Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

8 reviews

msawyer77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Body horror, and Cursing

Moderate: Rape

emisbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

i would never pick this book for myself, but it was bought for me as a gift, so i gave it a go.

well written, but too much description of setting + worldbuilding, even though its the first novel of a series. felt too long at points. i think this book could be cut in half if there weren't so many descriptive scenes. the writing is also unnecessarily gross at times.

the only character i truly cared for was lin. i felt indifferent to the protagonist isaac the entire way through.

the world is very interesting - a steampunk, victorian-esque, magical realist world with various species living amongst humans.

i wouldn't recommend this book if you don't care for science or engineering as its a core theme of the story, isaac being a scientist. i personally don't which has probably affected my rating.

(i honestly considered dnf'ing this book at multiple points, but i wanted to keep going just to say i conquered an 800+ page book, i guess)

tldr: good but not amazing. only cared for 1 character. too long. read if you like science/engineering. good worldbuilding. 

the fact that lin wasn't in the story for most of part five is probably the reason i stopped caring about the story. when she came back my interest in the story was reignited.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Body horror, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Addiction

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Sexism, Gore, Classism, Body horror, Drug use, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Ableism, Child death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Vomit, and War

Minor: Abortion

jhbandcats's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, Addiction, Classism, Violence, Drug abuse, Body horror, Torture, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Death, and Excrement

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

3.5

This book definitely shows its age in some areas (at one point the author uses the word "autistic" in such a strange way that I still have no idea what he was trying to indicate, the plotline that pops up near the end and then immediately peters out also feels very dated) but overall I enjoyed this. The world felt original and the stakes always felt high. The characters were kind of awful but in a way that felt like it was on purpose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Addiction, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Slavery, Xenophobia, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Child abuse, Confinement, Dementia, Drug use, Rape, Classism, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Pedophilia, Vomit, War, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

kaseyd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Body horror, Drug use, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Abortion and Vomit

woweewhoa's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Gore, Blood, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Violence, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Racism, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, and Incest

noel_b's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault