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skeeffe 's review for:
The Last Days of New Paris
by China Miéville
Mieville is deeply enraptured by the history of the Parisian surrealist movement, and had I shared his knowledge and adoration, I suspect I would have enjoyed this book more than I did. The narrative is dotted with references to artworks, artists, writers, philosophers, revolutionaries and occultists. Every few pages I found myself on Wikipedia. Mieville literally catalogues names for paragraphs on end. Some of these references seem like pointless inclusions, others like lame, name drops. In particular, Mieville suddenly introducing as a minor villain felt like a hollow ploy to shock the reader.
The writing is excellent - lyrical, challenging and dense with mind-breaking imagery. Mieville writes like no one else on Earth, and his visions of the fantastic are sublime. This is where the book shines - the conceit of Surreal art come to life providing ample stock with which Mieville's creates a bewitching menagerie of monsters. If you're a fan of his Bas-Lag books, there is something here you'll enjoy too.
Despite that, it is not Mieville's best. The plot's twists feel unexciting. The action is repetitive. The book's secondary narrative is uninteresting and unneeded. Whilst the finale is absolutely brilliant, the rest of the third act feels cluttered. If this was part of a short story collection, I may be more kind to it, but as a stand alone work, it doesn't have enough of a spine to support itself.
Spoiler
Joseph MengeleThe writing is excellent - lyrical, challenging and dense with mind-breaking imagery. Mieville writes like no one else on Earth, and his visions of the fantastic are sublime. This is where the book shines - the conceit of Surreal art come to life providing ample stock with which Mieville's creates a bewitching menagerie of monsters. If you're a fan of his Bas-Lag books, there is something here you'll enjoy too.
Despite that, it is not Mieville's best. The plot's twists feel unexciting. The action is repetitive. The book's secondary narrative is uninteresting and unneeded. Whilst the finale is absolutely brilliant, the rest of the third act feels cluttered. If this was part of a short story collection, I may be more kind to it, but as a stand alone work, it doesn't have enough of a spine to support itself.