Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

13 reviews

themysteriouserk's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

While I did find some pacing issues, I loved the story world (a blend of classic fantasy tropes with totally new ideas and references to mythologies not often represented in fantasy, at least in English) and found the characters intriguing.

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monsteraadansonii's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0


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noel_b's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "weird". The world is constantly surprising you with new and weirder elements and I was just so intrigued by it all.

The writing style is on the literary side and the prose does draw attention to itself. It stops to describe the scenery or certain areas of the city every once in a while, and the author is not shy about using "challenging" or "big" words (to give you an idea, the word "palimpsest" shows up weirdly often). I thoroughly enjoyed it, but if you are looking for straightforward prose that keeps the plot moving nonstop, this may not be for you.

 I would say that this book is more about the journey (the weird, weird journey) than the destination. Personally, I loved it, but if you want a fast paced, tightly written mystery/thriller, you may want to look elsewhere. 

The pacing is not particularly fast, mostly because the book takes the time to explore different neighborhoods and aspects of life in that city. Everything is in service of investigating the main mystery or following a side plot, but we do spend a lot of time discovering new bizarre elements of this world.

if nothing else, the city of New Crobuzon is constantly surprising. Sometimes wonderful, many times grotesque. Always surprising



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