December 02 Book - PERDIDO STREET STATION

[Sammie]

Okay, here you go, guys.....discussion is open......get stuck in!

Sammie.

[Lani]

Well, I'm up to chapter 25 right now

The first thing I want to note about the book is that it's really hard to get into. I don't know about you, but the endless descriptions of places in the beginning of the book drove me crazy. There was so little movement in the plot I was about to scream and I was planning to stop reading at all more than once. Fortunately, it became much better after page 70 or so. Another thing is that even though there were so many desriptions for awhile I couldn't imagine any of the other races at all. I just couldn't envision what Mieville was describing.

On the other hand, I can't complain about the content. No boys to rule the world, no elves resenting humans, no other cliches so often met in fantasy book. The book is definitely unique. It becomes quite interesting too once you are past the starting point.

One thing that really surprised me is that the book was published with so much swearing in it. I don't really have any problems with it and it actually contributes very well to people's characters and the whole atmosphere, but I just found it very surprising, because usually this kind of stuff is either replaced with made-up words or its just edited out totally.

Another good point about the book is its unpedictability. So often I read a book where I could tell the ending after reading first couple of chapters, but here it's not the case. Already the plot took a twist and I suspect there's gonna be more. I guess it is also the style that keeps in suspension. Typically you can tell that the story will end well, because it had basically become a rule that the good guys have to win at the end, but with the atmosphere of the book and the way Mieville is writing, it makes me doubt that he will want to settle for banal victory of the "good guys", whoever they would be in this book .

Well, I guess I'll just keep on reading now to find what's next.

[Nimea]

Okay now, I read it some month ago and did not have the time to reread it. But . . .

First of all, I gave recommend the book to everyone! It is good!

Second, wonderful city. Although as Lani stated it is hard to get into it at first, later the city comes more and more to life and the characters are fascinating as well.

What I can't really say that the story surprised me too much. Not that it was boring, no way, just that it has a classical structure. The introduction, the built up of tension, catastrophe, fight, solution, end.
Oh, and there were indeed scenes that surprised me but not looking at the overall plot.
Wonderful scene for example the meeting with the representative of hell. Or the Weaver, cool!
Yet there were even things, that were kind of . . . mmh, already used?
For example the thing with the mayor's eyes. Didn't Anne Rice do that in one of her vampire novels?

Yet, all in all it was something new, inventive and fascinating.

That's it for now.
Hope there will be some nice discussion about the Garuda and their laws... but me, I am too tired right now.

[ezchaos]

This book was awesome-the best standalone book I've read in quite some time.
What I liked the most about the story was how Mieville kept throwing new twists and loops into his world. For example, I loved the scene where some of the city goverment officials summoned the demon from hell. I was totally not expecting something like that to happen. Same goes for the Weaver and the giant artifical life form that lives in the junkyard.
CM does a great job at showing what would happen if you threw magic, technology, and multiple races all together in a mixing pot.
The author's use of off-beat characters was cool, as well. Issac definitely isn't your run-of-the-mill hero.
What exites me is that CM is such a talented writer and he's shown how complex and intricate the world of Bas-Lag is. Because of this, CM has the potential to put out many great books set in this universe.
My one burning question about Bas-Lag and New Crobuzon is where are they located. Is Bas-Lag our furture Earth, or some other planet? Maybe CM will never answer this, but I'm just too nosy and analytical to let it sit.

[Rob B]

I read the book in Summer 2001, so I am going on memory here...
but the book did leave a very lasting impression


I really like the way the novel opened from Yag's point of view entering the city, it is a very descriptive passage but the sprawling scene sets the dark mood for the entire book. The weird and dark creatures that inhabit the world were refreshing and fascinating.

Mieville at times did get bogged down in his own inventiveness and the story at times did drag, I thought.

[Eventine]

Mieville at times did get bogged down in his own inventiveness and the story at times did drag, I thought.

This was my main beef with the story as well, and for me made it and OK book isntead of a great book. It's like he was trying so hard to be inventive that he got a bit wrapped up in it:
"yeah, lets have giant moths, and cactus people, and eagle people, and bug people, and sentient clockwork machines, and a weird giant spider thing, and...."

It gets in the way a bit at times.

I read this about 9 months to a year ago, so the details are a bit sketchy, but I remember vague mentions of some claw handed dude throughout the novel, then all of a sudden at the end he turns up and saves the day. Huh?

[Hereford Eye]

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will recommend it a lot. There is just one annoyance, one little nit: where the hell did the slake-moths come from? They show up in the mail from where? They have no natural predators so they must be killing themselves off somewhere in this world or someone in this massive city (other than those involved with their investigation and exploitation) would have know what was going on. The Weaver recognizes what they do and knows it can handle them one-on-one but also know that two is company and four is a slaughter.
Much more that I like and will get to that later.

[ezchaos]

There is just one annoyance, one little nit: where the hell did the slake-moths come from? They show up in the mail from where?

I think the slake moths were supposed to come from some far off land where there were all kinds of horrible beasts roaming around. I want to say that in The Scar it's mentioned.

[MrKip]

I agree with some of the points already made (especially Lani's, I had to 're-imagine' Lin about four or five times each time I realized what he was getting at) but still the book was absoulte genius. I have to second (or third?) the motion that the meeting with the representative from hell was one of the best scenes I've read in ages.
The ending was suitably dark for the book as well although I thought it was rather a shame that Lemuel had to die. It was quite nice to have such a morally ambiguous charector with the main party. The parts about post-industrial politics (revolutionary movements, strikes, government propaganda, etc) was refreshing for a fantasy (sci-fi?) book as well.
Finally, the fact that Mieville had the gaul to spend most of a chapter going into an imaginary scientific theory which incorporated magic and actually made sense was brilliant and very well executed. It could of come across very dry but Isaac's obvious enthusiasm made it one of my favourite parts of the book. Indeed the general incorportion of magic into an essentially scientific world was very well handed.

[DrBloodmoney1]

I read this earlier this year and I don't feel too confident upon the details to support or criticize Mieville right now. However, I will mention that I decided that this new author will be worth my time in the future. The weaver was great and also the development of new species and races which don't litter the pages of countless other fantasy novels was refreshing.
One aspect of his story that I found particularly intriguing was his use of the city, particularly its dirt and grime and crime and sheer brutality, as a character in the story. This reminded me so much of the slum of Tom All-alones in London in Bleak House by Dickens. I thought it worked well in the story without endangering the novelty of the device through overuse.

[FicusFan]

Hello,

I am new to site and this is my first post, so please excuse me if I am not doing it right.

Not sure of the rules but there are probably spoilers below

I read PSS last summer and thought it was a very good book. It was very wordy though and I thought it should have been sold with a machete.

CM came to my local discussion group in July when he was on a tour of independent book stores in the US and admitted he has a problem with length. He feels The Scar was tighter in terms of writing -- I haven't read it yet but plan to. He was very interesting, and he talked a bit about how he wrote PSS.

I liked the moths and how they lived as a unit more than individuals and how he described them. I also thought what they did and how was more inventive and scary than some horror slasher. With their ability to capture and brainwash through the eyes I wonder if CM was taking a knock at the current mania for TV and movies, and implying what they do to your brain. I really liked Lin and her art. I liked when Lin and Isaac were together doing couple things. I wanted more of them trying to be normal in such an odd place. The cleaning robot was neat also. I wanted it to have a larger part.

I really missed that Lin disappeared in the middle of the book after she had been kidnapped. I also didn't like how Isaac didn't care about the subjects he experimented on -- all those winged things. It may have been in character, but it bothered me.

In terms of the Weaver (the spider) I actually read something similar in David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series. I think it was in the last book, Marriage of the Living Dark. I also liked the ambassador from hell, but it reminded me of summoning 'Death' in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The atmosphere also reminded me a bit of Dark Sleeper by Jeffrey Barlough, another Dickens and Lovecraft mix -- although there is something more in CM's book. So while I enjoyed the book I don't know if I thought it was completely different than anything I had read before

One thing I wonder about is at the end I really got the sense of Yag (? the Garruda) as a Christ figure, after the crucifixion if you know what I mean, and that the whole thing was a reworking of the Passion Play with Isaac as Judas. I realize Yag is not necessarily a good guy -- I still want a trial before I accept the accusations completely, but he seemed to me to say 'thanks but no thanks' to the martyr bit, and then went out to try to live a new life. I really thought Isaac was pretty putrid since he betrayed everybody, all for the best reasons of course.

Of course I never talked to CM about my wild idea, too chicken.

[Lani]

Welcome to the board, FicusFan

It seems that I am the only person around here who just read PSS now, so I am a bit more eager to discuss. I am moving along nicely and I have only 150 pages or so left. I would definitely agree with the above comments about the length of the book. I am really taking much longer to read this than most of the book of the same length because of it being not as exciting at places.

I found the slake-moths interesting too. One of the things that was really original is their mating ritual. On Earth's historical society it was mostly more 'privilegeous' to be a male. I am talking very generally here, patriarchial society and stuff. So I found it interesting how they fought with each other to be female. I just thought it added an interesting touch to the story especially from a male author.

[Nimea]

Interesting point, Lani. It was an interesting thing for me too, but I did not look at it from that point of view!

To FicusFan: WELCOME ON BOARD!

About Lin: she was my favourite character and indeed it was sad that she disappeared for awhile. The way CM showed her mind and her problems with her original cultural background made me like her very much - and if something like that happens those characters are mostly doomed to be the most tragic. Is is me, or what?
That she only could make herself understood through sign language was something new to me. Such a character I never read about before - so you can guess 'The Ill-made Mute' caught my interest later.

I am going to read 'The Scar' next year, as well as 'King Rat' - just to see where CM came from and where he went after PSS.

That's all for now.

[FicusFan]

Thanks for the welcome

Good point about all the moths trying to be female, I had forgotten it. I just loved the whole thing with their wings mesmerizing people and that you had to work backwards through a mirror to deal with them. That made it seem so much scarier than some boogie man coming straight at you.


I have decided that I wanted a larger role for the cleaning robot because it reminded me of the robot maid Rosie on the cartoon the Jetsons from when I was growing up.


About King Rat: I have read the book and it is much different than PSS. An urban fantasy with a mixture of reality and fantasy. I think it is geared to young Londoners -- didn't travel well. Very grotty, and a lot about the streets and buildings of London. It only had one likeable character to me, the police detective, and he doesn't appear much. There is also a good bit about Drum and Bass -- some type of music which I have never heard of, let alone have any idea of how it sounds. The reason for the fantasy part never gets explained, and that kind of bugged me. So I didn't like it much, although it wasn't awful.

You may be more familiar with some of this stuff, and enjoy it more than I did.

[Lani]

I am done as of today, only I can't say I liked the ending too much. It's not just that I feel really really bad about Lin, which I do, but which kind of fits. It is the part where Isaac refuses to try to make Yagharek fly because the female from Cymek comes and says that he shouldn't. I see how Isaac would have a conflict, but he could guess it was pretty bad what Yag did if they cut his wings and he owed him too for sure. The ending is realistic, but I found it really unsatisfactory personally that Isaac just left leaving a note and not even confronted him or ask for his side of things. He just listened to some garuda he didn't know at all and left. The fact that they basically killed Andrej person and some others in the process did not bother him nearly as much as Yag's crime. I really wish the ending was different.