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Product Description
Product Description
From the author of Perdido Street Station, an epic and breathtaking fantasy of extraordinary imagination
Book Description
A colossal fantasy of incredible diversity and spellbinding imagination. A human cargo bound for servitude in exile . . . A pirate city hauled across the oceans . . . A hidden miracle about be revealed . . . These are the ingredients of an astonishing story. It is the story of a prisoner's journey. Of the search for the island of a forgotten people, for the most astonishing beast in the seas, and ultimately for a fabled place - a massive wound in reality, a source of unthinkable power and danger.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My relationship with China Mieville's work is somewhat complicated. I detested Kraken with every fibre of my being, because it was an excellent idea poorly executed. Despite that, I still read the first of his Bas-Lag novels, Perdido Street Station, which I enjoyed much more, even though I still believed it had many of the same infuriating faults of Kraken and Mieville still rather struck me as someone I might want to punch. One of the things I did like about Perdido Street Station, however, was New Crobuzon, the huge, corrupt city state in which the station lies, and I wanted to explore it further. So I bought The Scar.
Which turned out not to be set in New Crobuzon at all.
Fortunately, it doesn't matter. I thoroughly enjoyed The Scar anyway.
The only real link to Perdido Street Station in The Scar is Bellis Coldwine, the lead character. A gifted linguist who works as a translator, she is apparently suspected of being somehow guilty by association in connection with some of the events of Perdido Street Station, and has been forced to flee New Crobuzon as a result on a ship that carries voluntary passengers hoping to make a new life for themselves, as well as convicts to be used as slave labour. Midway through the journey, the ship is attacked by pirates, and the surviving passengers, crew and slaves are taken to live in Armada, a floating city of countless plundered ships. Reluctantly trapped in a city she will never call home, Bellis becomes embroiled in a complex plan by the mysterious, disfigured Lovers, who largely rule Armada, to tap into the potential of 'The Scar', a fragile flaw in reality which could provide them with limitless power.
Armada itself is an outlandish creation, but nevertheless Mieville mostly manages not to show off about it. The characters too are considerably less punchable than the principal players of Perdido Street Station. We also get to learn a little more about the 'Re-made' - the criminals who have been magically and medically modified as a punishment in New Crobuzon. The Re-made are not the pariahs in Armada that they are in New Crobuzon, and it's small wonder that Tanner Sack, tentacles grafted to his chest, immediately becomes fiercely loyal to his new home. Uther Doul, the Lovers' bodyguard whose chilling charisma could be Bellis' downfall, is a brilliant creation, as are the anophelii, a race of grotesque mosquito-people confined to a barren island. I also enjoyed Silas Fennec, the duplicitous spy. This time around, Mieville has managed to create characters who are fascinating but not self-consciously so, and The Scar is a better novel than Perdido Street Station because of it. Bellis herself, from whose point of view the bulk of the story is told, is a cool-headed, analytical rationalist, and I note that some readers feel that this makes her too cold, too sterile, to lead a novel. I disagree: I found her entirely credible, and the ache of homesickness she feels for New Crobuzon is something with which I could certainly empathise all too strongly.
The Scar is a big novel full of big ideas and grand concepts. I still feel that it could have been a good 150 pages shorter, but that aside, this is definitely one worth getting stuck into - when it comes to Mieville, perhaps I'm finally starting to see what all the fuss is about.
Which turned out not to be set in New Crobuzon at all.
Fortunately, it doesn't matter. I thoroughly enjoyed The Scar anyway.
The only real link to Perdido Street Station in The Scar is Bellis Coldwine, the lead character. A gifted linguist who works as a translator, she is apparently suspected of being somehow guilty by association in connection with some of the events of Perdido Street Station, and has been forced to flee New Crobuzon as a result on a ship that carries voluntary passengers hoping to make a new life for themselves, as well as convicts to be used as slave labour. Midway through the journey, the ship is attacked by pirates, and the surviving passengers, crew and slaves are taken to live in Armada, a floating city of countless plundered ships. Reluctantly trapped in a city she will never call home, Bellis becomes embroiled in a complex plan by the mysterious, disfigured Lovers, who largely rule Armada, to tap into the potential of 'The Scar', a fragile flaw in reality which could provide them with limitless power.
Armada itself is an outlandish creation, but nevertheless Mieville mostly manages not to show off about it. The characters too are considerably less punchable than the principal players of Perdido Street Station. We also get to learn a little more about the 'Re-made' - the criminals who have been magically and medically modified as a punishment in New Crobuzon. The Re-made are not the pariahs in Armada that they are in New Crobuzon, and it's small wonder that Tanner Sack, tentacles grafted to his chest, immediately becomes fiercely loyal to his new home. Uther Doul, the Lovers' bodyguard whose chilling charisma could be Bellis' downfall, is a brilliant creation, as are the anophelii, a race of grotesque mosquito-people confined to a barren island. I also enjoyed Silas Fennec, the duplicitous spy. This time around, Mieville has managed to create characters who are fascinating but not self-consciously so, and The Scar is a better novel than Perdido Street Station because of it. Bellis herself, from whose point of view the bulk of the story is told, is a cool-headed, analytical rationalist, and I note that some readers feel that this makes her too cold, too sterile, to lead a novel. I disagree: I found her entirely credible, and the ache of homesickness she feels for New Crobuzon is something with which I could certainly empathise all too strongly.
The Scar is a big novel full of big ideas and grand concepts. I still feel that it could have been a good 150 pages shorter, but that aside, this is definitely one worth getting stuck into - when it comes to Mieville, perhaps I'm finally starting to see what all the fuss is about.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
China Miéville continues to write in an intriguing, suspenseful and highly stimulating way. Far away from the land-locked city of the first novel we are on the high seas, and seeingly all at sea with the uncertainty of the reasons for the protagonists need to get away. But soon the unfamiliar becomes familiar--in the usual Miéville universes, that is, and we are within a very different kind of city and one with strange rules and leaderships, and a quest. It is a gripping and engrossing tale. Worth developing a taste for, if you jhave not tried Miéville before.
Format:Paperback
A pretty decent sequel to Perdidio Street Station ... with less in the way of childish politics (thankfully) and more outlandish creativity, painting in great swathes of Bas-Lag beyond the city boundaries.
However, although still fairly "low" in tone by the standards of the fantasy/sci-fi genre, this novel has shed some of the grittier elements of Perdido Street Station in favour of grand scale. Even more that his first novel, this one contains the sort of fantastic elements that leave the reader thinking "what the f***?" and re-reading at least once. This is fantasy - or sci-fi - or whatever on an epic scale and well worth reading.
However, although still fairly "low" in tone by the standards of the fantasy/sci-fi genre, this novel has shed some of the grittier elements of Perdido Street Station in favour of grand scale. Even more that his first novel, this one contains the sort of fantastic elements that leave the reader thinking "what the f***?" and re-reading at least once. This is fantasy - or sci-fi - or whatever on an epic scale and well worth reading.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Yawn......
Normally a big fan of China Mieville and loved Perdido Steet Station and The City & the City. However, The Scar just dragged on for me. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Polyp
Near perfect - China's best
This is my favourite New Crobuzon book, my favourite China Mieville book, and to be frank, one of my favourite books of all time. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Wishbone
Has the imagination of "Perdido Street Station", but not the gripping...
I loved Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon 1), and have left a review of it there. This book is set in the same "universe", but it is not about New Crobuzon, the rich and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by S. J. King
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