Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

3 reviews

zealforneil's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Miéville’s world of Bas-Lag and the city of New Crobuzon must be one of the greatest feats of fantasy invention. The world-building is so intense that you can smell the stench and feel the stifling heat of the city in the clutches of a nightmare summer. The story starts slowly and then steams ahead, the second half taking place in smaller and smaller time intervals, leaving you breathlessly pulled along. Utterly brutal and with character arcs that bear thinking about for a long time, Perdido Street Station is a must for fans of Gaiman or Pratchett who are looking for a story with a little less humour and a lot more darkness.
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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

This is an extraordinary book. I was bowled over when I read it twenty years ago, and it is just as powerful now. It’s about racism and loyalty and a repressive state, and about the resilience of those who are affected. I can’t recommend it highly enough - it’s phenomenal. 
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woweewhoa's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

4.0

This is a book that tries to do a lot, and does most of it very well! It's a very vivid world, in the best and worst ways, as it's very clear that this is a place with a history and politics as complex as they can be anywhere in the world. 
This book also revels in descriptions of the disgusting and there are Several parts of this book that you read a description and go "Ah! That's it for today!" There's a horror in this book, not in the tension or 'jump scare' sense, but in just the vivid descriptions and how extreme some of them get. 

I did overall like this book, however I guess because of everything that piled up and needed payoff, it resolved in a way I didn't particularly care for? It became much more of a 'Monster Hunting' plot once the Slake Moths became the big bad, which isn't a bad thing! It just shoved some of the political ramifications that were being touched upon to the side slightly, and I think I wanted that to be more of the focus I guess! My feelings on the book I think come from what I was looking for more than anything else all said! Also don't really like how the Lin stuff ended up going, especially when she was gone for most of the back half of the book.


I think all my problems with the book stem from what I'm looking for personally, so if you can handle really rough subject matter that honestly does make you feel Bad from how visceral it is, try this book out!  
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