[Mithfânion]

Hello

Now, I know that Mieville's Perdido Street Station has harvested some mixed reviews though the most of them positive, and the SFsite seems to think highly of it, and it was a World Fantasy award nominee. Still, I've read some reviews and remain unimpressed, it looks to me like it's a bit of a mumbo-jumbo of all sorts of elements, very very eccentric. There are plenty of such novels out there today, responding to the oft-heard complaint that much of modern day Fantasy is too formulaic and Tolkien-derivative, and much of it is much worse than the "standard" Tolkien-copied crap. What makes this one different?

Secondly, King Rat struck me as having a more interesting premise, especially because of the legend it is inspired on, the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Has anyone read this one as well?

Thirdly, The Scar, what will that book be about?

[Rhaegar]

Mith, Perdido Street Station is definitely worth a read. Perdido could have easily been a Blade Runner rip-off - but it is not. What makes the book so special is Mieville's pure god-given gift for writing. In fact, stylistically, he may be my favorite author. Effortless prose... and toss in the fascinating myriad of strange lifeforms, a bizarre setting (a massive cesspit of a city), and some GRRM plot twists and what you have is a memorable reading experience.

Oh yeah, there is a creature called The Weaver... amazing.

[Alle]

I have started this book, but just can't get into it. Maybe I am not so thrilled to read about a cesspit city (as someone has referred to it) as the world, or maybe its just the bizarre creatures that live there. It almost seemed to me that he made them so bizarre just to be different? I don't know, as I haven't really given it a chance. And I will. I rarely leave books unfinished. I really do hope that I can get into this book. I have heard so many superlatives thrown its way. I guess I;ll just have to go and finish it! *l*

Alle

[Rob B]

Perdido was dark, which I liked, and at times I felt a bit bogged down, it could have been edited a bit. That said, I thought it was a very thought provoking piece of fantasy. Mieville did some very neat experimenting with the genre, and for the most part it worked. It is one of those books that will benefit from multiple readings. That's not to say it isn't enjoyable on one read, just that Mieville put so much into the novel that it almost begs for multiple reads. This may be a stretch, but when I watched the film Dark City a couple of months ago, I noticed a good number of similarities between the two.

However, I think I am one of the few people to enjoy King Rat more. Perhaps because it was more of a straightforward fantasy. Either way, both books are worth the time and money.

The Scar takes place in the same world, New Crobuzon, as PSS, but far away.

[Mithfânion]

About the Scar:

The question was always: what would he do for an encore? China Mieville's third novel The Scar is set in the same world as his award-winning Perdido Street Station but is a very different book, set in a very different city. Where his New Crobuzon was an old metropolis of cruelty, oppression and glamour, the floating freebooter city Armada is a place of refuge even for those who experience it as a prison. Brilliant linguist Bellis Coldwine is on the run when she is press-ganged by pirates who turn out to be rather more; her abilities make her a valuable commodity and she finds herself intermittently useful to a project so ambitious that it takes her much of the book to comprehend fully. Mieville takes interesting chances by making Bellis his protagonist--she has an arrogant selfishness that at times makes one breathless--but her guts, determination and intermittent realism about herself gradually endear her to us. This is an intelligent book about how individuals and events influence each other and the meaning of freedom. Mieville has a sense of the sea as the place of a menace almost incomprehensibly huge; like Perdido Street Station, The Scar is full of breath-taking moments of wonder which are also moments of heart-stopping terror

[ezchaos]

I was wondering about PSS, as well. I ordered it several weeks ago from the SciFi Book Club and have been waiting for it (why does it take them so long to ship you books?). It sounds like it's a mix of fantasy, scifi, and horror which I really like. It makes a nice change from the usual sword & sorcery type books.

[Alucard]

I think, as long as you go into PSS expecting it not to be perfect (because it is rather wordy and not at all concise in terms of plot), then you'd probably enjoy it more. Because, once finished with it, I kept thinking that it was a very cool book. Not exactly good. Cool. The ideas are very fresh and interesting, the setting is unique if for nothing more than it griminiess, and Meiville definitely has a strong command of the language. But because of it's problems (or, as FF was saying, a lack of an agressive editor), I can't really call it a great book. But I have no fears in calling it a "cool" one.

So, I reccomend that you give it a shot. It's an experience, one that you may or may not enjoy, but an experience nonetheless.

[Ntschotschi]

I started PSS a few weeks ago and didn't finish it. It's very descriptive and the city plays a very big part imo. If you're into strange new worlds and creatures you'll enjoy it, I think. But on the whole the characters were too "modern" for my liking. Sometimes they reminded me of the characters of dark mystery stories if you know what I mean? The "mysterious stranger" coming to your office for help, the investigative journalist, the "forbidden" beauty, the dangerous "big boss" in the background,the corrupt government, the all-in-all depressing atmosphere of "megalopolis" http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif
I will go back and finish the book for sure as I can see its quality. But it didn't grip me firsthand.

[This message has been edited by Ntschotschi (edited April 16, 2002).]

[Mithfânion]

For anyone who cares, here's a solid review of the Scar


http://www.emcit.com/emcit079.shtml#Deep

[Rhaegar]

That review has really wet my appetite! Nobody writes like China Mieville. Not everyone's cup of tea to be sure, but I think he is a tremendous writer.