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Vanderdeath posted:I'm halfway through The Scar and I'm really enjoying it but something about the way Uther Doul is presented grates on me. I'm just not a fan of the mysterious swordsman with a magical sword and a monk's temperament. It's like the one thing that keeps me from enjoying the book totally. Uther Doul is what drove me up the wall in The Scar. It's the main reason I like Perdido Street Station and Iron Council more.
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Jan 31, 2014 05:25
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Yeah, he's got a purpose, and his sword loving rules and all, but the payoff is way too long in the making. But holy poo poo, when Bellis realizes why he was doing what he was doing... yes.
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Jan 31, 2014 10:52
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SaviourX posted:Yeah, he's got a purpose, and his sword loving rules and all, but the payoff is way too long in the making. I don't know, I recently reread The Scar, and I really appreciated how the book was just layers upon layers of intrigue. I rate The Scar as the best Bas-Lag book. Iron Council and Perdido Street Station have a straighter narrative and are therefore more accessible.
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Jan 31, 2014 12:06
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The Scar is my favorite Bas-Lag but I concede that's probably because I love the ocean and Mieville perfectly illustrates the frightening vastness of swimming with nothing below your feet for miles. Also Armada is awesome as a setting in general.
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Jan 31, 2014 13:30
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I still hate the ending to The Scar, it is a great book, but I would probably put it 5th or so when listing his best books.
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Jan 31, 2014 15:49
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Hedrigall posted:Aww, have there been bad reviews? I preordered Annihilation because I thought it sounded awesome. From what I've heard, it's like an account of an expedition into the Cacotopic Stain. I haven't heard any more than the back-of-the-book copy that's been used to promote it around the web. I mean, I know Vandermeer has the capability to wring something interesting from a basic premise like that, but I am worried that it won't be as thoroughly weird as his previous work since it seems to be getting marketed much more broadly. But that's probably just a reflex left over from my wannabe punk years. I'm still picking it up on release day.
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Jan 31, 2014 21:18
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Keep an eye on the Tor UK blog for a possible impending China Miéville announcement! Julie Crisp, Editorial Director for Tor (which is an imprint of Pan Macmillan), posted about some of this year's upcoming books... a list that is sadly devoid of Miéville (but that Rjurik Davidson book looks like it might scratch the Miéville itch a bit). But then in comments on that blog and twitter, she's been all winky-faced about the new China Miéville book. For e.g.: @julieacrisp posted:Of course, once everyone's read the post [...] I know what the question on everyone's lips will be...when will we publish a new China Miéville? Well I can tell you this much. I know. And I'll let YOU all know soon. ;-) Hopefully the drought will end soon 
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Feb 6, 2014 12:56
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I don't even know what's going on, I hate steampunk but I'm reading The Scar and it's real good 
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Feb 6, 2014 17:59
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Eau de MacGowan posted:I don't even know what's going on, I hate steampunk but I'm reading The Scar and it's real good Steampunk is only bad because people tried to make a whole subculture out of a concept that should max be a few novels and a handful of short stories.
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Feb 6, 2014 22:15
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Eau de MacGowan posted:I don't even know what's going on, I hate steampunk but I'm reading The Scar and it's real good Is it your first China Mieville book? lucky
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Feb 6, 2014 23:19
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If you don't like Uther Doul you can gently caress right off. High Cromlech would be the best place to read a book about ever.
Benson Cunningham fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Feb 8, 2014 |
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Feb 6, 2014 23:28
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Benson Cunningham posted:If you don't like Uther Doul you can gently caress right off. High Cromlech would be the best play to read a book about ever. But he's awesome anyhow.
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Feb 8, 2014 02:19
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He's awesome because he loses.
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Feb 8, 2014 19:06
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I think part of the fun with Uther is due to the fact that if it were a traditional swashbuckling adventure story he'd be the protagonist instead of a middle-aged librarian, and seeing the awesome-and-gets-everything-his-way Conan sort of character a step removed from the spotlight makes them look like jerks. Even if they do wield one of the neatest puns as a weapon. And didn't he actually secretly win via his time-harp thingummy?
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Feb 9, 2014 00:32
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Yeah, I may be misremembering but I thought that by the end Bellis figures that he's elaborately manipulated her and everyone else to undermine the Lovers' plan without having to openly oppose them himself, or something. Actually that was one of the things that I felt that I didn't really get about The Scar, why a guy with a magic sword who can basically do whatever the hell he wants would go to all the trouble of setting that up. Just to make life interesting, I guess? Anyways I've just been re-reading bits of the three Bas-Lag novels recently and some of the little ways that he ties them together are pretty amazing. I read them in chronological order so it's pretty cool to go back to Perdido Street Station and read a throwaway line in the chapter where Rudgutter & co. are walking past all the consulates in the station, mentioning that the Teshi ambassador typically chooses by tradition to live as a vagrant within New Crobuzon rather than occupy an office. 
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Feb 9, 2014 06:22
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Benson Cunningham posted:If you don't like Uther Doul you can gently caress right off. High Cromlech would be the best place to read a book about ever. I don't know, I finished The Scar a few days ago and I'm still not completely sold on Uther Doul. Thinking back, it makes sense why he did what he did but the payoff felt sort of anti-climatic. In fact, the entire novel felt like an excellent bit of world-building and character vignettes (Tanner Sack wound up becoming my favorite dude), but the titular Scar never really amounted to anything. I don't want to call it a MacGuffin but it left me a bit cold. Especially with all of the really neat things you hear about the Ghosthead Empire. Is Mieville really done with Bas-Lag or is he taking an extended break from it?
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Feb 9, 2014 08:11
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:It's Bes [Invisible Word][Invisible Word][Invisible Word] El.[/spoiler] I started checking after a while, and it happens every single time the name comes up, so it must be intentional. On the page it looks like a single space, so it's literally three words in the same space. thespaceinvader posted:I'm pretty sure it;s not. It's not even Bes El, it's Besźel, so what's happening there is probably that the kindle version doesn't handle the accent properly. The print version, it's definitely one word. Sorry. In the audiobook version they actually record the Bes and El separately and play them together at the same time. It is so loving cool.
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Feb 9, 2014 15:20
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Vanderdeath posted:I don't know, I finished The Scar a few days ago and I'm still not completely sold on Uther Doul. Thinking back, it makes sense why he did what he did but the payoff felt sort of anti-climatic. In fact, the entire novel felt like an excellent bit of world-building and character vignettes (Tanner Sack wound up becoming my favorite dude), but the titular Scar never really amounted to anything. I don't want to call it a MacGuffin but it left me a bit cold. Especially with all of the really neat things you hear about the Ghosthead Empire. It's similar with Perdido. Crisis energy essentially amounts to shining a light in the sky that attracts the Slake Moths. The coolest thing about Doul in my opinion is that without even knowing Isaac he completely proves him wrong. For all of Isaac's elevator speeches about crisis, Doul quietly actually *knows* how to make the wacko magicscience poo poo happen.
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Feb 9, 2014 20:35
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Vanderdeath posted:Is Mieville really done with Bas-Lag or is he taking an extended break from it? Apparently he really doesn't want to become the "Bas-Lag" guy and feel forced to do endless books in the same world. He's not sworn off it or anything though, so who knows. I don't mind so much, I really liked TC&TC and Embassytown. The Scar is still my favorite book by him though.
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Feb 9, 2014 22:08
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Dienes posted:In the audiobook version they actually record the Bes and El separately and play them together at the same time. It is so loving cool. Are you confusing TC&TC and Embassytown?
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Feb 9, 2014 22:29
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Hedrigall posted:Are you confusing TC&TC and Embassytown? I haven't heard the audio book but it wouldn't be unexpected for the name of the city from TC&TC to be handled like that. For Embassytown they would have to do that overdub thing for a lot of stuff, wouldn't they?
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Feb 9, 2014 22:45
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Hedrigall posted:Are you confusing TC&TC and Embassytown? Yes. Yes I am. Pay no attention to me.
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Feb 9, 2014 22:55
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Yeah, I was wondering how the audiobook of Embassytown would play out. Must be kinda hard to listen to.
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Feb 9, 2014 23:37
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Ok, super embarrassing. I confused Uther Doul with The Brucolac. The Brucolac is the best. Uther Dole I actually agree is kind of boring. I guess that also means it's time to reread The Scar.
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Feb 9, 2014 23:51
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I posted about this in the sci fi/fantasy thread, but if you're looking for a great new weird book, check out Dream London. It reminds me a bit of Finch, but better and more original in every possible way. I didn't particularly love Ambergris because it didn't feel as cohesive as Bas-Lag, and it mostly seemed like a poor man's Mieville, but Dream London gets everything VanderMeer got right and adds so much on top of it. Basically, London is slowly changing into a fantasy version of early 20th century of itself, the city is rearranging itself, people's personalities are changing, no one can seem to find their way out, and no one knows why these changes are happening. In all this, Captain James Wedderburn gets hired by an organization that calls itself The Cartel to figure out why these changes are happening and reverse them. I have about 10% of the book left, and it's been real exciting all the way through.
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Feb 10, 2014 00:07
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After deliberately putting it off for 2 years I've finally started re-reading Perdido Street Station. It's quite possibly my favourite book. Hello, New Crobuzon, old friend.
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Feb 12, 2014 12:22
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regularizer posted:I posted about this in the sci fi/fantasy thread, but if you're looking for a great new weird book, check out Dream London. It reminds me a bit of Finch, but better and more original in every possible way. I didn't particularly love Ambergris because it didn't feel as cohesive as Bas-Lag, and it mostly seemed like a poor man's Mieville, but Dream London gets everything VanderMeer got right and adds so much on top of it. Basically, London is slowly changing into a fantasy version of early 20th century of itself, the city is rearranging itself, people's personalities are changing, no one can seem to find their way out, and no one knows why these changes are happening. In all this, Captain James Wedderburn gets hired by an organization that calls itself The Cartel to figure out why these changes are happening and reverse them. I have about 10% of the book left, and it's been real exciting all the way through. Thanks for the recommendation; I love anything that's like Bas Lag. I wouldn't say VanderMeer/Ambergris is a poor man's Mieville/Bas Lag; I think they're just going for very different places with their storytelling. I feel that Ambergris is all about the ethnographic while Bas Lag is all about the narrative and wild, cool poo poo breaking down everywhere.
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Feb 13, 2014 02:02
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Anyone got a good New Weird YA recommendation? Not including Railsea. I want something with super strange mieville esque creatures with nothing more risqué than a Pratchett book. Basically I would like disc world set in new crobuzon.
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Feb 13, 2014 20:38
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I can't think of anything for that age level with really interesting monsters, but there are a handful of people associated with modern Weird fiction who have YA work: Kelly Link's Pretty Monsters is a short story collection marketed as YA, though at least half of the stories had appeared in regular genre publications. I don't recall anything too racy in it, and "The Specialist's Hat" is probably one of my favorite ghost stories. Margo Lanagan's short story collections have won YA fiction awards, though I've only read one of her stories. Nick Mamatas' Under My Roof has a teen protagonist and gets Pratchett-style funny at times, but it's probably his least Weird book.
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Feb 14, 2014 01:40
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BananaNutkins posted:Anyone got a good New Weird YA recommendation? Not including Railsea. What about Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.
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Feb 14, 2014 02:23
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Foundling by DM Cornish is a YA book in a Miéville-ish world with pretty excellent world building. I can't remember much of the plot though. Haven't read it's sequels either.
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Feb 14, 2014 02:24
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BananaNutkins posted:Anyone got a good New Weird YA recommendation? Not including Railsea. I quite enjoyed the series of books by Philip Reeve that started with Mortal Engines. It's probably not 100% weird fiction, but the whole mobile, predatory cities feeding on towns and hamlets thing is great.
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Feb 14, 2014 10:51
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withak posted:What about Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. Seconded, one of my favourite Mieville books and wickedly funny. For weird stories you can always do what I did as a teenager and go back to the old weird. Lovecraft et al tend not to have much in the way of the risqué, being basically Victorian, and the casual racism varies greatly from story to story so of you're worried about that it can be avoided. Actually done of the best weird stories I read as a teen were from an old anthology of Victorian ghost stories my Dad had. Not quite what you're after but the shorter ones seemed to avoid most of the pitfalls of Victorian over description. Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is another good shout. His short stories probably not so much.
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Feb 14, 2014 11:28
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Upon rereading The Scar, one thing that really bothers me is the way he tries to continue the whole "Who, but who, is this person lurking between dimensions with his statue?" schtick, even after it's revealed that it's Silas Fennec. Did Miéville finish those segments before the rest of the story, by any chance?
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Feb 14, 2014 12:57
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ulvir posted:Upon rereading The Scar, one thing that really bothers me is the way he tries to continue the whole "Who, but who, is this person lurking between dimensions with his statue?" schtick, even after it's revealed that it's Silas Fennec. Did Miéville finish those segments before the rest of the story, by any chance? I took it more to be a continuation of the style that he was using for those segments, to be honest. It makes more sense to me at least to have a uniform style across all those sequences than to abruptly change halfway through. It's part of the atmosphere of that particular artifact, I guess.
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Feb 14, 2014 16:57
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I finsihed The Scar. It started off really strongly, but it all got a bit too much for my taste. Now theres a mosquito man island! Now theres grindy salamander men! Now theres vampires! Now a massive navy has turned up and been repelled in a chapter! It felt like he was throwing more and more ideas at it rather than resolving the initial ideas/plots he established. They never even got to the fireworks factory! It's clear he's a good writer though. Is there any of his stuff that is more restrained/focused? edit: i should also add i am now sick of the word puissant/puissance Eau de MacGowan fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Feb 20, 2014 |
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Feb 20, 2014 17:31
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Eau de MacGowan posted:I finsihed The Scar. It started off really strongly, but it all got a bit too much for my taste. Now theres a mosquito man island! Now theres grindy salamander men! Now theres vampires! Now a massive navy has turned up and been repelled in a chapter! It felt like he was throwing more and more ideas at it rather than resolving the initial ideas/plots he established. They never even got to the fireworks factory! I would recommend Embassytown, it has the same sort of feel, but the world is more restrained.
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Feb 20, 2014 18:27
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Eau de MacGowan posted:I finsihed The Scar. It started off really strongly, but it all got a bit too much for my taste. Now theres a mosquito man island! Now theres grindy salamander men! Now theres vampires! Now a massive navy has turned up and been repelled in a chapter! It felt like he was throwing more and more ideas at it rather than resolving the initial ideas/plots he established. They never even got to the fireworks factory! ..should we tell him about Perdido?
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Feb 20, 2014 23:13
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It seemed like 'puissant' was used to refer to magical things, if I remember right, so I just kind of glossed over it as though it were standard industry jargon for Bas Lagians. Iron Council I think got a lot better with its prose style, but it's still pretty accelerationist as far as fantastic ideas go. Embassytown, The City & The City, and I suppose Railsea are more restrained in both their prose and the number of ideas they work with. Railsea's narrator rubbed some people the wrong way, but it's a pisstake on the old "armchair philosopher" sort of narrator, so I thought it was pretty effective in that light.
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Feb 21, 2014 01:55
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Yeah, I read an interview where he was like 'Well it's absolutely part of the fundamental concerns of the magickal folk that they, you know, have a specific vernacular, a certain inclination towards classification and that, that impinges upon them this necessity of naming their manipulation of the fundamental esssences around them, having a common shared language for it. It's purposeful.' And all I could think was nigga just call it magic and get the gently caress on.
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Feb 21, 2014 08:19
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