karizard 's review for:

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

4.0

dark mysterious reflective 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

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I have such mixed feelings about this book that I'm going to have to resort to a list of pros and cons.

Pros

• I found the world-building fascinating
• I like his writing style
• Lots of intersting ideas and concepts 
• Very strong start to the book, both in regards to narrative and characterization
• I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was excellent
• I enjoyed learning about the different cultures in the book

Cons

• Too many narrative threads, many of which had unsatisfying resolutions or could have been skipped entirely
• Pacing became atrocious about halfway through, especially during the action scenes
• Should have been about 25% shorter
• I liked the ending but it felt disconnected from the rest of the book

I really wish that this had been an encyclopedia or a collection of short stories, because the main appeal of this book was the setting, not the characters or the plot.

Still giving it  a 4 because it was still good.