mausi 's review for:

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

3.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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The world-building in this book is like something I’ve never encountered before! I loved how imaginative and vivid the city felt, and the pace with which the reader unlocks all different parts of the map. The story itself, however, was a little disappointing. I mean let’s be honest, it really didn’t need all 800 pages. I rarely read male authors and this book reminded me why. I am tired of male protagonists and helpless lovers. It is true that the book has some strong female characters and plays with the notion of diversity on other fronts, but the gendering of its protagonists was noticeable. I was  impressed how seamless it felt to get through the whole book (it didn’t quite feel like it took me 3 months!), I felt like a slow burn as I didn’t quite notice myself reaching for it at every possible moment. I am glad I’ve read the book and I would probably recommend it to keen readers who want to experience a completely different wold (and I will say, the ending pushed my ratings of this book up), but I can’t say it was my favourite.