The Sword and Laser discussion
Who else has read Perdido Street Station?
date
newest »
newest »
Micah wrote: "
Perdido Street StationWhen discussing a top SF&F book list Tom and Veronica it sounded like neither had read "Perdido Street Station" by Ch..."
I'm a big fan of Mieville. He mixes just the right amount of politics and weirdness for my taste. His recent Iron Council is my favorite so far.
Currently reading (one of about seven books going right now). I'm about 70% through and I'm enjoying it. I have to say that my vocabulary is being expanded with this one.
I am (sort of) reading it. I stalled out about half way through when the story seemed to take a left turn and **SPOILERS** a major character was being tortured. I look at it and think of going back to it, but I guess a I am just not ready yet.
Mod
Perdido Street StationWhen discussing a top SF&F book list Tom and Veronica it sounded like neither had read "Perdido Street Station" by Ch..."
It's on my To-Read list!
I've read both Perdido Street Station and The Scar. Loved them both.
I liked it but I thought it was a little too long. The front half of the book and the back half seemed to be quite different and I thought it left a lot of things unresolved.
I've read all of Mieville's (anybody know the proper pronunciation? mee-AY-vil?) New Crobuzon books and I love each of them. I really dig the world he's created and the atmosphere in those books. Also, I have to admit I do enjoy the political angle he takes. Sort of a gothic, steampunk version of socialism I guess. I can see how his books may not be everybody's cup of tea but they certainly are mine. I know he's written a couple of non-Crobuzon books since The Iron Council but I can't wait for a new book set in that world.
Read it. Loved it. Have read all of Mieville's books, he's one of the best!
I know this thread is a month old, but io9 showed me that China Mieville is the first author to win 3 Arthur C. Clarke Awards. I first read Mieville in a short story in The Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraftin which he wrote an awesome story. I really enjoyed Perdido's new world, new races, and new magic. However, I loved The Scar and Iron Council was the first book in a long time that I had ever sat down with the intention of reading a little bit, then going out with friends; but I wasn't able to put it down until the last page was finished.
Couldn't finish Perdido after about 100 pages.
I tried twice to get into it.Both times, after merely 20 pages or so, I felt it was too much work to get through. He just doesn't jibe with me.
I suggest we nominate either Perdido Street Station or The City & The City as follow-up to The Windup-Girl.
Jorg wrote: "I suggest we nominate either Perdido Street Station or The City & The City as follow-up to The Windup-Girl."I think Perdido can be hit or miss. I loved it, but in analysis, I think I loved it most for all of the new concepts and forms of magic it introduced. Since all of his books are pretty stand-alone, I'd recommend The Scar or Iron Council. Reading Perdido isn't really a pre-requisite to understanding the others.
Ix wrote: I think Perdido can be hit or miss. I loved..."Good point, Ix. If there are no dependencies among the Crobuzon-based books we could simply read any of them.
China has just won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke award for the third time so I guess it's suitable to choose one of his books as our group read for May.
What do you guys think?
If you want nobody to read along, or for it to take ages, go for Perdido Street Station. If you want to make it easy for people to read along, go for The City and The City. Both are decent, but I much preferred The City and The City. The length was a big factor in this.
I just read The City and The City, so let's read Perdido Street Station instead. I was just surprised that China was a man. Beside that, I'm still not sure what I thought. It was like I liked the idea of it but not sure he pulled it off. I'd love to discuss it with a bigger group. Okay, we can do The City and The City (plus I think it was on the io9 list that Veronica was reading through).
I'm reading The City and The City right now and so far I think it's excellent. Of course this kind of post-modern fantasy noir is pretty much made for my reading sensibilities. Early Paul Auster meets M. John Harrison. Or something. The new Jeff Vandermeer, Finch, excites me for the same reasons. (Not to mention it being the continuation of the whole Ambergris thing.)
I've read both but i think PSS is a much better representation of Mieville's writing than The C & the C which was a totally new subject for Mieville. He actually wrote it for his mother who was dying at the time and she was really into crime fiction. It's an amazing book but if it hadn't been for his mom i don't think it's something he would have otherwise ever written
Amanda wrote: "I've read both but i think PSS is a much better representation of Mieville's writing than The C & the C which was a totally new subject for Mieville. He actually wrote it for his mother who was dy..."That explains a lot. The crime part seemed to be the confusing element - I loved the idea and the setting.
Does anyone else find it strange that Mieville keeps winning the Arthur C. Clarke award? I mean, where's the space elevator??
I read Perdido Street Station about two years ago, and enjoyed it well enough. I wouldn't have thought it was a particularly difficult read, but I was on vacation at the time, which may have skewed my perspective.The best thing I can say about this book is that even after all of this time I remember it so clearly. Different scenes will pop up for me out of nowhere, like half-forgotten dreams, and I'll find myself surprised. The writing must have been remarkably creative and powerful, to stick that long...
Mieville's books are thaumaturgical.
I've never read any of his stuff, but just picked up The City & The City yesterday to give it a try.
I think after finishing this book I would be able to score 200 points more on the Language portion of the SAT.
Mod
Awesome! If you love this book, then you'll adore The Scar and Iron Council. Uther Doul, a character in The Scar, has to be one of my favorite characters in any story. What David said above rang true and made me think. Reading any of these books does not wrap things up in a tidy way. When I finish a Mieville book, I'm left with more questions than have been answered; but in a good way.
For me, I realize that half the story told was told to me by my own imagination. It's not often that a book makes me lay it down, stare into space, and force me to daydream about the things that I've just read. There are so many concepts and possibilities left floating around in your brain that your mind keeps processing the book long after the last sentence in the story is read. That's my thoughts on Mieville, anyway.
Veronica wrote: "Just started it yesterday! Loving it so far, it's so... fantastical."Cool. I suggest we wrap up The Wind-Up Girl then (it's been two months since we started reading) and make it official that Perdido Street Station is our new 'Book of the Month'.
Maybe China Miéville would be available for an interview on the podcast?
Hmm, I have to say, that when I read the description of this one back when we were choosing the book from the io9 list, I didn't think this one sounded all that interesting to me. But now seeing the reviews here, I have to wonder. Unfortunately, I'm not even remotely ready to read it now, I'm still slogging through Infinite Jest and would like to finish that before getting into any other "deep" books.
It's a 2 credit title on Audible. For me it really needs to be a sure thing to burn 2 credits on.
Perdido Street Station is a hell of a book, but not particularly deep or challenging. Yes, it's thought provoking, but not as much of a slog as it may sound. Most novels read like kiddie books compared to Infinite Jest, anyway.
Mod
Cool. I suggest we wrap up The Wind-Up Girl then (it's been two months since we started reading) and make it ..."
Tom and I already had one in mind, but I think Perdido Street will definitely be in the cards for the near future.
I read the 1st chapter of Ian McDonald's Ares Express, and it seemed to have a similar style to Perdido.
Finally finished PSS, thought was was slightly better than ok. It touched on so many different races and technologies with out getting to in depth into most of them. I feel like many of the minor races could have been left out as they are never gone into in detail.Great story, good plot, could have taken some of the depth out and gone into detail on the main characters a little more.
Just my thoughts
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Infinite Jest (other topics)Perdido Street Station (other topics)
Iron Council (other topics)
The Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft (other topics)
Perdido Street Station (other topics)
More...
When discussing a top SF&F book list Tom and Veronica it sounded like neither had read "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville. Who else has read (and enjoyed) this rather dark Steampunk-adjacent book?