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selah228's review against another edition
4.0
really liked this one!
beautiful concepts bonded to some powerful political messages and interesting, emotional characters. though they are not all winners -- the trailers felt as if they could have been thrown away, and "Keep" lost its energy towards the end -- the prose is magnetic and beautiful. looked forward every day to reading a couple stories after class.
4.2 / 5
beautiful concepts bonded to some powerful political messages and interesting, emotional characters. though they are not all winners -- the trailers felt as if they could have been thrown away, and "Keep" lost its energy towards the end -- the prose is magnetic and beautiful. looked forward every day to reading a couple stories after class.
4.2 / 5
__emma__'s review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
4.0
A really thought-provoking, lovely book of short stories — thoroughly recommend
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Some of China Miéville's books are among my favourites. They take us to worlds that are like ours in some ways, and totally unlike in others. Most of them are strong brews, like Perdido Street Station. This one, I fear, was left to steep too long, and has become lit'ry. Some might say "too bloody clever for 'is own good."
The stories are superbly crafted. If that's what brings to this book, you'll love it. I prefer to luxuriate in the story rather than the author's craftsmanship.
The stories are hugely inventive, sometimes too much so. Imagine Kafka on LSD.
In some, I probably missed the allegorical or symbolic significances that would have made me gasp at the brilliance of the story.
It's not Miéville's fault that this one's too much for me. He is not obliged to write for me. I'll look for his next one anyway, because he's still an odds-on bet to produce one I'll like next time.
The stories are superbly crafted. If that's what brings to this book, you'll love it. I prefer to luxuriate in the story rather than the author's craftsmanship.
The stories are hugely inventive, sometimes too much so. Imagine Kafka on LSD.
In some, I probably missed the allegorical or symbolic significances that would have made me gasp at the brilliance of the story.
It's not Miéville's fault that this one's too much for me. He is not obliged to write for me. I'll look for his next one anyway, because he's still an odds-on bet to produce one I'll like next time.
crimsoncor's review against another edition
3.0
Some of the stories were spectacular (particularly Dreaded Outcome), but I think a lot of it went over my head. I'm only so-so at picking up on contextual clues and in the short story form, there is so much less to work with.
jhoffer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Highlight stories: Dowager of Bees, Säcken, The Bastard Prompt
jstrahan's review against another edition
4.0
So many great stories. Particular faves were 3 moments, the dowager of bees, the rope is the world, the buzzards egg, sacken, the junket, four final orpheuses, listen the birds, the design, and the rabbet
Turns out that’s more than half of them, and half the rest probably went over my head so definitely recommend, I LOVE CHINA!!
Turns out that’s more than half of them, and half the rest probably went over my head so definitely recommend, I LOVE CHINA!!
tomstbr's review against another edition
3.0
EDIT: see my review for The Lifted Brow
http://theliftedbrow.com/post/128819425462/coming-up-short-my-literary-hero-returns-with-a
http://theliftedbrow.com/post/128819425462/coming-up-short-my-literary-hero-returns-with-a
megadeathvsbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I'm still uncertain about short stories, especially from a writer as complex as Mieville. But these stories were fascinating, especially in terms of the concepts they contained. I'd suggest reading this with someone else so you have someone to talk to about it.
duffypratt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
These stories are interesting, but very few of them are satisfying. They either present a strange/cool idea in an experimental way and leave it at that, or they develop on it in a narrative that is somewhat engaging but ends up being a bit perplexing. There are only a couple in the bunch that I thought were truly excellent, most notably After the Festival.
The ideas, I have to say, are very cool. Mieville seems to place himself somewhere between Kafka, Borges, and J.G Ballard, with perhaps a touch of David Lynch (of Eraserhead). We get icebergs floating in the sky over London, medical students who find their cadavers have scrimshaw on their bones, oil rigs that have come to life and are invading the land. Towers built up as cities reaching to geosynchronous satellites, but now decaying. A disease that makes it so that a trench of earth spontaneously digs itself around any of the infected who remain stationary for long enough.
The imagination is extremely fertile and, as with much of Kafka, the weirdness seems to present itself as a kind of metaphor. But it's difficult to say what the metaphors are actually pointing to. And as with Kafka, I am sometimes at a loss to understand. So all that I'm left with is whether I enjoy it or not. And here, I would say it's about 50/50. Some of these stories seem very cool moment by moment. But they tend to simply peter out; the world ends not with a bang...
Still, I'm glad to have read these, and I may come back to a couple of them (After the Festival, The Keep). But I don't think Mieville is as good in the shorter formats as he is in the Bas-Lag books, or in Embassytown. Will definitely read more by him.
The ideas, I have to say, are very cool. Mieville seems to place himself somewhere between Kafka, Borges, and J.G Ballard, with perhaps a touch of David Lynch (of Eraserhead). We get icebergs floating in the sky over London, medical students who find their cadavers have scrimshaw on their bones, oil rigs that have come to life and are invading the land. Towers built up as cities reaching to geosynchronous satellites, but now decaying. A disease that makes it so that a trench of earth spontaneously digs itself around any of the infected who remain stationary for long enough.
The imagination is extremely fertile and, as with much of Kafka, the weirdness seems to present itself as a kind of metaphor. But it's difficult to say what the metaphors are actually pointing to. And as with Kafka, I am sometimes at a loss to understand. So all that I'm left with is whether I enjoy it or not. And here, I would say it's about 50/50. Some of these stories seem very cool moment by moment. But they tend to simply peter out; the world ends not with a bang...
Still, I'm glad to have read these, and I may come back to a couple of them (After the Festival, The Keep). But I don't think Mieville is as good in the shorter formats as he is in the Bas-Lag books, or in Embassytown. Will definitely read more by him.
stargazersasha's review against another edition
4.0
"the dowager of bees" is a 5 star story and the main reason i love this collection so much. there are lots of other hits but i found this collection to be pretty inconsistent. ily china <3