Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Overwritten but bursting with ideas., 6 Nov 2002
In this excellent second novel, Mieville delivers on the potential hinted at in his first work 'King Rat'. Whilst 'Perdido Street Station' is very strong on characterisation and plot, its major achievement is the creation of a unique metropolis, which never fails to surprise and engage the reader. Mieville is a true polymath, with an ingenious imagination and a formidable vocabulary. He seems able to write with authority on most subjects and weaves technical language and metaphors in to his work with ease. However, one of the greatest joys of this novel is its accessibility; the author uses his obvious intelligence to entertain rather than to impress. The result is an engaging, exciting and highly enjoyable read. However, a valid criticism of this book is that it is overwritten. This becomes a serious nuisance towards the end of the book, when the highly descriptive prose slows down the plot instead of allowing the pace to pick up as the finale approaches. This loss of momentum caused me to lose interest at what should have been a critical point in the book. Although this is a great novel, it is certainly not the best that this author can produce. The follow-up, set in the same world, is a far more accomplished novel and if you like 'Perdido Street Station' you will love 'The Scar'.
|
|
|
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Real Fantasy For A Change, 4 Feb 2004
By A Customer
This book is an excellent read, although not always easy going. China Mieveille's writing style is often a little too heavy, but always conveys the turgid, unkempt feel of the ancient city of New Crobuzon. The characterization is generally good, although some of the characters are not particularly strongly voiced (Isaac for example): more often than not their personality comes across more from their actions than from their dialogue (in the case of Lin the Khepri this is of course inevitable, being unable to speak!). All the characters feel real, however, even the most grotesque and physically alien, and the reader is capable of feeling some degree of empathy with them.The description is excellent, providing vivid images of a decadent and squalor-ridden alien city that is just close enough to those of our world to be familiar. The feel is always futuristic and ancient- the steam technology always feels like an echo of something far more advanced that has long been lost. In some ways this is a drawback: almost all we ever see of the city is squalor and grime, to the extent where it feels that even the upper eschelons of New Crobuzon eschew the use of cleaners and maintenance staff. This is only a tiny quibble though. A superb touch is the occasional lack of detail one is given, which counters the occasional over description well: sometimes creatures are merely named and the reader left to dream up what that something is. The effect is that the city always feels yet more alive and just beyond the periphery of the reader's vision. The plot is very simple (unknown monster terrorizes city), but is presented in a complex way: a number of lives and incidents converge on the central plot. The rationalization behind all of this is tremendous and the magnificent amount of imagination that has been bestowed on Mieville's creation is wonderful: every facet of the city lives and breathes, often in more ways than one. The downside to this is that there is a bit of a kitchen-sink feeling to the book: insect-people (check), cactus people (check), vivisection victims (check), genetic aberrations (check), steam-punk cyborgs (check), multidimensional horrors (check)- and all in the first few sections of the book, the list goes on beyond this! That said this does make for a wonderfully cosmopolitan world, and a good dose of character and colour that is sorely lacking from 99% of fantasy writing available these days. Much has been made of the extensive vocabulary used: but this is surely a good thing? Generally where unusual vocabulary has been used it is used to create an atmosphere and effect.
Thankfully this book cannot be pigeon-holed: it truly is a work of real fantasy and proves that fantasy can be made to deal with any number of parallels and real-world issues (dominance of technology, distribution of wealth and economics, racial discrimination, social discrimination- all can be found in the book in one form or another). The book is a little clumsy from time to time, featuring wasted sections and, ironically, a little too much creativity that does not always gel, but overall is a truly refreshing experience when the bulk of fantasy novels are pale imitations of each other mimicing Tolkien in one form or another. A superb read, though, well worth the money and a prime example that real fantasy is still alive and kicking: recommended to anybody but particularly those who have enjoyed Michael Moorcock's fiction, M. John Harrison's `Viriconium' series and Mervyn Peake's writing too. Perdido Street Station isn't the same or similar to any of those except it carries a wonderfully ornate and alien feel to it. What it does share is that it is rarely a jolly book, but is always an interesting and enjoyable, imaginitive read.
|
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worth reading, but needs editing down by at least 200 pages., 19 Mar 2001
That said, the dark, almost medieval atmosphere is conjured up most effectively and the idea of a world like our own, but gone strangely awry, is undoubtedly compelling. The inhabitants of the City have an understanding of "chymistry" and physics akin to that of a modern day alchemist and ally this with "thaumaturgical", i.e. limited magical or supernatural power, to achieve their idiosyncratic technology. This peculiarly employed and strangely dated technology, and the cumbersome ways of achieving many of the things we take for granted, are intriguing. Mieville has also come up with some inspired life forms to populate his city: the Kephri and Weaver are particularly evocative. The man sized Garuda are also an interesting development of a classic myth and restoring flight to one who has lost his wings is a central theme in the book. However,how do you get past the old schoolboy problem of angels: where are the muscles to power their wings and how can all that weight ever be lifted?. That may be a bit pernickety, the real flaw is that the ideas in the book are over stretched. Far, far too much space is devoted to constant reference to places: it is intrusive and completely unnecessary. The map at the beginning is a bit of a giveaway and re-affirms my suspicion of any science fiction book that needs such a detailed geographic map to guide the reader. Places and scenery should be generated by, and flow naturally from, the passage of the characters through the narrative, as they do in a "Snowcrash" for example. The topography should be secondary, rather than dominant, yet one feels that for Mieville the map and the names and the rail lines are an end in themselves! Many readers are going to find themselves skipping over repetitive and superfluous descriptive passages. The book would be a far better one if less rein were given to this grandiose world designing and the plot was allowed to flow a little better. Perhaps Perdido is intended to be the setting for a series of novels; if so, maybe the plot and the characters should be allowed more space on the stage and less time and room be devoted to the backdrops.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by China Mieville
by China Mieville
by China Mieville
by China Mieville
by China Mieville
