Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1) in On Paths Unknown

Nov 03, 2023 Michael Finocchiaro rated it liked it

Shelves: locus-award-winners, english-21st-c, novels, fiction, sci-fi, series, steampunk

I was expecting more with this one. I did not like the protagonist Isaac at all and found Yak annoying af. The other characters like Lin and Motley were interesting, but not exceptional. New Crobuzon city reminded me a lot of the Bardugo's Ketterdam in Six of Crows and it actually makes me wonder if she borrowed some of Miéville's ideas when crowd-sourcing that novel. The steampunk aspect of the book is OK, but the town's geography gets rather hard to follow. I think that the author overdid the ...more

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Oct 14, 2023 Val rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Note: very non-graphic rape discussion/reference

I loved the first half, but was a bit more conflicted over the second. I kept reading till the end, finishing the second half in maybe a stretch or two, but I was left feeling rather cold. I think this was because of the shift (in retrospect) from a more character- and politics-focused book to a more action-focused plot.

Contrary to a lot of the other negative reviews, I absolutely adored all the world building and a lot of the prose (although I do Note: very non-graphic rape discussion/reference

I loved the first half, but was a bit more conflicted over the second. I kept reading till the end, finishing the second half in maybe a stretch or two, but I was left feeling rather cold. I think this was because of the shift (in retrospect) from a more character- and politics-focused book to a more action-focused plot.

Contrary to a lot of the other negative reviews, I absolutely adored all the world building and a lot of the prose (although I do admit that there were some points that Miéville got a little heavy-handed with the wretchedness of his city). It reminded me of all the things I love about Fallen London and Sunless Sea.

However, although Lin’s fate was consistent with the darkness and tragedy of the setting and plot, it did feel a bit like fridging (including also her sidelining with Isaac set to rescue her) and a less interesting result than her survival. Honestly, if Miéville was set on something like this happening to a member of the main cast, I would’ve preferred a reverse with this happening to her lover Isaac instead. Lin felt like the character with more potential for change and development to me, and in keeping with the themes of the book, I think her excitement and naivety being dulled or moderated a bit by the events over the course of novel would’ve been pretty interesting. Also, since the removal of Lin also came with the removal from the stage of the more lighthearted and less purely wretched parts of New Crobuzon, I’d just like to say that those resulting removals also felt like a poor choice. I think that those points of brightness helped contrast against all the real wretchedness of the city, and just added some nice texture to the world building. Without them, sometimes the darkness felt to the point of parody.

On a similar note, the last-minute shoehorning in of rape (both by one main character and against Lin) really didn’t work for me. Partially because of not having so little time to explore it but mostly I think because it’s mostly explored through the perspective of two primary male characters. The two female victims are both not in a position to speak about it (Lin) or for their feelings about it to be fully understood (because of the cultural difference).

And finally, I’m disappointed in the handling of Derkhan. I was waiting for a deepening of her character that never really came. To be fair, this does make sense to an extent concerning she’s more central once Miéville shifts over to his more action-oriented plot, when everyone in general seems to suffer in the ongoing development of their characters. It still does seem odd though that we don’t get a portion from her POV at the very end like we do Isaac and Yagharek, and concerning the treatment of Lin alongside her, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I do think I’ll still try Scar though. This was only Miéville’s second book overall I think, and the description combined with both protagonists being women (I believe) means that my qualms with this novel are more likely to be absent. ...more

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