<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GoodreadsResponse>
	<Request>
		<authentication>false</authentication>
		    <method><![CDATA[]]></method>
	</Request>
	
<book>
  <id>68495</id>
  <title><![CDATA[Iron Council]]></title>
  <isbn><![CDATA[0345458427]]></isbn>
  <isbn13><![CDATA[9780345458421]]></isbn13>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <description><![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]></description>
  <work>
  <best_book_id type="integer">68495</best_book_id>
  <books_count type="integer">12</books_count>
  <desc_user_id type="integer" nil="true"></desc_user_id>
  <id type="integer">66379</id>
  <media_type nil="true"></media_type>
  <original_language_id type="integer" nil="true"></original_language_id>
  <original_publication_day type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_day>
  <original_publication_month type="integer" nil="true"></original_publication_month>
  <original_publication_year type="integer">2004</original_publication_year>
  <original_title>Iron Council</original_title>
  <rating_dist>total:1155|5:242|4:432|3:358|2:97|1:25|</rating_dist>
  <ratings_count type="integer">1155</ratings_count>
  <ratings_sum type="integer">4236</ratings_sum>
  <reviews_count type="integer">1713</reviews_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">132</text_reviews_count>
</work>

  <average_rating><![CDATA[3.67]]></average_rating>
  <ratings_count><![CDATA[1027]]></ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count><![CDATA[111]]></text_reviews_count>
  
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council]]></link>
  <authors>
    <author>
    <id>33918</id>
        <name><![CDATA[China Miéville]]></name>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1243988363p5/33918.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg]]></small_image_url>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33918.China_Mi_ville]]></link>
    <average_rating>3.91</average_rating>
    <ratings_count>10645</ratings_count>
    <text_reviews_count>1803</text_reviews_count>
  </author>
  </authors>
    <reviews start="1" end="20" total="1710">
      <review>
  <id>18620369</id>
    <user>
    <id>1022982</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Brad]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Summerside, PE, Canada]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1022982-brad]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1221159764p3/1022982.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1221159764p2/1022982.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.68</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1027</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>8</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="speculative" />
        <shelf name="to-read-again" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Oct 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 25 15:21:22 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Mar 23 08:31:32 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Overtly political, teasingly intricate, and deeply intertextual, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33918.China_Mi_ville" title="China Miéville">China Miéville</a>'s <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council" title="Iron Council by China Miéville">Iron Council</a> is everything I expect to love in great speculative fiction, and nearly everything I know I love in <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33918.China_Mi_ville" title="China Miéville">Miéville</a>'s work.<br/><br/>Yet, since its publication, I have only read it once, and I still find myse...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18620369">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18620369]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18620369]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>24646301</id>
    <user>
    <id>112040</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Spoonbridge]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Mankato, MN]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/112040-spoonbridge]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1180829408p3/112040.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1180829408p2/112040.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="fantasy" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[people who like Bas Lag]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jun 16 14:29:09 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jul 02 08:04:42 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24646301">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24646301]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24646301]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>3914978</id>
    <user>
    <id>214053</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Adam]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/214053-adam]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216438982p3/214053.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216438982p2/214053.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>2</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="literature-fantastique" />
        <shelf name="steampunkery" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Aug 01 11:14:05 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 03:14:11 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3914978">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3914978]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3914978]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>68830522</id>
    <user>
    <id>1036930</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Michael]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Tempe, AZ]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1036930-michael]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1252591627p3/1036930.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1252591627p2/1036930.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="dystopia" />
        <shelf name="fantasy-scifi" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Aug 25 09:57:49 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Sep 08 13:54:15 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 &quot;the last Bas Lag novel.&quot;  But, as of 2009, it's the most recent.<br/><br/>I found the experience of rea...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68830522">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68830522]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68830522]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>26750749</id>
    <user>
    <id>687403</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Ariel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Bellingham, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/687403-ariel]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1198628359p3/687403.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1198628359p2/687403.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>3</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="radical-politics" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Jul 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Jul 09 09:06:35 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jul 12 06:20:18 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 <em>and</em> speak to the real world, the present.  I highly recommend the <em>Iron Council</em> to folks who like femini...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26750749">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26750749]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26750749]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>2354623</id>
    <user>
    <id>151899</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tom]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/151899-tom]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">976422</id>
  <isbn>0345464028</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345464026</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179949466m/976422.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179949466s/976422.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/976422.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.35</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>52</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[China Miéville's novel <em>Iron Council</em> is the tumultuous story of the &quot;Perpetual Train.&quot; Born from monopolists' greed and dispatched to tame the western lands beyond New Crobuzon, the train is itself the beginnings of an Iron Council formed in the fire of frontier revolt against the railroad's masters. From the wilderness, the legend of Iron Council becomes the spark uniting the oppressed and brings barricades to the streets of faraway New Crobuzon. The sprawling tale is told through the past-and-present eyes of three characters. The first is Cutter, a heartsick subversive who follows his lover, the messianic Judah Low, on a quest to return to the Iron Council hidden in the western wilds. The second is Judah himself, an erstwhile railroad scout who has become the iconic golem-wielding hero of Iron Council's uprising at the end of the tracks. And the third is Ori, a young revolutionary on the streets of New Crobuzon, whose anger leads him into a militant wing of the underground, plotting anarchy and mayhem. <p>  Miéville (<em>The Scar</em>, <em>Perdido Street Station</em>) weaves his epic out of familiar and heavily political themes--imperialism, fascism, conquest, and Marxism--all seen through a darkly cast funhouse mirror wherein even language is distorted and made beautifully grotesque. Improbably evoking Jack London and Victor Hugo, <em>Iron Council</em> is a twisted frontier fable cleverly combined with a powerful parable of Marxist revolution that continues Miéville's macabre remaking of the fantasy genre. <em>--Jeremy Pugh</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jun 25 07:19:09 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 16 22:37:39 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[[after second reading]<br/>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.<br/><br/>As other reviewers ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2354623">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2354623]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2354623]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>5766763</id>
    <user>
    <id>236606</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tessa]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pittsburgh, PA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/236606-tessa]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1210202488p3/236606.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1210202488p2/236606.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="fictive" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[pretentious marxists]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Sep 06 08:04:36 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Dec 17 09:10:29 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[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 s...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5766763">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5766763]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5766763]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>24887140</id>
    <user>
    <id>204876</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Navera]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/204876-navera]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216146572p3/204876.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216146572p2/204876.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Jun 19 07:35:57 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 15 11:07:24 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I had already become a huge fan of Mieville's after reading <em> Perdido Street Station </em> 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 th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24887140">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24887140]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24887140]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>66765672</id>
    <user>
    <id>2122634</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Patton]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Decatur, GA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2122634-patton-mcginley]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1236906074p3/2122634.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1236906074p2/2122634.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[everyone]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sun Aug 09 13:41:10 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Aug 09 13:59:28 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count>1</read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council" title="Iron Council by China Miéville">Iron Council</a><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33918.China_Mi_ville" title="China Miéville">China Miéville</a><br/><br/><img src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg" class="escapedImg"/>If you're a relatively astute follower of contemporary genre fiction then you are most likely aware of China Miéville. Since debuting in 1998 with <em>King Rat,</em> each of his novels has been nominated for several of the major science fiction, fantasy and horro...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66765672">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66765672]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66765672]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>57281923</id>
    <user>
    <id>1421798</id>
    <name><![CDATA[pearl]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Pacific Palisades, CA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1421798-pearl]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1218613979p3/1421798.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1218613979p2/1421798.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">976422</id>
  <isbn>0345464028</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345464026</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179949466m/976422.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179949466s/976422.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/976422.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[China Miéville's novel <em>Iron Council</em> is the tumultuous story of the &quot;Perpetual Train.&quot; Born from monopolists' greed and dispatched to tame the western lands beyond New Crobuzon, the train is itself the beginnings of an Iron Council formed in the fire of frontier revolt against the railroad's masters. From the wilderness, the legend of Iron Council becomes the spark uniting the oppressed and brings barricades to the streets of faraway New Crobuzon. The sprawling tale is told through the past-and-present eyes of three characters. The first is Cutter, a heartsick subversive who follows his lover, the messianic Judah Low, on a quest to return to the Iron Council hidden in the western wilds. The second is Judah himself, an erstwhile railroad scout who has become the iconic golem-wielding hero of Iron Council's uprising at the end of the tracks. And the third is Ori, a young revolutionary on the streets of New Crobuzon, whose anger leads him into a militant wing of the underground, plotting anarchy and mayhem. <p>  Miéville (<em>The Scar</em>, <em>Perdido Street Station</em>) weaves his epic out of familiar and heavily political themes--imperialism, fascism, conquest, and Marxism--all seen through a darkly cast funhouse mirror wherein even language is distorted and made beautifully grotesque. Improbably evoking Jack London and Victor Hugo, <em>Iron Council</em> is a twisted frontier fable cleverly combined with a powerful parable of Marxist revolution that continues Miéville's macabre remaking of the fantasy genre. <em>--Jeremy Pugh</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="-beloved" />
        <shelf name="dark-fantasy" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue May 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon May 25 14:03:15 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon May 25 15:03:08 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book was fantastic. I picked it up with some hesitation because of reviews I'd read, which said that Iron Council was &quot;the weakest&quot; of the series, that the plot and setting were a far cry from the complex, violently magical and Victorian-inspired backdrops of the previous two books. O...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57281923">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57281923]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/57281923]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>46291861</id>
    <user>
    <id>1419948</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Tyler]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Albuquerque, NM]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1419948-tyler]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1234589997p3/1419948.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1234589997p2/1419948.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="my-favorite-authors" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 13 20:38:01 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Feb 13 21:20:44 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The final book of Mieville's trilogy, this was one that I didn't &quot;buy&quot; from the outset. Partly because it has a certain Wild West color, and I am a born and bred New Mexican, I had trouble swallowing certain turns of phrase and character aspects off the bat. (On the flip side, the fact tha...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46291861">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46291861]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46291861]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>53461854</id>
    <user>
    <id>533983</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Levi]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seattle, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/533983-levi]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1192151559p3/533983.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1192151559p2/533983.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Apr 21 08:35:28 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed May 06 09:04:45 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is the first Mieville book I've read, and I find myself agreeing with some of the more negative reviews here.  The concepts are interesting, and a lot of his language and writing is great, but the characters are mostly 2-dimensional, and sometimes he really seems to be trying hard to come up wi...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53461854">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53461854]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53461854]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>79161570</id>
    <user>
    <id>2191162</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Stephanie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Phoenix, AZ]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2191162-stephanie]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1238915627p3/2191162.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1238915627p2/2191162.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Fri Nov 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Nov 27 19:12:23 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Fri Nov 27 19:33:39 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So this is the last of three novels set in Bas-Lag.  It is quite different, stylistically, from Perdido Street Station and The Scar.  The prose is more restrained.  Something (besides setting) that it has in common with The Scar is that the author doesn't attempt to make his characters likable.   I ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79161570">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79161570]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79161570]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>68213223</id>
    <user>
    <id>272061</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jonathan]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Cambridge, The United Kingdom]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/272061-jonathan]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1243372852p3/272061.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1243372852p2/272061.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">395947</id>
  <isbn>0330492527</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780330492522</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174418201m/395947.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174418201s/395947.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/395947.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.66</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>47</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[China Miéville's novel <em>Iron Council</em> is the tumultuous story of the &quot;Perpetual Train.&quot; Born from monopolists' greed and dispatched to tame the western lands beyond New Crobuzon, the train is itself the beginnings of an Iron Council formed in the fire of frontier revolt against the railroad's masters. From the wilderness, the legend of Iron Council becomes the spark uniting the oppressed and brings barricades to the streets of faraway New Crobuzon. The sprawling tale is told through the past-and-present eyes of three characters. The first is Cutter, a heartsick subversive who follows his lover, the messianic Judah Low, on a quest to return to the Iron Council hidden in the western wilds. The second is Judah himself, an erstwhile railroad scout who has become the iconic golem-wielding hero of Iron Council's uprising at the end of the tracks. And the third is Ori, a young revolutionary on the streets of New Crobuzon, whose anger leads him into a militant wing of the underground, plotting anarchy and mayhem. <p>  Miéville (<em>The Scar</em>, <em>Perdido Street Station</em>) weaves his epic out of familiar and heavily political themes--imperialism, fascism, conquest, and Marxism--all seen through a darkly cast funhouse mirror wherein even language is distorted and made beautifully grotesque. Improbably evoking Jack London and Victor Hugo, <em>Iron Council</em> is a twisted frontier fable cleverly combined with a powerful parable of Marxist revolution that continues Miéville's macabre remaking of the fantasy genre. <em>--Jeremy Pugh</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Thu Aug 20 11:56:25 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Aug 20 12:11:53 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A mix of role-playing games, the cities of Mary Gentle, the history of the building of the American railroad and much civil unrest.<br/><br/>The first few pages are written in an abstruse style that had me worried it was going to be painful reading, but happily within a few pages he forgets all th...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68213223">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68213223]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68213223]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>67491517</id>
    <user>
    <id>1309583</id>
    <name><![CDATA[DeAnne]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Rowlett, TX]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1309583-deanne]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1222023496p3/1309583.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1222023496p2/1309583.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Oct 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Aug 15 09:07:58 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Oct 26 14:56:23 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I was angered by this book. Angered, discomforted, distressed, and emotionally drained.  I, like Ann-Hari, felt robbed; as though the ending of my journey had been stolen and turned into a tourist destination. I was..no..I AM angry at Judeh, the self taught thaumaturge golemist, who with a clever us...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67491517">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67491517]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67491517]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>41667543</id>
    <user>
    <id>223837</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Nikki]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Cardiff, The United Kingdom]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/223837-nikki]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1248477427p3/223837.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1248477427p2/223837.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">395947</id>
  <isbn>0330492527</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780330492522</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">9</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174418201m/395947.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174418201s/395947.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/395947.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[China Miéville's novel <em>Iron Council</em> is the tumultuous story of the &quot;Perpetual Train.&quot; Born from monopolists' greed and dispatched to tame the western lands beyond New Crobuzon, the train is itself the beginnings of an Iron Council formed in the fire of frontier revolt against the railroad's masters. From the wilderness, the legend of Iron Council becomes the spark uniting the oppressed and brings barricades to the streets of faraway New Crobuzon. The sprawling tale is told through the past-and-present eyes of three characters. The first is Cutter, a heartsick subversive who follows his lover, the messianic Judah Low, on a quest to return to the Iron Council hidden in the western wilds. The second is Judah himself, an erstwhile railroad scout who has become the iconic golem-wielding hero of Iron Council's uprising at the end of the tracks. And the third is Ori, a young revolutionary on the streets of New Crobuzon, whose anger leads him into a militant wing of the underground, plotting anarchy and mayhem. <p>  Miéville (<em>The Scar</em>, <em>Perdido Street Station</em>) weaves his epic out of familiar and heavily political themes--imperialism, fascism, conquest, and Marxism--all seen through a darkly cast funhouse mirror wherein even language is distorted and made beautifully grotesque. Improbably evoking Jack London and Victor Hugo, <em>Iron Council</em> is a twisted frontier fable cleverly combined with a powerful parable of Marxist revolution that continues Miéville's macabre remaking of the fantasy genre. <em>--Jeremy Pugh</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="fantasy" />
        <shelf name="speculative-fiction" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Jan 02 19:04:23 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun May 24 18:13:34 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I didn't enjoy Iron Council anywhere near as much as I did Miéville's other books. I'm not sure quite why, to be honest. Parts of it irritated me stylistically -- the large section which follows Judah in the middle, mainly -- but that wouldn't automatically lower my enjoyment of the whole book. I d...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41667543">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41667543]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41667543]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>36518538</id>
    <user>
    <id>1668975</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Jeremy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[White City, OR]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1668975-jeremy]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
            <shelf name="currently-reading" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Oct 29 17:12:26 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Oct 29 17:18:59 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Midway through: I've become a Mieville fan over the last year, after having enjoyed Perdido Street Station, despite some early trepidation and having to put forth some effort to adjust my reading style to his dense and florid prose. I adored the Scar, and devoured Un Lun Dun. Yet somehow...Iron Coun...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36518538">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36518538]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36518538]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>29436678</id>
    <user>
    <id>1266559</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Michaela]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seattle, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1266559-michaela]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-111x148.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto-F-50x66.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[diehard fans]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Aug 06 12:56:32 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Aug 06 13:06:34 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So disappointing.<br/>His first three books (even <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/search/search?q= King Rat" title=" King Rat"> King Rat</a> were better than this cold lifeless lump. In his proceeding stories there have been wonderful fantastic worlds, plots where you must keep turning pages until one in the morning to find out, &quot;what happens next&quot;, and characters tha...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29436678">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29436678]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29436678]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>27314781</id>
    <user>
    <id>1092120</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kris]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Spokane, WA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1092120-kris]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1237927976p3/1092120.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1237927976p2/1092120.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="own-it" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[Brandon Koeller]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Jun 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 15 09:45:20 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 15 10:53:00 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is the 3rd book in the (very loose) trilogy started in Perdido Street Station. It is set in the same world, but, as in The Scar, deals with people, places and situations much different from PDS. <br/>In Mieville's usual vein, there are concepts and characters far more unique than anywhere else...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27314781">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27314781]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27314781]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>27193285</id>
    <user>
    <id>218269</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Laurie]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Chicago, IL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/218269-laurie]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216309623p3/218269.jpg]]></image_url>
    <small_image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1216309623p2/218269.jpg]]></small_image_url>
  </user>
    <book>
  <id type="integer">68495</id>
  <isbn>0345458427</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780345458421</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">111</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Iron Council]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698m/68495.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692698s/68495.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68495.Iron_Council</link>
  <average_rating>3.67</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>1155</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Following <em>Perdido Street Station</em> and <em>The Scar</em>, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.<br/><strong><br/></strong>It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.<br/>In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.<br/>In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .<br/><br/>The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in <em>Iron Council</em>: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.<br/><br/><br/><em>From the Hardcover edition.</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jul 14 06:57:23 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Nov 06 07:30:17 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This is more a 3.5 star rating. I read this because I really loved Un Lun Dun. This book is completely different. It is about a dark, distopian world where different groups are fighting against the government, and some of them set off to bring back some mythical insurrectionists. It is about a lot m...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27193285">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27193285]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/27193285]]></link>
</review>
    </reviews>
  <popular_shelves>
          <shelf name="to-read" />
          <shelf name="fantasy" />
          <shelf name="currently-reading" />
          <shelf name="fiction" />
          <shelf name="science-fiction" />
          <shelf name="steampunk" />
          <shelf name="sci-fi" />
          <shelf name="new-weird" />
          <shelf name="speculative-fiction" />
      </popular_shelves>
  <book_links>
    <book_link>
  <id>8</id>
  <name><![CDATA[WorldCat]]></name>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=68495</link>
</book_link>
  </book_links>
</book>
</GoodreadsResponse>