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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Complicated
The world-building in this book is like something I’ve never encountered before! I loved how imaginative and vivid the city felt, and the pace with which the reader unlocks all different parts of the map. The story itself, however, was a little disappointing. I mean let’s be honest, it really didn’t need all 800 pages. I rarely read male authors and this book reminded me why. I am tired of male protagonists and helpless lovers. It is true that the book has some strong female characters and plays with the notion of diversity on other fronts, but the gendering of its protagonists was noticeable. I was impressed how seamless it felt to get through the whole book (it didn’t quite feel like it took me 3 months!), I felt like a slow burn as I didn’t quite notice myself reaching for it at every possible moment. I am glad I’ve read the book and I would probably recommend it to keen readers who want to experience a completely different wold (and I will say, the ending pushed my ratings of this book up), but I can’t say it was my favourite.
Complex. Enthralling. Horrifying. Imaginative. Gruesome. Thrilling. Thought-provoking. Mystifying. Tragic. Victorious.
So many swirling emotions and thoughts on this one! A delightful showcase of the wild and weird workings of Mieville's mind.
So many swirling emotions and thoughts on this one! A delightful showcase of the wild and weird workings of Mieville's mind.
I loved this. It's set in a sort of steampunk, body horror, sci-fi London. Complete with its own interesting public transport station names. The main story is a mystery around some thefts and deaths. It is a weird book, but in a way that is delightful to unravel and it left me wanting more.
Loved the whole world created, too much for one book. Mieville has such fun with language.
Choice theft is such a great crime.
Choice theft is such a great crime.
I've had this book sitting on my shelf for probably about five years, from back when a friend of mine cleaned off his shelves (I think perhaps he'd bought himself a Kindle) and sent me dozens of fantasy and sci-fi novels. Why did it take me so long to get around to it, when I jumped on the George R. R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss? Can't really say; though I'd heard just about nothing but praise for China Mieville, for whatever reason I simply wasn't interested, and months turned into years. But recently, an e-mail conversation made me realize that I ought to give it a shot--and so, while I was away at a church camp, it was among the books I grabbed, to see if it would grab me. And boy howdy, did it ever!
A strange and wonderful mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, Mieville's great theme in this book is disruption, adaptation, and transformation, and he found a terrific language, constructed a compelling world, and came up with a damn fine plot to spell those themes out at length. Basically, you have a city, New Crobuzon, which is non-computerized and steam-driven but filled with marvelous and bizarre machinery, and which is inhabited by various strange alien races along with human beings, and between magic and extra-dimensional science and plain old wickedness, curiosity, and invention, those races mix together, get made and re-made, sometimes are grafted on to each other in hideous ways. Through it all, politics, sex, crime, religion, ecology, corruption, and scientific research push forward. This city is attacked by a monster (five monsters, actually) whose powers and functions are a marvel of horrific originality. Through a variety of means, our heroes--and, in the end, this really was a heroic book; the final beats of the story, as the tragically wounded Isaac and his lover Lin and their suffering friend Derkhan seek a new future elsewhere, while the noble, transformed sinner Yagharek accepts his new home, reminded me of nothing so much as the end of The Lord of the Rings, with the wounded Frodo departing for the West and Sam returning home--must deal with the chaos the monsters bring, ultimately defeating them, but at great cost.
It's not a perfect book, I suppose; Isaac's final invention to defeat the enemy is a weird and nigh-incomprehensible bit of narrative phlebotinum (I seriously doubt Mieville himself could explain in any kind of ordinary way just what exactly was happening and why). So yeah, things got a little crowded and confusing towards the end. But he pulled out a fantastic conclusion just the same, and along the way there were many wonderful moments of description and pure story-telling (Lim's reflections on her upbringing and Yagharek's frequent asides stand out in particular). I don't know; maybe I'm rating this book too highly because it's strikes me as the most successful use of the whole "steampunk" aesthetic that I've ever read, and I'm just delighted to have finally realized what a gem I have on my shelf. I can promise one thing: this won't be the last Mieville I read this summer.
A strange and wonderful mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, Mieville's great theme in this book is disruption, adaptation, and transformation, and he found a terrific language, constructed a compelling world, and came up with a damn fine plot to spell those themes out at length. Basically, you have a city, New Crobuzon, which is non-computerized and steam-driven but filled with marvelous and bizarre machinery, and which is inhabited by various strange alien races along with human beings, and between magic and extra-dimensional science and plain old wickedness, curiosity, and invention, those races mix together, get made and re-made, sometimes are grafted on to each other in hideous ways. Through it all, politics, sex, crime, religion, ecology, corruption, and scientific research push forward. This city is attacked by a monster (five monsters, actually) whose powers and functions are a marvel of horrific originality. Through a variety of means, our heroes--and, in the end, this really was a heroic book; the final beats of the story, as the tragically wounded Isaac and his lover Lin and their suffering friend Derkhan seek a new future elsewhere, while the noble, transformed sinner Yagharek accepts his new home, reminded me of nothing so much as the end of The Lord of the Rings, with the wounded Frodo departing for the West and Sam returning home--must deal with the chaos the monsters bring, ultimately defeating them, but at great cost.
It's not a perfect book, I suppose; Isaac's final invention to defeat the enemy is a weird and nigh-incomprehensible bit of narrative phlebotinum (I seriously doubt Mieville himself could explain in any kind of ordinary way just what exactly was happening and why). So yeah, things got a little crowded and confusing towards the end. But he pulled out a fantastic conclusion just the same, and along the way there were many wonderful moments of description and pure story-telling (Lim's reflections on her upbringing and Yagharek's frequent asides stand out in particular). I don't know; maybe I'm rating this book too highly because it's strikes me as the most successful use of the whole "steampunk" aesthetic that I've ever read, and I'm just delighted to have finally realized what a gem I have on my shelf. I can promise one thing: this won't be the last Mieville I read this summer.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Really enjoyed the audiobook narrated by John Lee. As someone who is not a fan of
body horror and gore there were difficult moments but it felt a little steam punk dystopian horror and found this engaging and was invested in the story. Check the content warnings if you’re unsure.
body horror and gore there were difficult moments but it felt a little steam punk dystopian horror and found this engaging and was invested in the story. Check the content warnings if you’re unsure.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Having read his later work first, I can see where Mieville is working out language, style, plot and structure techniques in this early novel. Outstanding for the first 250 pages or so, then rambling and needing editing for about the same amount and then finishing strong. Would have been a brilliant 400 page novel. As is, I would have continued to read his work if this was the first thing I'd read of his.
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Everyone bangs on about his brilliant world building, but it’s just four hundred pages of “man, this city is fucking gross” and there’s a woman with a bug for a head.
Is Perdido Street Station one of those things only men like? That would explain so much.
Is Perdido Street Station one of those things only men like? That would explain so much.