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Andrew Neal's Reviews > Embassytown
Embassytown
by China Miéville (Goodreads Author)
by China Miéville (Goodreads Author)
I stayed up late reading this one. Somehow he brought all the stuff I associate with China Mieville wihout making it seem like a retread of what he's done before. I thought it was great.
And here's the thing I think he's best at: dropping you right into the middle of a culture, where the characters, including the narrator, speak in such a way that you don't quite follow whats happening, but then gradually cluing you on what exactly the weirdness is in without just having the characters explaining it directly to the reader.
On the weirdness scale, I'd say it's less overtly weird than the three fantasy books and more overtly weird than The City & The City. But that's maybe only in terms of descriptions of physical stuff - The Scar is like 85% novel and 15% Monster Manual - because there are some very interesting concepts. TINY LITTLE FIRST CHAPTER SPOILER: It kind of starts with "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" but gets way more strange than that.
And here's the thing I think he's best at: dropping you right into the middle of a culture, where the characters, including the narrator, speak in such a way that you don't quite follow whats happening, but then gradually cluing you on what exactly the weirdness is in without just having the characters explaining it directly to the reader.
On the weirdness scale, I'd say it's less overtly weird than the three fantasy books and more overtly weird than The City & The City. But that's maybe only in terms of descriptions of physical stuff - The Scar is like 85% novel and 15% Monster Manual - because there are some very interesting concepts. TINY LITTLE FIRST CHAPTER SPOILER: It kind of starts with "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" but gets way more strange than that.
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Daniel
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May 23, 2011 04:02pm
Well, hot damn, I had no idea he had a new book out. Next stop: library!
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Also, weird stuff by regular standards? in which case that's like saying that Cormac McCarthy forgot the punctuation. Or weird stuff by Mieville standards? In which case I don't know whether to be thrilled or terrified.Also my library doesn't have this book, by which I mean I hate them.
Daniel, if you want to borrow my copy, let me know when you're coming to town, or I can media mail it to you if you're not coming through anytime soon. On the weirdness scale, I'd say it's less overtly weird than the three fantasy books and more overtly weird than The City & The City. But that's maybe only in terms of descriptions of physical stuff - The Scar is like 85% novel and 15% Monster Manual - because there are some very interesting concepts. TINY LITTLE FIRST CHAPTER SPOILER: To take it back to something we once discussed on a Chapel Hill Transit bus, it kind of starts with "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" but gets way more strange than that.
I'll copy this into my review as well.
