Iron Council (New Crobuzon, #3)

May 26, 2012 Nataliya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mieville-is-awesome, 2012-reads, catie-knows-best, locus-winner, hugo-nebula, location-is-the-true-protagonist

Iron Council is China Miéville's most overtly political fiction work, but don't pigeonhole it.

Between the revolutionary fervor, fantasy, trains, and Western-like parts runs a common theme of love and the painful, desperate, doomed human longing.

I loved this book. It was not the insta-love like it was with "The Scar" but a long, careful, slow-to-build-up affair that by the end of the story fully blossomed. This book is fascinating, passionate, brutal at times, thought-provoking and deliberately...more

35 likes · like · see review

Nov 26, 2010 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: speculative, to-read-again

Overtly political, teasingly intricate, and deeply intertextual, China Miéville's Iron Council is everything I expect to love in great speculative fiction, and nearly everything I know I love in Miéville's work.

Yet, since its publication, I have only read it once, and I still find myself ranking it third of Miéville's Bas-Lag books. I've been baffled by my restraint with Iron Council. My admiration of Miéville's other books is boundless, bordering on madness, and I haven't understood how a book...more

38 likes · like · see review

Dec 04, 2010 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-own, sci-fi-fantasy-etc, 2008-2009, mieville

December 2008

Gods and Jabber, I don't know why I love this one the most. It's not necessarily better than the other Bas-Lag Books (don't you dare call them a trilogy, don't you dare. Old China says he'll always come back to this; there's more to come), and it's nowhere near the worst. There's just something about this that feels so radically different, so alien, so apart from the others. Perdido Street Station was new and fresh and amazing, yeah, but it felt familiar enough--while still being st...more December 2008

Gods and Jabber, I don't know why I love this one the most. It's not necessarily better than the other Bas-Lag Books (don't you dare call them a trilogy, don't you dare. Old China says he'll always come back to this; there's more to come), and it's nowhere near the worst. There's just something about this that feels so radically different, so alien, so apart from the others. Perdido Street Station was new and fresh and amazing, yeah, but it felt familiar enough--while still being strange and fantastic, of course--that you still felt just-so comfortable reading it (or as comfortable as you could be reading about sex with bug-people), and The Scar was a fun old adventure story, exotic and equally fantastic but still an ab-sequel to PSS.

But here, here, Iron Council rips us away from mid-1700s (Anno Urbis) New Crobuzon and tosses us thirty, forty years into a city that barely remembers the Midsummer Nightmares, and what's this? No more constructs? Jack's dead? Ben Flex is just a name? The fucking Militia's out?

You want the same old city, you wish it could stay frozen in time, but New Crobuzon is different. Changed. It's darker, uglier, more cynical. And even when Cutter and the others escape, chasing the near-prophet Judah Low on his quest for the Iron Council, the city still clings to them like an oil slick. The city in Isaac's day was hardly bright and cheerful, but back then it still echoed with adventure. Now the militia are out, and everything else had to go into hiding. It's time to go west to bring the Iron Council home.

That long out-west adventure-quest itself, and the long-ago middle piece detailing the uncertain gestation and sudden, violent birth of Iron Council, make up the bulk of the story, mixed with snatches of back-home reports of the small revolutionary movements taking place in the city, and this jump back and forth from cynical near-despair to hopeful optimistic questing is what makes this a hard, weird novel. It jumbles in places, it tosses about; it's not always a pleasant read, or an easy one. It's tougher, more political, more insistant. But it's so good. So rewarding. And even the end, that fat and unnatural anticlimactic-climax, that so-wrong final meeting of the Council and the City, even as you want to yell "that is not how it should have happened!" you cannot help but think "Yes, yes, that is how it was, how it is, how it should be." There is something strange and wonderful about Mieville's works that both frustrate and inspire.

Mieville likes playing with cities. New Crobuzon is exotic enough already, and the ship-city of Armada from TS was plenty awesome. Here we have Iron Council itself, the perpetual train, ungrateful child of New Crobuzon. Makes you almost giddy wondering what Old China will give us next.
(less)

15 likes · like · see review

Sep 08, 2009 Architeuthis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2000s, china-mieville, fiction-that-speculates

So, here we are in Bas Lag again. According to interviews, Mieville sounds like he has every intention of returning to the world of Bas Lag in the future, so I won't refer to this as "the last Bas Lag novel." But, as of 2009, it's the most recent.

I found the experience of reading Iron Council markedly different from the first two books set in this world. For one, in this book the story isn't as localised. We have met the city of New Crobuzon in Perdido Street Station and the pirate collective of...more So, here we are in Bas Lag again. According to interviews, Mieville sounds like he has every intention of returning to the world of Bas Lag in the future, so I won't refer to this as "the last Bas Lag novel." But, as of 2009, it's the most recent.

I found the experience of reading Iron Council markedly different from the first two books set in this world. For one, in this book the story isn't as localised. We have met the city of New Crobuzon in Perdido Street Station and the pirate collective of Armada in The Scar. Now, we're in New Crobuzon again, along with tons of other places.

Iron Council chronicles the war between Tesh and New Crobuzon, a war that is occuring at the same time that citizens of New Crobuzon are attempting to overthrow the political party in power. The Iron Council itself is a essentially a runaway train--a train that was intended to link New Crobuzon to other large cities. But, when the government refused to pay the workers on this train as they traveled along, building the tracks, the workers stole the train. They began picking up the tracks behind them, and the train passed off the border of any maps. They went so far that New Crobuzon was afraid to follow.

Well, rumor has it that the Iron Council is returning. In an already heated political climate, the return of the Iron Council is gunpowder.

The novel has a very compelling plot, and some of the most poetic and fantastic scenes in the whole Bas Lag sequence. As his characters travel through uncharted regions, bizarre creatures we haven't seen before show up regularly.

Also, this story has the most optimistic ending I've yet read from Mieville. It's not exactly a "happy" ending...but, aren't those just boring anyway?

This book had a lot of things going for it. However, it wasn't as satisfying or engaging of a read as P.S.S. or The Scar for two main reasons. First, the main characters weren't as engaging. With one exception, the main characters weren't as complex as those from the other books. Character complexity is always a very big thing for me. Usually, it's the most important thing. Here, the main characters tend to have one motivation, one inspiration, and their actions follow logically from it. The characters don't act in ways that surprise me.

The other reason this book wasn't as engaging is the writing just wasn't as clear. In a book where the fantastical and unusual is happening on a regular basis, it really helps if the writing puts a clear picture in the reader's head, and if new concepts aren't just tossed in without explanation. Through much of the book, I wasn't quite sure who was talking or exactly what was happening. I found myself frustrated on numerous occasions by the obscuring word-choices that Mieville made.

Despite everything that I liked about this book, I gained no momentum while reading it. At no point was I particularly compelled to keep reading, and at no point did I really care how things would turn out for anyone involved. Although I thought the end was strong and moving, it didn't make up for all of the non-engaging passages that had come before.

So, by no means was Iron Council a bad novel. But, it could've been as great as the other Bas Lag books, and it wasn't.

(less)

11 likes · like · see review

Sherri That's one of the problems I have with Mieville -- when he's really good, he's quite stellar, and I know that it takes a super author to keep up that...more
Apr 19, 2011 08:46am

Architeuthis Having now read a lot more by Mieville than I had when I wrote this review, I definitely feel the same way about his writing: he always has some brill...more
Apr 19, 2011 10:42am

Joel EMBASSYTOWN!!!!

carry on.
Apr 21, 2011 10:28pm

Jan 01, 2013 Joel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: signed-copy, chinatown, 2012, audiobooks, choo-choo, sci-fi-fantasy, bas-lag, 2013

7 likes · like · see review

Apr 19, 2011 Ben Babcock rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-read, fantasy, hugo-nominee, owned

Recall in my review of The Scar how I was whining about my opinion of China Miéville and his novels remaining relatively constant? How I wanted to read something different, something I could say didn't rank equally with the other three novels by him that I have read?

This is the story of why I should have been more careful with my wishing.

I knew something was wrong—perhaps I should say off—almost from the beginning of this book. The opening was grandiose in Miéville's usual style (which, if you'v...more

10 likes · like · see review

Mar 14, 2011 Spoonbridge rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like Bas Lag

Shelves: fantasy

After reading this, the last of Mieville's trio of Bas Lag novels, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Iron Council is definitely my least favorite of the three, despite (or perhaps because of) being the most overtly political. Perhaps because of the focus on revolution, I felt the characters of this novel were much less interesting then the previous two. Unlike Isaac or Bellis, I never really connected with or identified with Cutter, Ori, Ann Hari or any other person or felt drawn into thei...more

5 likes · like · see review

Oct 31, 2008 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunkery, literature-fantastique

Enough imagination for eighty books..my favorite of Mieville's anti-trilogy for some reason...seems like you walked into a Bosch painting for most of the book.The most dismissed of Mieville’s books maybe because the first hundred pages are a little confusing and the structure strains a little bit more than usual. While all his books have flaws his enormous imagination and stunning vocabulary (rivaling Wolfe and McCarthy) pave over any hesitations I have. This one focuses on a tragic and costly c...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jan 15, 2012 sologdin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: speculative

A profoundly beautiful novel, perhaps the best speculative fiction that I've read, but likewise certainly enriched by reference to its close companion text, The Scar, which parallels it in important ways, as well as to Perdido Street Station, which introduces its setting.

As in The Scar, the narrative here involves a group of outcasts who travel on a more or less traditional quest to find something in particular. Both books involve a renegade, mobile city that interacts weirdly with a bizarre bre...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 06, 2012 Nicolas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: rayon-sf, uchronie, fantasy, voyage, train, ville, r-volution, politique, qu-te, histoire, temps

Bon, les bouquins de China Miéville sont générallement épais, incryablement inventifs, et fabuleusement géniaux. Il se trouve que cette fois-ci, ça n'est pas tout à fait le cas.
Laissez-moi d'abord vous expliquer. Mais attention, parce que comme l'histoire est racontée dans un ordre assez curieux, je ne pourrais pas vous l'expliquer sans faire quelques spoilers.
Dans une Nouvelle-Crobuzon s'engageant d'un pas fier et conquérant dans le chemin de la révolution industrielle, les grèves et la tension...more Bon, les bouquins de China Miéville sont générallement épais, incryablement inventifs, et fabuleusement géniaux. Il se trouve que cette fois-ci, ça n'est pas tout à fait le cas.
Laissez-moi d'abord vous expliquer. Mais attention, parce que comme l'histoire est racontée dans un ordre assez curieux, je ne pourrais pas vous l'expliquer sans faire quelques spoilers.
Dans une Nouvelle-Crobuzon s'engageant d'un pas fier et conquérant dans le chemin de la révolution industrielle, les grèves et la tension sociale deviennent quasiment insupportable. Dans ce context, quelques sympathisants de la cause ouvrière partent à la recherche du concile de fer, un train légendaire car sauvage : libéré des contraintes économiques grâce à une grève ayant abouti à l'évasion de tous les ouvriers et du train.
Le voyage va emmener ces hommes à travers le continent pour plusieurs voyages tous épiques par leur longueur, leurs rebondissement, également. Et bien sûr, pendant ce temps-là, le concile de fer, ce train légendaire, continuera lui aussi sa route.
Bien.
Vous l'imaginez, ce roman nous éloigne encore une fois de Nouvelle-Crobuzon, tout comme Les scarifiés l'avait fait en son temps. Cependant, là où les scarifiés se promenait à la surface du désert océanique, et se trouvait donc forcément plus circonscrit dans ses différents décors et personnages, ce roman-ci, en arpentant tout un continent de Bas-Lag, nous met en contact avec la folie qui semble résider dans les coins de l'esprit de l'auteur. En effet, on ne va pas ici se contenter de rencontrer des femmes-fourmis, des hommes-aigles ou hommes-moustiques. Ici, les créatures sont beaucoup plus étranges, et elles ne sont même pas les seules, puisque même le paysage semble par moment devenir fou. Et si la cacotopos (qui me fait un peu penser à la tâche de Jupiter) récolte évidement la palme, le paysage précédent de nuages solidifiés/évapoérés mérite un accessit plus qu'honorable, puisqu'il m'a plongé dans des abîmes d'incompréhension : je ne comprenais tout simplement pas l'organisation du décor.
Bon, évidement, le décor, dans les romans de Miéville, est toujours baroque. Cependant, l'intrigue, elle, *doit* pouvoir soutenir le niveau (de ce décor fabuleux). Et là, franchement, je dois le reconnaître, j'ai été déçu. Déçu par plusieurs de ce que l'auteur voyait comme des morceaux de bravoure, j'imagine. Typiquement, l'intrigue mettant en scène Toro et son action révolutionnaire/terroriste me tombait un peu des mains. Surtout lorsque j'ai compris que son utilité dans le roman était en fait nulle (enfin, mis à part pour que Faucheur, le témoin nous permettant de comprendre toute l'intrigue, puisse se mortifier encore un peu). De la même manière, je ne suis pas sûr que le traitement western de la conquête du continent par les rails de la Nouvelle-Crobuzon soit réellement une bonne idée, mis à part sans doute pour que nos amis d'outre-atlantique comprennent toute la force du clin d'oeil que l'auteur fait à leur pays. Oui, je sais, l'auteur est anglais, mais là, clairement, il nous parle en parallèle de la conquête de l'Ouest et des massacres d'indiens avec les drôles de créatures des marais et d'un autre côté de la révolution industrielle et des mouvements ouvriers (communards parisiens, soyeux lyonnais, et j'imagine proto-communistes anglais). Eh bien je dois le dire, c'est trop pour un seul roman; Et je pense sincèrement que, comme Toro, cette partie sur la vie de Judas Belsace au temps de la conquête du rail aurait pu être évitée sans que le récit en perde beaucoup de richesse.
Enfin, tout cela n'est pas très grave. Car ce roman présente à côté de ces gros défauts quelques qualités qui le font sortir du lot. D'abord, le final du concile de fer dans la Novuelle-Crobuzon. Cette scène, à elle seule, justifie le roman. Pourquoi ? Parce qu'à elle seul elle explique comment une révolution, ou un mouvement quelconque peut survivre : en restant inchangée, enkystée dans son temps initial. Sans quoi, forcément, le système la digèrera pour en faire quelque chose de plus consensuel. Je crois que c'est la démonstration la plus éclatante de l'auteur (qui parsème par ailleurs ce roman de plusieurs manifestes sociaux un peu plus laborieux). Je crois aussi que c'est l'une des scèhnes les plus marquantes que j'aie lu depuis longtemps : le héros de ce roman y sacrifie en effet tous ses camarades de lutte pour que la flamme demeure inchangée. C'est beau, mais terriblement sombre.
L'autre qualité de ce roman c'est qu'il semble contenir bien des aspects de ce que semble être The city and the city. on trouve en effet à un moment une scène dans laquelle Nouvbelle-Crobuzon est partagée en deux cités totalement interpénétrées, et entre lesquelles c'est la guerre. C'est, je crois, un des thèmes que l'auteur utilise dans son novueau roman (que j'ai apr ailleurs hâte de lire).
Tout cela rend ce roman très contrasté, avec des passages frôlant le sublime, quand d'autres frôlent le pénible. J'aurais même tendance, en forcant un peu le trait, à dire qu'il s'agit de mon pire China Miéville. Et donc, de façon plus générale, d'un bon roman qui vaut d'être lu, mais qui n'est pas indispensable.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jun 12, 2011 Rich Rosell rated it 3 of 5 stars

I want to preface this by saying how much of a Mieville fan I am - Kraken did that for me - and that Perdido Street Station and The Scar brought the world of New Crobuzon and its denizens to life in ways that I haven't experienced in a novel in decades.

This third entry in the New Crobuzon/Bas Lag novels was more of an endurance test for me, a long, often difficult slog through Mieville's beautifully dark and complex wordplay. Why use 10 words when you can use 200 pages? The central storyline, on...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 12, 2008 Ariel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: radical-politics

Wow, what a rich novel! China Mieville does with fantasy what I love about radical science fiction: sets a revolution in an imagined world to create an engaging, complex, deep story and character and speak to the real world, the present. I highly recommend the Iron Council to folks who like feminist/leftist science fiction that want to read a fantasy novel that doesn't celebrate the aristocracy. Iron Council is a novel about class struggle and the people in it, and it happens to be fantasy.

I'm d...more

5 likes · like · see review

May 25, 2008 Tom rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

[after second reading]
Yeah, I'm sticking with the two stars. Is it about preserving history? Is it about the inaccuracy of monuments? Is it about the sources of inspiration being stronger for what they inspire than for their truth? I'm not sure, and I don't care.

As other reviewers have said, the reason Iron Council is less satisfying that Perdido Street Station or The Scar is because it's mostly endless description of conflicts and fights and there's very little character development. Ultimately...more

5 likes · like · see review

Sep 15, 2007 Tessa rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: pretentious marxists

Shelves: fictive

I absolutely raced through Mieville's previous efforts, but this one was a slog. There were too many battles for my taste, and the characters had no depth whatsoever. Instead of trying to create depth, Mieville just repeats the same information over and over. Cutter loves Judah. Oh he loves him so much. Judah is unable to love, or is just priest-like. Why should I care? I never managed to care through the whole almost-600 pages. He also commits the literary crime of describing other fantasy race...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 15, 2008 Navera rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had already become a huge fan of Mieville's after reading Perdido Street Station and now I am an even bigger fan and will end up reading everything he has ever written including his doctoral dissertation! Toro's story was fascinating and I'm probably one of the few people who really enjoyed the political and revolutionary strife. From the moment The Weaver appears and it looks like the strike will extend beyond expectation of late pay to Judah's heartbreaking reunion with his "sisters", to t...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 18, 2011 figura4 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Era da parecchio che non apprezzavo così tanto un romanzo. Dove per "apprezzare" intendo il ritrovarmi a centellinare le pagine, l'obbligarmi a non leggere più di un capitolo al giorno perchè non voglio che il libro finisca.
Il romanzo più politico di Mièville. C'è tutto: lotta sociale, giornali clandestini (il mitico Runagate Rampant), lavoratori di una ferrovia in rivolta che finiscono per appropriarsi del treno per cui stanno costruendo i binari. Binari che continueranno a costruire, distrugge...more Era da parecchio che non apprezzavo così tanto un romanzo. Dove per "apprezzare" intendo il ritrovarmi a centellinare le pagine, l'obbligarmi a non leggere più di un capitolo al giorno perchè non voglio che il libro finisca.
Il romanzo più politico di Mièville. C'è tutto: lotta sociale, giornali clandestini (il mitico Runagate Rampant), lavoratori di una ferrovia in rivolta che finiscono per appropriarsi del treno per cui stanno costruendo i binari. Binari che continueranno a costruire, distruggendoli subito dopo il passaggio del treno rubato, in un viaggio/fuga disperato che li porterà a diventare leggenda, simbolo della lotta sociale contro l'oppressivo governo della città-stato di New Crobuzon.
Notevoli i capitoli della macchia cacotopica, una zona soggetta a una frattura della realtà che deforma e distorce tutto ciò che vi entra. E non a caso ho usato la parola zona, così come hanno fatto i fratelli Strugatski nel loro "picnic sul ciglio della strada", romanzo cui probabilmente l'idea della macchia è ispirata.
E a fare da sfondo a queste vicende, il mondo del bas-lag. Come descrivere l'universo creato da Mièville? Impossibile, perchè quando pensi di aver ormai visto tutto, giri pagina e Mièville ti sbatte in faccia un'altra idea, una trovata di una originalità imbarazzante che ti lascia a bocca aperta. Uomini cactus, macchine senzienti, uomini che per punizione a qualche crimine vengono rifatti nelle forme più perverse e malsane grazie alla taumaturgia, villaggi costruiti sul dorso di tartarughe giganti, monaci il cui culto li ha portati a dimenticare il loro sesso. Il tutto abilmente mescolato ad elementi più familiari, tratti dalla nostra realtà quitidiana: fabbriche, treni, commercialisti, corporazioni mosse dallo spirito capitalistico, in un miscuglio dalle tonalità dark-steampunk. I luoghi di New Crobuzon sembrano avere i nomi dei quartieri di una Londra distorta da una fantasia perversa. Howl Barrow, Badside, Glasshouse, Dog Fenn, Smog Bend, Cockscom Bridge, Brock Marsh. L'effetto è a dir poco straniante, nel senso più positivo del termine, poichè capace di generare quel "sense of wonder" che ogni lettore del genere fantastico cerca. Il termine "weird fiction" non potrebbe essere più azzeccato.
Il tutto è descritto con stile elaborato, barocco eppure sorprendentemente diretto, vivido ed efficace. Anche meglio di quanto Mièville aveva mostrato in "Perdido street station" (impresa non da poco).(less)

like · see review

May 10, 2013 Nofuture rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: analogova-kniha, new-weird

Konečne! Dobojované!

China Miéville je marxista (teda aspoň podľa autorského medailóniku v jeho knihách :D). Je to socialista a ľavičiar. A najviac ma na tom serie to, že s nim v mnohých veciach súhlasím.

Železná rada síce patrí do série zo sveta Bas-Lagu, ale je oveľa politickejšia než predošlé dve knihy. Už sa nestretneme s hororovým námetom z Perdida, ani s pirátmi a mysterióznym zverom z Jazvy.

Ide o boj proti vrchnosti a za svetlé zajtrajšky. Utláčaní sa postavia na odpor a bojujú proti vláde....more

like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Gio rated it 4 of 5 stars

I like China Meiville's writing. His creativity reminds me of H. P. Lovecraft's work in a lot of ways including how they both created new taxonomies of life. But the creatures in Meiville's stories of Bas Lag, a distant world of his own creation, aren't entirely the malevolent kind as in Lovecraft's stories. They are weird, make no doubt about that. Meiville succeeds in creating balance. This is where Lovecraft may have fallen short. But then again Lovecraft is to people who read weird tales is...more

like · see review

Jan 02, 2013 Bogdan rated it 5 of 5 stars

заключительный третий роман нью-кробюзонской серии не разочаровал, хотя по его поводу существуют вполне оправданные (в какой-то степени) сомнения и голоса сожаления, что превратился он во что-то неудобоваримое и непонятное, запредельное и вообще чуть ли «ни о чём». как ни странно, но именно вот такая вот «непонятность» и размытость событий, их постепенное ускользание в сторону каких-то фантазмов и полуреальных видений, постепенная утрата этим миром бас-лага материальности и целостности (при всей...more заключительный третий роман нью-кробюзонской серии не разочаровал, хотя по его поводу существуют вполне оправданные (в какой-то степени) сомнения и голоса сожаления, что превратился он во что-то неудобоваримое и непонятное, запредельное и вообще чуть ли «ни о чём». как ни странно, но именно вот такая вот «непонятность» и размытость событий, их постепенное ускользание в сторону каких-то фантазмов и полуреальных видений, постепенная утрата этим миром бас-лага материальности и целостности (при всей фантастичности) – это то естественное развитие мира, очерченное в первом романе, доведенное до состояния глобального кризиса, требующего разрешения в какой бы то ни было форме.

что меня исключительно вдохновило, так это полнейший отказ от связей с двумя предыдущими романами, полное отсутствие перекрёстных персонажей, который возникают то в одной книге, то в другой, становясь образными и сюжетными узлами. в этом смысле вся трилогия – и в частности третий роман – исключительно историографический проект, который, кстати, очень оригинален в своем отношении к материалу. в отличие от большинства фэнтези-книг, задачей которых становится воплощение космогонической и космографической перспектив созидание целостности и «выписанности» деталей данного и этого мироздания, цикл о нью-кробюзоне изначально в своих полуметафорически сконструированных и аллегорически задуманных деталях уже есть завершенным пространством, в котором автор исследует даже не формы проявлений чудес мира (в отличие от традиционной фэнтезийной дескрипции), а закономерности развития цивилизации, существующей именно так, и не только здесь и сейчас, но и – тогда и теперь.

особенно явно это проявляется именно в пространстве третьего романа, который кажется художественным воплощением социологически-экономических и политических идей, которые нормального автора фэнтези, призванного развлекать публику, но особо должны интересовать. однако же – интересуют, и тем самым придают всему космосу нью-кробюзона модус витальности, при всех изначально морбидных установках.

как в первом и втором романах, автор заворачивает интригу вокруг не отдельного персонажа, каким бы важным он ни был, но тем не менее – на вторых ролях. центр повествования – это концепция города. и, какой бы оригинальной не была в предыдущем романе идея армады, пиратского города на кораблях, в третьем романе он умудряется переплюнуть и это, создавая «железный совет»: город-государство-поезд, который едет по железной дороге, которую сам же и прокладывает и сам же забирает, пройдя определенный участок дороги. самодвижущийся поезд, который годами и десятилетиями пересекает континент, сначала отдаляясь от нью-кробюзона бегством, а потом возвращаясь ради его же спасения. поезд, который рождается из усилий его работников, которые меняется вместе с ними и с пространством, через которое он проходит, который, оставаясь транспортным средством, приращивает отростки, тела, поверхности, объемы, становится неким подобием животного и языческого идолища вместе с капищем – очищая при этом от шелухи идею борьбы и противостояния.

в отличие от первого и второго романов «железный совет» перекраивает социологию пространства: если в первом романе мьевиль экспериментировал с «горизонтальным», но иерархически упорядоченным смешением рас, телесного и механического, плотского и магического, во втором выстраивал подобие равного во всех отношениях пролетариата, ведомого своими вождями на баррикады возможного, то в третьем сталкивает проблематику «человеческого» как внерасового (расы теряют смысл как определитель субъекта) – и «передельческого». продукты карательных фабрик по переделке преступников, провинившихся и просто попавших под горячую руку прекращают продуцировать новых и новых персонажей, но возникает вопрос, кто же они в правовом поле межчеловеческих отношений. повинуясь намеченному во втором романе вектору «свобода, равенство и братство», он развивает его, гомогенизируя общество железного совета, стирая между ними различия с помощью трех жестов: это работа, война и секс. люди (и другие расы) работают на постройке железной дороги для движения железного совета наравне и бок о бок с переделанными; точно так же они и защищают его он нападений, превращаясь в единую массу; решающим же моментом в равноправии людей и переделанных становятся проститутки, следующие в поисках заработка за поездом, сначала объявляя бойкот неплатёжеспособным клиентам, а потом, в пику законам, оказывая благоволение к переделанным.

вызывает искреннее восхищение то, с каким вниманием к деталям форм и закономерностям развития относится автор при описании созидания этого невероятного общества; это не масса, которая управляется железной рукой и не единое «войско», что характерно для эпических фэнтезийных полотен: изначально «железный совет» - это множества которые постепенно оформляются в сотрудничающие и противостоящие группы, они движутся в одном направлении или же противоречат друг другу, это происходит не только на рельсах внутри поезда, но и внутри нью-кробюзона, который параллельно через стачки, забастовки, народные возмущения, террористические акты и развязанную войну постепенно приходит во все более полный упадок, когда остается одна неоформленная в четкую мысль надежда, что с появлением «железного совета» все изменится. группки, кружки, комитеты, коллектив, объединения, банды, фронты, гильдии, союзничество, профсоюзы – пространство романа кипит от коллективной деятельности бунтующего пролетариата, добивающегося свободы, но при этом не понимающего, что с этой самой свободой делать, снова и снова роман вталкивает читателя в мысль, вернее, в ее отсутствие в сознании персонажей, «а что же после». пустота, та которую натыкаешься – это та общепессимистическая установка романа, который не добавляет веры в победу здравомыслия и мирового пролетариата.

еще одним пунктом, который возмущал читателей, судя по некоторым отзывам в сети, это педалирование и акцентирование гомосексуальной темы во взаимоотношениях двух центральных персонажей, големиста иуды лёва и влюбленного в него каттера. совершенно ничего особенного в этом нет – если внимательно читать все три романа, последовательно, и воспринимать как целостность идеи. в первой книге один из центральных персонажей имел сначала скрываемую, а потом и почти открытую связь с хеприйкой, женщиной-жуком; во втором романе центральной любовной парой были шрамированные «любовники», которые укрепляли свою внутреннюю связь и влияние на свой квартал путем взаимного нанесения ран – параллель к ним составляли странные отношения беллис с их же телохранителем. некоторые сцены что первого, что второго романа убеждали в том, что все, что имеет отношение к сексу в них – это акт не интимного, а трансгрессивного характера, нечто, преодолевающее предопределенность и судьбу («любовники», запрягшие аванка и гонящие его к шраму в океане ради невообразимой добычи возможностей). так и в третьем романе, который не пропагандирует гомосексуальность, а насаждает мысль о внеполовом характере секса. единственным гомосексуалистом является каттер, одержимый иудой, сам же иуда не разрывается, но «делит себя» между ним и анн-гари, которая от безвестной попутчицы в степях стала одной из предводительниц «железного совета».

все отношения в этом романе не имеют никакой романтической составляющей, это только секс как пометка территории, сигнализация благоволения и одаривание знаком внимания. в этом тоже просматривается развитие мысли от первого романа к последнему. если в первом, там, где декадентский город-спрут подвергался мировой опасности уничтожения, любовь человека и полунасекомой хеприйки становилась реализацией некоего романтического топоса, подстегиваемом в финале скорбью об ушедшей возлюбленой – во втором она стала предметом договора и территориализации: любовники стали «любовниками» не в силу притягательности, а потому, что в ответ на нанесение шрамов им ей как обозначении своего владения, она делает то же самое ему – и тем самым пробуждает к новой стратегии и практике управления своим государством. в любовниках чувственное перерастает в социальное и стратегическое, отшелушивая «чувства» (но не ликвидируя их) как наносные сентиментальные фантазии и обнажая их захватнический характер.

в третьем же романе сексуальная составляющая – это способ близости к власти и ее источнику, то есть присутствует глобальная меркантилизация отношения как пути к «багодати». иуда лёв в течение романа становится то ли пророком, то ли святым, а борьба за него между каттером и анн-гари – это поиску возможности быть ближе к «священному источнику» управления миром, потому что судьба иуды как големист, великого мастера-самоучки по изготовлению големов – это путь от лепки маленьких куколок из грязи, живущих несколько мгновений, до создания могущественных големов сначала из теней, потом – из света, а в финале – вневременного голема из завитков времени. нелюбовный треугольник здесь – это способ быть «в тени божества», что соответственно карается.

в общем и целом, пересказывать смысловые линии этого немыслимого произведения – и третье его части, и всей целостности – это практически неподсильная задача. да к тому же и бесполезна: текст говорит на порядок больше и интереснее.(less)

like · see review

Dec 27, 2012 Rachael Sherwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

More detailed analysis to follow eventually, but my first impression is that this is simultaneously China's best and worst book.

It's certainly his most impressive and mature work, but it would have really benefited from some restructuring and deep editing. I think most people who are complaining that the "politics are boring" are really saying that the story isn't paced well, because there's nothing boring about revolutionary politics.

Or maybe it's not even pacing. Perdido Street Station is str...more More detailed analysis to follow eventually, but my first impression is that this is simultaneously China's best and worst book.

It's certainly his most impressive and mature work, but it would have really benefited from some restructuring and deep editing. I think most people who are complaining that the "politics are boring" are really saying that the story isn't paced well, because there's nothing boring about revolutionary politics.

Or maybe it's not even pacing. Perdido Street Station is structurally a mess and has terrible pacing, but its forgivable because it is always fun. Iron Council is a more mature work, but paradoxically suffers from its maturity. It still has some really fun moments, but just isn't as charming as PSS or the Scar.

I will say though, that it has some of his best emotional moments. China is one of my favorite authors, but I've always felt that his books were a bit...cold? They engage me intellectually, and on a existential horror level, but not often as a human being. Iron Council is largely a detached book, but there are times when genuine emotion sneaks up on you. I am excited to read his later books now. I hope that continues. One of the things that I really like about China (Uh, I just realized I'm using his first name like we are BFF. whatever. in another life, we totally would be) is that he really seems to push himself as a writer. You can see his growth from book to book, whereas other authors just stagnant or keep trying to perfect one kind of story.

This is a highly critical review for a book I very much enjoyed. I would recommend it to any of his fans, for sure. It's flawed, but like all of his work, worth reading. It may be hard to get through the middle sections, but by the end it's going so fast you can barely keep up with it. (Hrmmm...LIKE A TRAIN? Is that intentional? Actually, the pacing overall is very train like, chugging along and then jerking to a halt to stop somewhere new, then moving again. China, you jerk. I will have to think on this some more.) The ending is actually very, very good.

(less)

like · see review

Oct 20, 2012 Klytia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dopo le avventure negli oceani del Bas Lag, la fertile e straordinaria immaginazione di China Miéville ci riporta nei vicoli della città di New Crobuzon questo suo ultimo romanzo. Ancora una volta la forza di Miéville risiede nella potenza visiva della sua scrittura: la gigantesca tartaruga sul cui dorso è scolpita un’intera città; la pietra che diventa fumo e poi si risolidifica intrappolando cose ed esseri viventi nella sua nebbia; la regione del “cacotopic stain” dove tutto ciò che entra ne e...more Dopo le avventure negli oceani del Bas Lag, la fertile e straordinaria immaginazione di China Miéville ci riporta nei vicoli della città di New Crobuzon questo suo ultimo romanzo. Ancora una volta la forza di Miéville risiede nella potenza visiva della sua scrittura: la gigantesca tartaruga sul cui dorso è scolpita un’intera città; la pietra che diventa fumo e poi si risolidifica intrappolando cose ed esseri viventi nella sua nebbia; la regione del “cacotopic stain” dove tutto ciò che entra ne esce cambiato nei modi più bizzarri e sconvolgenti.
Ma le creazioni più straordinarie riguardano l’arte di creare i golem utilizzando perfino gli elementi eterei e soprattutto il treno che si trascina per strani paesaggi, mentre le rotaie vengono rimosse al suo passaggio per essere posate di nuovo.
E’ il treno perpetuo, la dimora del Consiglio di Ferro, che riuscì a sfuggire alla dittatura di New Crobuzon e la cui leggenda divenne ispirazione per la rivolta in corso. Una città libera e anarchica in lento movimento ma anche in fuga dalla milizia inviata da New Crobuzon con lo scopo di distruggerla. Un mito che diventa più potente della realtà e che può anche essere sfruttato per mascherare le proprie reali motivazioni.
Il tema principale del romanzo, il più politico della trilogia di New Crobuzon, è la rivolta contro il potere costituito: da un lato i lavoratori impiegati nella costruzione della ferrovia che si ribellano perchè non vengono pagati, dall'altro la lotta degli gli abitanti di New Crobuzon stretti dal pugno di ferro della milizia che controlla ogni loro azione.
Miéville, tramite i pensieri dei suoi personaggi, si e ci pone anche diverse domande: fino a che punto è lecito l'omicidio anche se per la salvaguardia di un bene più grande?; può la rivoluzione trasformarsi in una maschera per nascondere la propria vendetta?; si può essere così contrari alla guerra da sperare che la propria nazione ne esca sconfitta?
In questa ambientazione si muovono personaggi complessi e sfaccettati, uniti da interessi apparentemente comuni, la ricerca del Consiglio di Ferro o la distruzione della dittatura in New Crobuzon, eppure ciascuno mosso da motivazioni personali, spesso nascoste e pericolose, che solo nelle sorprendenti ultime pagine del romanzo vengono rivelate.
Iron Council è un romanzo complesso per temi e linguaggi. La conferma dello straordinario talento narrativo di Miéville e, soprattutto, della sua capacità unica di manipolare il linguaggio, le parole e registri, per creare visioni che diventano reali, coinvolgenti ed evocative, un talento non dissimile da quello del protagonista del romanzo, Judas Low, colui che riesce a creare i golem utilizzando luce e oscurità.
E così si completa la trilogia del Bas Làg(less)

like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Booknblues rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you take quests, wars and carnival sideshows and combine them you would have some idea of what China Mieville's Iron Council is about. The journey starts with a man, Cutter trudging through the wilderness who is soon joined by others. It appears that he has a goal in mind, but the reader is never quite told. The narrator talks dispassionately about all that occurs and is seen. Strange froglike men who need water to keep their skin moist, remade men who have insect, mammal human and mechanical...more

like · see review

Aug 11, 2012 Forrest rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cbr4

I’ve been having some trouble getting traction on this review. Not because I don’t know what to say about the book, but because everything I’d say has already been said. If you go to the Wiki page for Iron Council you’ll find a fantastic summary of the events of the book, along with snippets of some of the better reviews, both positive and negative. They touch on the book’s overt politics, it’s relatively anemic setting development and the unique perspective China Miéville brings to the fantasy...more I’ve been having some trouble getting traction on this review. Not because I don’t know what to say about the book, but because everything I’d say has already been said. If you go to the Wiki page for Iron Council you’ll find a fantastic summary of the events of the book, along with snippets of some of the better reviews, both positive and negative. They touch on the book’s overt politics, it’s relatively anemic setting development and the unique perspective China Miéville brings to the fantasy genre. I’ve been somewhat verbose on these topics in my other reviews of Miéville’s Bas-Lag novels. But between those and the internet’s surfeit of quality opinion, I’m finding myself without much to say.

What should be said is that Iron Council is an excellent book, in spite of critical opinion. It is a less than stellar entry in the Bas-Lag sequence of books but it still stands well on its own. It is also exemplar of Miéville’s literary philosophy and worth reading for that reason alone. It is probably the most political piece of fiction you’ll ever read, stuffed to the brim with socialist rhetoric, liberal ideals and a cast of dissidents and nonconformists. But if you don’t let the message get in the way of the great story and Iron Council will start to feel a whole lot more like Perdido Street Station.

Iron Council is still a tough read. Like Perdido, it expects you to be able to parse unfamiliar words in the middle of action sequences and entirely original concepts at the drop of a hat. I prefer to view this as a selling point, rather than an obstacle to enjoyment, but here as everywhere, your mileage may vary.

Miéville’s Bas-Lag books are frequently cited as one of the only example of a modern approach to fantasy. The unique approach to world building, politics and even the characters set Bas-Lag aside as a perfect example of what can be accomplished when tradition and trope are thrown out the window. Even today, when the fantasy shelves are dominated urban fantasy and steampunk, Miéville’s books manage to maintain a singular and unapproachable feel while incorporating many ideas from both sub-genres. What makes his books valuable is his somewhat singular imagination combined with a top notch literary mind and deep understanding language. The books may be hard, but is there any better feeling than really being challenged by what you read? I tend to think not.(less)

like · see review

Jun 24, 2012 Chris Bittler rated it 3 of 5 stars

This could have been marketed as a mash-up titled Grapes of Wrath With Monsters. It suffers from trying to be both a Marxist tract and a Stephen King/Dark Tower thriller. That said, the thriller stuff is still entertaining.

I've enjoyed all three Bas-Lag books. The world is a horrifying steampunk version of Pratchett's Discworld; strange beings cohabitating a world with humans, with random awfulness around every corner. Mieville has said he just likes to come up with really scary things, and he c...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 14, 2012 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm having a hard time picking between 4 and 5 stars. Mieville is simply one of the best writers out there right now that I've been reading lately. (See review of Perdido Street Station for details.)

I've been having a difficult time deciding if I like Iron Council better than Perdido Street Station. I feel like until Mieville, the only alternate universes with lot of depth were modelled off of Middle Ages-type society/technology/geography, with a bit of fantasy mixed in. Sci fi books usually onl...more

like · see review

Sep 27, 2011 Danny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk

Have you ever had a friend you would follow to the ends of the earth? Well in the book "Iron Council" a man named Cutter and a group of renagades he has rustled up journey across the wold in search of his friend Judah and the Iron Council. The iron council is a group of people who have escaped the grip of the New Crobuzon (the largest city in the world of Bas-Lag) and its militia. During this time, a man in New Crobuzon, and greatly opposed to its government joins a group of terrorists intent o...more

like · see review

Nov 29, 2010 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: new-novella, speculative, steampunk, weird, dystopian

We live in a culture that desires fragmented stories; stories that are told quickly and compellingly, so we can move on to the next tale. It is why we love visual forms so much. It is why YA fiction is increasingly popular with older crowds. It is why graphic novels are on the rise as a literary form. But where are the novellas? Where are books like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The Old Man and the Sea, Heart of Darkness, The Awakening, A Clockwork Orange?

I have been looking, waiting,...more

13 likes · like · see review

Sep 10, 2010 Freedom Road El Camino Para la Libertad added it

Shelves: fiction

fantasy/science fiction novels with a social conscience. The mainstream tradition in fantasy novels, going back at least to J. R. R. Tolkien, ignores (or hides) the fact that people oppressed by feudal lords or kings rose up for their liberty time and again; why wouldn't people in a world of wizards and dragons do the same thing? And why shouldn't the wizards form a union too? Author China Miéville -- himself an outspoken socialist and member of the British Socialist Workers Party -- shows us a...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 01, 2010 Fence rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sff, favourites

This is the third of Mieville’;s books to be set in the wonderful world of New Crobuzon, and so far my favourite of this ‘verse. I enjoyed Perdido Street Station, admired more than liked The Scar, but Iron Council surpasses both of them. I was a little doubtful at first, not really getting the character of Cutter. But once the story began it sucked me in.

The ‘verse Mieville has created is simply fantastic, in both sense of the word. A variety of characters, races, and peoples all battle for the...more This is the third of Mieville’;s books to be set in the wonderful world of New Crobuzon, and so far my favourite of this ‘verse. I enjoyed Perdido Street Station, admired more than liked The Scar, but Iron Council surpasses both of them. I was a little doubtful at first, not really getting the character of Cutter. But once the story began it sucked me in.

The ‘verse Mieville has created is simply fantastic, in both sense of the word. A variety of characters, races, and peoples all battle for the reader’s attention, and just when you want to read more about some one in particular another comes along to steal your attention.

There are three main storylines. Cutter and his wanderings as he attempts to track down Judah Lowe. Then there is Ori, back in the city of New Crobuzon and his desire for revolution, for a better world. The third strand is set in the past, and centres on the character of Judah Lowe and the origin of the legendary Iron Council.

Mieville is a socialist, and there is quite a bit of politics in this book. The social reform the people of the Collective yearn for. The strikes that helped bring about the creation of the Iron Council. And while it is impossible to ignore this political aspect, nowhere does Mieville’s political belief turn into a sermon or a rant. The characters live, and die, they act as characters, not as proponents of a particular theory.

There are no real bad guys in this book. Sure, there are the authorities and the railroad managers, but they are more in the background. Few of them are actual characters that appear in the book. Instead it is the realities of life that create the situations that the other characters must react to. For just as there are no bad guys, there are no good guys. There are simply characters, acting according to what goes on about them.

Utterly original, with its Remade, flesh elementals, Cactae people and Khepri women among many many more, Iron Council makes for a great read. You’ll never look at a train in the same way again. And the ending! well. I’ll let you find out for yourself.(less)

like · see review

Apr 10, 2010 Alex R rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk, fantasy

I know a lot of people (even trufans of Mieville) really hate this book. If you understand where he's coming from, though, I think the book will make more sense. The biggest gripe is that the book is overtly political, focuses too much on revolution. Mieville is a Marxist! I've seen him speak in London at Communist Party events, and his PhD is on reworking the discourse of international law based on a Marxist theory of human rights. Seriously, old school Marxist all the way. A big part of that i...more

2 likes · like · see review

title link	preview: Iron Council
avg rating	preview: Iron Council Goodreads rating: 3.66 (5662 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320419476l/68495.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Iron Council by China Miéville[/url]

Iron Council (New Crobuzon #3)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (19)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About China Miéville

Books by China Miéville

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Iron Council

Quotes from Iron Council