From the Bookshelf of Beyond Reality…

Embassytown

China Miéville

Start date: May 1, 2012

Finish date: May 31, 2012

Discussion: General - Group Business

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 451 topics — 5,404 comments total

General - Group Business

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* The Beyond Reality FAQ: Please read before posting!
By Candiss · 1 post · 552 views

last updated Mar 01, 2014 01:03PM

Welcome to November 2025!
By Shel , Moderator · 1 post · 9 views

last updated Nov 01, 2025 04:10PM

showing 10 of 18 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Mar 01, 2014 Tomislav rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

I've read a number of Mieville's other books, and while most of them have fallen into a category called New Weird, which may or may not be a part of fantasy depending how you think about it, Embassytown is the first I would classify clearly as science fiction. I read this book during a mostly outdoor vacation near Potosi, Missouri, in a record-breaking heatwave - daytime high temps of approx 105-110F. I had a little trouble being thrown immediately into the complex setting Mieville created for t I've read a number of Mieville's other books, and while most of them have fallen into a category called New Weird, which may or may not be a part of fantasy depending how you think about it, Embassytown is the first I would classify clearly as science fiction. I read this book during a mostly outdoor vacation near Potosi, Missouri, in a record-breaking heatwave - daytime high temps of approx 105-110F. I had a little trouble being thrown immediately into the complex setting Mieville created for this. However, a sufficient explanation is given by one major character who is a linguist (Scile) about fifty pages in. So, do not judge this book just on the first 50 pages.

Mieville's prior book The City & The City won a boatload of awards, and Embassytown seems to be following that pattern. So far it has won the 2012 Locus Award, been nominated for 2012 Nebula (although it did not win). It has also been nominated for 2012 Hugo, and the winner there is yet to be determined. As a science fiction Mieville novel, I think it has a good shot at that.

I'm not going to write a plot synopsis, except to say that a lot of the concepts of this book relate to language, and how non-literal constructs such as simile work in communication between alien species. If you like language concepts, you will love this book.

One probably unique perspective I can bring is that when the first person narrator (Avice) travels off-planet, she goes through the "immer", which seems to be the extradimensional cosmic interstice between universes or distant points in our own universe, as opposed to the "manchmal". These happen to be the German language words for "always" and "sometimes". Our more mundane universe is the "sometimes" one. Mieville doesn't do much with that, or even mention these meanings, but I found it interesting and relevant none-the-less.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars after finishing it, but as time passes and I think more about it, I find my ranking seems to be moving upward. I predict this book will get a lot of attention, and become widely read. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Aug 15, 2011 Kevin Xu rated it it was ok

I did not find this book all that great. The problem is that the book with more on different languages then anything else. It was not the book that I expected, the unusual Alien encounter.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2011 Phoenixfalls rated it it was amazing

Shelves: language, science-fiction, aliens, male-author, sf-challenge-2011, colonialism

This is not quite a perfect book; while its reticence in explaining Ariekei Language is justified, its opacity about everything else is not, and I think that unfairly limits its audience. But it is a brilliant book, epic in its scope, virtuosic in its faults, and surprisingly moving.

The opening of the book is undeniably rough going. This is 401-level science fiction, with more neologisms than I could count, most of which are never explained. The structure is nearly as baroque as some of Catheryn This is not quite a perfect book; while its reticence in explaining Ariekei Language is justified, its opacity about everything else is not, and I think that unfairly limits its audience. But it is a brilliant book, epic in its scope, virtuosic in its faults, and surprisingly moving.

The opening of the book is undeniably rough going. This is 401-level science fiction, with more neologisms than I could count, most of which are never explained. The structure is nearly as baroque as some of Catherynne Valente's, but with cues more difficult to parse (it took me nearly half the book to pick up on the formerly/latterday dichotomy in the chapter headings, but then, my brain has been resistant to picking up clues from chapter headings in the past, so maybe that was just me) and less set in a predictable pattern. It's also deeply embedded in the consciousness of its first-person narrator, who appears to be narrating to an audience already informed of most of the story, and whose occasional asides to that audience seem to deliberately obscure understanding.

But even in that opening section there are tantalizing hints at the sort of story this is, a heady delving into the sort of aienness science fiction too rarely explores. I've started calling these books "Second Contact" stories, stories wherein first contact has occurred long since but the humans and aliens are still groping in the dark towards some sort of rudimentary understanding of each other. And while C.J. Cherryh is queen of that subgenre -- and the character of Bren has to be a nod to Cherryh's long-running Foreigner sequence -- Miéville has here contributed a downright exciting take on it.

And when everything clicked. . . I cared. I was not really expecting that. Avice seemed to me a fairly pedestrian narrator, and I understood what was happening with the Ariekei's Language far earlier than the text wanted me to, but I cared anyway, and I could not put the book down. I think it has to do with the fact that underneath all the semiotic pyrotechnics this is also a story about colonialism -- an issue underlying but rarely addressed in all stories of human/alien contact.

Here again, I don't think it works perfectly. A character says at one point "This isn't one of those stories, Avice. One moment of cack-handedness, Captain Cook offends the bloody locals. . . and bang, he's on the grill. Do you ever think how self-aggrandizing that stuff is?" The irony is that this is one of those stories, and the issue I take with it is that they are fundamentally self-aggrandizing, and Miéville doesn't quite manage to subvert that by the end.

Despite that quibble, this is not a story with clear right and wrong answers, and I loved that about it. Mistakes are made, and those mistakes change the world irrevocably, and even though it ends on a largely hopeful note it's very clear-eyed about all that was lost and all that can still go wrong. It also manages to give the Ariekei agency, even through the lens of a fairly self-absorbed human narrator. So all in all, despite (or perhaps even because of) its flaws, I loved this book, and look forward to rereading it. ...more

Like · see review

Apr 27, 2011 Boden Steiner rated it it was ok

The ideas are interesting, and I enjoy his desire to make the reader work for the ideas. My displeasure comes from the fact that it's nearly all second-hand, passive storytelling, and perhaps, given the context and environment, the most boring display of something labelled "science fiction" that I have read in some time. Embassytown is mind-numbing--BORING. The characterizations remain tacked and detached, the reader given no real concern for character fates or Embassytown itself, which never be The ideas are interesting, and I enjoy his desire to make the reader work for the ideas. My displeasure comes from the fact that it's nearly all second-hand, passive storytelling, and perhaps, given the context and environment, the most boring display of something labelled "science fiction" that I have read in some time. Embassytown is mind-numbing--BORING. The characterizations remain tacked and detached, the reader given no real concern for character fates or Embassytown itself, which never becomes the type of environment that has helped build Mieville's reputation, mostly reduced to the pomp and manners of the halls of aristocratic drama.

Embassy town will challenge, and I welcome that in a novel, but here, all of the world building hoops sometimes feel like Mieville is either being vague at the expense of the reader, or sometimes even showing off his imagination at the expense of story. To be clear, it's a plodding narrative, with nothing much happening as story until nearly midway through the novel. I would expect a grand payoff for such pacing, but it never really comes, the characters and relationships always just out of reach, their fates never more than story bumps to page through.

I appreciate the cleverness of the premise, to create such an unusual world of "Language". It's elaborate and alien, and that is the point, I think (why you will keep reading). On the other hand, it's entirely dry, or lacking the wonder, or any sense of "fun", that I would expect from such a story. As action goes, most takes place in the Staff(government) halls and pomp of Embassytown. So much to play with, and yet, so little play.

Immersing, like most of the story, is "told" to the reader, but hardly experienced in any manner that is entertaining. The Hosts, never described in such a way that my (very visual) head could make any reasoned guess regarding their appearance. Sex with clones, yet another detached experience that doesn't earn any more thought than a mild amusement. All examples that build, one after another, to form my opinion.

This is apparently what Mieville wants do, play everything off as matter-of-fact stuff, but I feel this does nothing more than make the reading of the material bland, ho-hum--what's next. Ideas alone do not make a novel, and they don't make for a good story told well. I've heard great things about China Mieville, and this book was exasperating and disappointing on a storytelling level. I expected better from the guy's reputation.

This is the kind of book that literary readers like to read and pretend that they are reading science fiction. Yes, it is science fiction, but to me, it's the pandering kind and, for some reason, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I know there are better novels (classic and contemporary) that deserve such "literary SF" praise.

Again, I certainly admire the imagination necessary to construct the premise and the world of language. It's a considered effort and will undoubtedly charm a lot of readers. I just wish Mieville got a little drunk with his characters and had some fun. ...more

Like · see review

Jun 05, 2011 Richelle rated it really liked it

Once things got going, I couldn't put it down! I have a keen interest in language and how it relates to the mind and consciousness, so I found this book fascinating. The book revolves around the method humans have cobbled together to speak to a group of aliens who are drastically different from humans in the way they think and communicate. Their speech goes beyond sound, and in fact, simply creating the same sound artificially will not make words understandable to them. Highly recommended!

(safe ...more

Like · see review