Iron Council
China Miéville
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 King Rat, each of his novels has been nominated for several of the major science fiction, fantasy and horror awards; and, he has won multiple Arthur C. Clarke Awards, British Fantasy Awards and Locus awards. His work is the primary (or, some would contend, only) example of the sub-genre known as New Weird. He is an erudite critic of the cliche ridden, Tolkien-esque epics that have passed as "fantasy fiction" for the last several decades.
Iron Council is the third (and final, for now) novel told in the imaginatively lush setting of Bas-Lag: a largely unexplored world, lightly peppered with isolated city-states, primitive cultures and ruins of lost empires. Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council focus on either the city-state of New Crobuzon or expatriates. New Crobuzon is an obvious, though not ham-fisted, analogy to modern Western civilization at several points in its history. It is a sprawling, Victorian London-esque monstrosity in the prolonged throes of an industrial revolution augmented by numerous science-like thaumaturgies. One is likely to find an enslaved fire elemental powering a steam engine, rather than coal or wood. New Crobuzon is also an uneasy melting pot of several intelligent species with a majority of humans (and a few things passing as humans).
The most important aspects of this city-state, while touched in the first two novels, come to the forefront in Iron Council. New Crobuzon is a mercantile juggernaut with aspirations of empire. For several centuries prior to the time of the novels' action the city-state has waged several wars against competitors, often conveniently labeled as "pirates." New Crobuzon's industry and expansion is driven by a disenfranchised work force kept in line by the draconian Mayor and Parliament via the Militia and subtle manipulation of racial tensions. The city's rulers also favor a bizarre form of criminal punishment known as Remaking: phantasmic and often inexplicable physical alterations to the convicted. These permanently marked criminals are typically shuttled off to serve as slave labor on expansion projects or colonies. By the period most of Iron Council is set in New Crobuzon is a socio-political powder keg.
Iron Council does jump about in time as well as shifting between three primary points of view. Set mostly in the present is the story of Cutter, a somewhat reluctant revolutionary who, with several companions, embarks on an arduous journey in hopes of aiding his lover. Also, in the present, and set entirely in New Crobuzon, is the tale of of Ori: a politically conscious street-tough who in frustration with merely talking of rebellion seeks out a dangerous, part political, part criminal gang. Finally, there is the story of Judah Low, a prodigal golem-crafter and a seasoned observer of the consequences of New Crobuzon's recent history. His story goes back to a period prior to the events of Perdido Street Station. He witnesses New Crobuzon's second attempt at forging a lengthy railway across its home continent, Rohagi. More importantly he witnesses and partakes in a phenomenal uprising that becomes a powerful inspiration for the oppressed of New Crobuzon.
These separate stories gracefully grow into and combine with each other bringing the reader to the flash-point and aftermath of both a civil war and a doomed war against a foreign power. More importantly it tells an important story of people (human, xenian and Remade) who are caught-up, in vastly different ways, within the onrush of historical change. The fractional nature of the novel may not be to the liking of some readers. My opinion is that it works to the desired effect. It conveys several related narratives that span a significant amount of time but does not lose the characters in a merely chronicled litany of events. It is a technique that Miéville has dabbled in, especially in The Scar. Here he uses it effectively and forcefully.
This is the most political of the Bas-Lag novels and Miéville is a vocal socialist. As one can easily imagine, he has faced a good deal of haranguing from right-wing and apolitical genre fans. The author defends and defines himself best in the April 2005 issue of The Believer (http://www.believermag.com/issues/200504/?read=interview_mieville):
"I’m not a leftist trying to smuggle in my evil message by the nefarious means of fantasy novels. I’m a science fiction and fantasy geek. I love this stuff. And when I write my novels, I’m not writing them to make political points.... But, because I come at this with a political perspective, the world that I’m creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have... I’m trying to say I’ve invented this world that I think is really cool and I have these really big stories to tell in it and one of the ways that I find to make that interesting is to think about it politically. If you want to do that too, that’s fantastic. But if not, isn’t this a cool monster?" (c The Believer)
The characters of Iron Council are not a clutch of cloned Heros of the Revolution. They're individuals with deeply different perspectives on what is going on around them. A recurrent theme of many of them is questioning the actions and intentions of, and often becoming disillusioned with, the revolutions and revolutionaries -- an element that I can easily see as distasteful to any number of leftists.
Iron Council itself is a great and human story that also has a backdrop of "imagined political realism." ]]>
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