stars Rincewind (Grimnebulin) and along the way we meet Vetinari (Rudgutter) and various sentients of various humanoid races. There's a slow build followed by a madcap dash to complete an unlikely adventure movie mission that somehow ties to deeper ideas like the fabric of reality and what it means to bravely stand with your friends.
The differences from Terry Pratchett? The grit is actually gritty. This book is filled with muck, murder, morally ambiguous characters, and body horror. Rincewind is a classic British loser... his missteps are comical. Grimnebulin is an actual jerk. He isn't a comical caricature of an asshole-- he's an actual asshole. Just slightly less of a jerk than the evil around him. Similarly, we find out that one of the main character's "sinful backstory" is actually a really upsetting sin. And the Vetinari character isn't a tyrant with a heart of gold--Rudgutter is an actual tyrant who abuses power, violates human rights, kills inconvenient threads, etc. This book is hard work. Most of the time it pays off. But it pretends to be a "fun" book, sometimes... and it isn't.
When Perdido Street Station takes you to a new section of town and attempts to "double-down" on this new neighborhood being the TRULY gritty and mucky depths of humanity, or when the book does something horrible like suck out a character's eyeballs or whatever, you find yourself scratching your head. Am I supposed to be upset again? You already did it, China! We're already there! You can't shock me with some new poverty, body horror, or grotesquery when you've already been shocking me for three hundred pages. I'm shocked out.
The book includes numerous "tropes-done-well"... (or satire? sometimes?), of different aspects of nerd culture... there's lots of steampunk fun, and the author cleverly inserts three Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying heroes into the adventure later in the book. The author winks at you. We briefly encounter vampires who aren't vampires, demons from hell, pan-dimensional creatures, steam punk AI, etc., etc., but the book is not primarily a comedy (like Pratchett), so these satirical or trope elements are rather odd for me. I had fun, I compliment the skill-- but it's a bit like the author is mashing Doctor Who episodes together and also wants to write literary fiction.
Anyway, great book. I should shut up. Glad I finally read it. But I can't recommend it.
Perdido Street Station is almost a Terry Pratchett Discworld book. It's based in New Crobuzon (Ankh-Morpork), it stars Rincewind (Grimnebulin) and along the way we meet Vetinari (Rudgutter) and various sentients of various humanoid races. There's a slow build followed by a madcap dash to complete an unlikely adventure movie mission that somehow ties to deeper ideas like the fabric of reality and what it means to bravely stand with your friends.
The differences from Terry Pratchett? The grit is actually gritty. This book is filled with muck, murder, morally ambiguous characters, and body horror. Rincewind is a classic British loser... his missteps are comical. Grimnebulin is an actual jerk. He isn't a comical caricature of an asshole-- he's an actual asshole. Just slightly less of a jerk than the evil around him. Similarly, we find out that one of the main character's "sinful backstory" is actually a really upsetting sin. And the Vetinari character isn't a tyrant with a heart of gold--Rudgutter is an actual tyrant who abuses power, violates human rights, kills inconvenient threads, etc. This book is hard work. Most of the time it pays off. But it pretends to be a "fun" book, sometimes... and it isn't.
When Perdido Street Station takes you to a new section of town and attempts to "double-down" on this new neighborhood being the TRULY gritty and mucky depths of humanity, or when the book does something horrible like suck out a character's eyeballs or whatever, you find yourself scratching your head. Am I supposed to be upset again? You already did it, China! We're already there! You can't shock me with some new poverty, body horror, or grotesquery when you've already been shocking me for three hundred pages. I'm shocked out.
The book includes numerous "tropes-done-well"... (or satire? sometimes?), of different aspects of nerd culture... there's lots of steampunk fun, and the author cleverly inserts three Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying heroes into the adventure later in the book. The author winks at you. We briefly encounter vampires who aren't vampires, demons from hell, pan-dimensional creatures, steam punk AI, etc., etc., but the book is not primarily a comedy (like Pratchett), so these satirical or trope elements are rather odd for me. I had fun, I compliment the skill-- but it's a bit like the author is mashing Doctor Who episodes together and also wants to write literary fiction.
Anyway, great book. I should shut up. Glad I finally read it. But I can't recommend it.