Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ceiling_lizard 's review for:
Perdido Street Station
by China Miéville
challenging
dark
tense
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
Rather than "plot" or "character" focused, this book is the secret third thing: worldbuilding focused. The events of the story and the types of characters introduced all serve to tell the reader something about the world and its culture, which is where Perdido Street Station shines the most. Most fantasy worlds build on existing tropes, but Bas-Lag is different, distinct. The worldbuilding is my favorite part of the book. I especially liked reading about the different races and cultures, from fairly mundane humanoids to weird, otherworldly beings. Their different practices and religions, types of magic and fantasy science. It's fresh and new, far outside the usual template of "humans and slightly differently flavored humans."
The flaw of being worldbuilding-focused is, for me, that it doesn't hook me. Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed reading it. It's just that I tended to forget to pick it up again after I put it down. It doesn't help that I usually read while eating, and this book is...unappetizing? New Crobuzon is a gross, polluted city, full of vice and violence. Doesn't make for light lunch reading, as interesting as it is to learn about it.
Other things that should be addressed...Well, I saw other readers who find the writing pretentious? It does use a lot of obscure vocabulary, but it doesn't feel particularly pretentious to me; it doesn't feel like it's using big words just for the sake of sounding smart, I mean. It gives the writing a kind of detached, almost scientific vibe which highlights the world better than the characters' emotions. I think it works with what the book is going for.
All in all, a book for a specific type of nerd. I'll probably read the next book in the series, but I need better habits than reading almost exclusively when eating if I want to finish in a reasonable timeframe lol
The flaw of being worldbuilding-focused is, for me, that it doesn't hook me. Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed reading it. It's just that I tended to forget to pick it up again after I put it down. It doesn't help that I usually read while eating, and this book is...unappetizing? New Crobuzon is a gross, polluted city, full of vice and violence. Doesn't make for light lunch reading, as interesting as it is to learn about it.
Other things that should be addressed...Well, I saw other readers who find the writing pretentious? It does use a lot of obscure vocabulary, but it doesn't feel particularly pretentious to me; it doesn't feel like it's using big words just for the sake of sounding smart, I mean. It gives the writing a kind of detached, almost scientific vibe which highlights the world better than the characters' emotions. I think it works with what the book is going for.
All in all, a book for a specific type of nerd. I'll probably read the next book in the series, but I need better habits than reading almost exclusively when eating if I want to finish in a reasonable timeframe lol
Content Warnings
(I'll try to add content warnings later if I can still edit this review)