The ancient, filthy, overcrowded, diverse, corrupt, violent, and bizarre city of New Crobuzon is the central character of this sprawling, lyrical, proThe ancient, filthy, overcrowded, diverse, corrupt, violent, and bizarre city of New Crobuzon is the central character of this sprawling, lyrical, profane, byzantine, gothic-horror, steampunk adventure story populated by humans, remade, kepri, vodyanoi, garuda, wyrmen, thaumaturges, politicians, criminals, rogue scientists, handlingers, constructs, terrifying slake-moths, and of course the dimension-hopping, poetry-spouting Weaver. Mieville's language, prose, descriptive passages and imagery are like a huge chaotic stew with every conceivable ingredient thrown for good measure. Some scenes were so amazingly vivid they will stay lodged in memory, particularly the aerial battle between the handlingers, slake-moths, and the Weaver, the first stirrings of consciouness of a cleaning construct, and the climactic finale above Perdido Street Station. Certainly the book drags in some parts (too much description, not enough plot progression), but the sheer energy and inventiveness of the writing make you more forgiving. Not for all tastes, but an amazing work of fantasy that borrows from dozens of other works to create something unique and fascinating. Great job, and I'm eager to explore Bas-Lag further in The Scar and Iron Council....more
I wanted very much to like Iron Council, considering how much I was drawn into the worlds of Perdido Street Station and The Scar, but despite my best I wanted very much to like Iron Council, considering how much I was drawn into the worlds of Perdido Street Station and The Scar, but despite my best efforts, I couldn't do it. Without question, it's my least favorite of Mieville's three Bas-Lag books, and I am conceding defeat at page 287. Judging from many of the positive (though qualified) reviews of other GR readers, the story is difficult but rewarding, but I think if I don't care what happens by the mid-way point, then it's not going to happen. I didn't connect with the characters or locales of the story, or the language itself, which is much more terse, downbeat, and distant than the first two books. It's a dark, muddled story, and I couldn't get through The Perpetual Train part, detailing the story of Judah Low and emergence of the Iron Council. There is a tendency for books these days to take many pages to establish a setting and storyline, but for me, if the first half doesn't grab you, there's no point in continuing on, especially with almost 400 other books on the to-read list. I am starting Embassytown instead, which I have high expectations for, since I still count myself a Mieville fan....more
After the wild, phantasmagorical, grotesque, occasionally humorous, and endlessly inventive Perdido Street Station, I found The Scar to be far more daAfter the wild, phantasmagorical, grotesque, occasionally humorous, and endlessly inventive Perdido Street Station, I found The Scar to be far more dark, subdued, and less engaging. Yes, the setting and characters are complex and imaginative, but the floating pirate-city of Armada just didn't grab me the way the twisting alleyways and neighborhoods of New Crobuzon did. And even the large cast of characters, like Bellis Coldwine, Tanner Sack, Silas Fennec, Sheckel, Uther Doul, The Brucolac, The Lovers, Hedgrigall, etc, failed to draw me into their intertwined stories. Even the language, so baroque and ornate in PSS, was not as vivid and dynamic this time around.
There's no question that China Mieville has a powerful imagination and unique vision to share, but I'm starting to wonder what the pay-off is in his books. I'm going to start The Iron Council next and keep an open mind at this point....more
Pavane: Six glimpses of an alternate England dominated by the Church
Pavane (1968), by Keith Roberts, is a book I’ve long wanted to read, a collection Pavane: Six glimpses of an alternate England dominated by the Church
Pavane (1968), by Keith Roberts, is a book I’ve long wanted to read, a collection of loosely-linked stories set in an alternate England where Queen Elizabeth was assassinated and Philip II won the throne of England. Because of this, the Protestant Reformation never happened and Europe fell under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. The stories begin in 1968 (when the book was published), but this England does not resemble our world much because the Church is opposed to most forms of technology, so English society still resembles medieval times, with castles, small villages, monasteries, steam-powered engines that do not run on tracks, and semaphores (telegraphs) are the only form of long-distance communications. Everywhere the power of the Pope extends, and the Inquisition is still active in crushing dissent and heresy. It is a dark and superstitious world, and Roberts takes an unusual decision by dropping in unexpected glimpses of fairies, the ‘Old Ones’, that flit through the stories but are always keeping out of reach.
The book is structured after the Pavane, a classical Spanish dance with six “measures” and a coda. The stories are self-contained, but some characters appear in latter stories as older or because their children are featured. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Steven Crossley, and he adroitly captures the classical English imagery of Roberts’ carefully-crafted world. There’s no question we are in England, but one that has been held back in feudal conditions, with little intellectual or political freedom.
While I enjoyed the first two stories, “The Lady Margaret” and “The Signaller”, I found the following stories harder to identify as the characters and events did not grab my attention. Roberts writing is exquisite, and the rhythms of his language are enchanting, but for some reason I found it difficult to get caught up in the narrative. This is probably due to the fact that this is not a proper novel, but a series of stories, so they fail to build up narrative momentum as they progress. Instead, we are given brief glimpses of this fascinating alternate world that left me wanting more. In addition, the coda tries to frame the stories with a broader historical perspective, revealing how the world has since then changed dramatically due to the events of the last stories, but doing this in a dozen pages rather than with a proper story is somewhat abrupt.
Pavane was selected in David Pringle’s Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels and Anthony Burgess’ Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939, and it is frequently mentioned with other well-regarded alternate history novels such L. Sprague de Camp’s Lest Darkness Fall (1941), Ward Moore’s Bring the Jubilee (1953), and Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (1962). However, the book (and the author) remains fairly obscure in the genre, and I wonder if this can be attributed to these reasons: 1) It is set in England, and the descriptive details are probably more resonant for English readers than American readers. 2) It is not a full novel, but rather a series of loosely-connected stories. 3) It focuses more on setting and imagery than characters, and is somewhat dark and ambiguous in tone. Nonetheless, I think such skillful writing and meticulous world-building are deserving of a bigger readership....more
An excellent story and highly underrated. One of my favorites by H.G. Wells. His vision of war among nations is frighteningly real and just as relevanAn excellent story and highly underrated. One of my favorites by H.G. Wells. His vision of war among nations is frighteningly real and just as relevant today....more
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