|
I think it is pretty cool how everyone has their own favourite of Miéville's work. Mine changes around but currently it is The City & The City. The setting is so good unique but not as fantastical as Bas-Lag which seems like it would be more challenging to pull off convincingly, which he does in spades. Now I want to read it again asap!
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 09:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 07:29 |
|
|
I do like being one of the only three people here who liked Kraken. That novel was radical.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 16:14
|
|
|
I like it a lot, probably my second or third favorite Miéville novel. It's just that The Scar is better.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 16:56
|
|
|
My top three would be Perdido Street Station, Embassytown and Railsea. But i like all his books apart from Kraken.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 18:24
|
|
|
I've been re-reading The City and The City and I'm getting my head turned around. On my first read, I came to the conclusion that there was something 'mystical' with the two cities, or maybe quantum theory-esque about the separation. I thought that the total and alter areas were superimposed on each other, and that crosshatched areas were kind of dreamlike. Reviews I've read from pretty big sources also seem to think this -saying that people from the other city appear hazy to each other. However, on this read through, I've formed the opinion that the two cities are both in the same reality, and that without the entirely human and psychological conditioning, the two would be completely visible to each other. The areas that are total are basically just "neighbourhoods people like us don't go to" in the real world. I grew up in Belfast during the Troubles and this strikes me pretty soundly. The peace walls, the separate communities with their own traditions, colours and foods, the sides of Belfast very much seem like the cities in the book. Is there something late-book that changes this and explains my confusion in my previous reading/the critics' readings? This seems a fairly critical thing to have misunderstood the first time round...
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 18:29
|
|
|
saladin posted:I've been re-reading The City and The City and I'm getting my head turned around. Your new theory is the one I came to when I read the book, that the population is split and conditioned to seeing only their subset of society. Then there is no need to assume any supernatural weirdness happening and the book becomes a kind of dystopian psychology story. Is there anything supernatural in the book? I honestly can't remember.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 18:45
|
|
|
There is nothing supernatural.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 18:46
|
|
|
saladin posted:I've been re-reading The City and The City and I'm getting my head turned around. Yeah, your second thought is correct. There's nothing particularly "magical" about Beszel and Ul Qoma, they are the same city but also different cities existing on the same ground. The other city may appear "hazy" to citizens in one city, but that's a purely psychological thing rather than an actual physical manifestation. Borlu even physically sees a woman across the city lines in the very first chapter, for example, and forces himself to erase her from his memory. Beige posted:Is there anything supernatural in the book? I honestly can't remember. No, and in fact it specifically goes against that by having the mythical city of Orciny be exactly that: a myth. Cpt. Mahatma Gandhi fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Jan 13, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 18:48
|
|
|
Yeah that is why I like the book so much, no "crutch" of "well, magic!" To hand wave stuff. It all knits together very convincingly, albeit perhaps far fetched. Plus it is a solid procedural on top of that!
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 18:57
|
|
|
The fact that it isn't a fantasy novel at all is one of the better plot twists I've seen in a fantasy nov- poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2015 20:16
|
|
|
Yep, I always like characterizing it as social science fiction because of that, it's really unique.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2015 02:22
|
|
|
Much as I didn't like TC&TC, thinking it through in that logic makes it a few steps better; I'd just rather go read some Lem or some other batshit Polish or Czech or whoever author that China was aping. And I've said here several times that Iron Council is still my favorite (haven't read Embassytown or Railsea), even without knowing in-depth socialist/labourist history. It's just this crazy weird-western-final-fantasy-role-playing-campaign-gone-wrong aesthetic with all the failed revolution and politics and everything layered underneath it. That, and the way you could read the Tesh war as any of the attacks London has ever suffered (also, Spiral loving Jacobs).
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2015 04:50
|
|
|
SaviourX posted:(also, Spiral loving Jacobs). Yeah, this.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2015 10:18
|
|
|
How China Mieville books make you feel:  Stolen from the funny pictures thread.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2015 11:30
|
|
|
Benson Cunningham posted:I do like being one of the only three people here who liked Kraken. That novel was radical. It was definitely neat. It had a lot of really funny and entertaining bits even if all the characters could have neatly fit into Gaimen's "Neverwhere" mythology. I'll never stop loving the teleporter haunted by ghosts of himself it's one of the more brilliant idea's I've ever seen.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2015 20:41
|
|
|
Nevvy Z posted:I'll never stop loving the teleporter haunted by ghosts of himself it's one of the more brilliant idea's I've ever seen. I think every nerd has considered this in one form or another so it's really exciting to see it play out in a book. That MIeville is the one doing it only makes it that much better/weirder.
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2015 21:48
|
|
|
I hate that! That's the only thing China Mieville ever wrote that made me feel smarter than him  e: it's still a pretty well written and amusing concept though
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2015 03:02
|
|
|
Let's not forget his Dial H comicbook series, it may not have lasted long, but it was still really good.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2015 19:02
|
|
|
Benson Cunningham posted:I do like being one of the only three people here who liked Kraken. That novel was radical. I liked Kraken pretty well, too. loving Goss and Subby are perhaps the best written deeply creepy unstoppable murderers (murderer, really) I've read in a long while, and whilst I felt the plot was a little incomprehensible at times, it knocked along nicely. it was fun.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2015 21:19
|
|
|
Really? I enjoy most of Kraken, but Goss and Subby always felt pretty underwhelming to me. All the other characters try to build them up and in the end they just don't deliver. Maybe I'm spoiled by the way Gaiman handled the assassin duo in Neverwhere. Now those guys were badass.
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2015 22:06
|
|
|
Alternately, I remember Goss and Subby, while I remember almost nothing from Neverwhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2015 03:58
|
|
|
anilEhilated posted:Really? I enjoy most of Kraken, but Goss and Subby always felt pretty underwhelming to me. All the other characters try to build them up and in the end they just don't deliver. Apparently, I really should get round to reading Neverwhere.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 00:25
|
|
|
Goss and Subby felt like they'd walked right out of Neverwhere and into Mieville's London. Followers or perhaps brothers to Croup and Vandemar.thespaceinvader posted:Apparently, I really should get round to reading Neverwhere. Definitely. The radio play is brilliant (I think it was originally written as a radio play? Anthony Stewart-Head is just great), and the graphic novel is pretty good too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 00:32
|
|
|
I have to drive five hours from where I live in New York's North Country to Philadelphia for a final interview on Sunday, and drive back on Monday. I need something to listen to with my free Audible credit. Should I get Perdido Street Station? I listened to a sample and I dig the narrator's voice and pseudo-British accent.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 04:12
|
|
|
If it's the one by John Lee he does a great job bringing it to life.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 04:33
|
|
|
MeLKoR posted:If it's the one by John Lee he does a great job bringing it to life. Uh, this John Lee?
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 05:51
|
|
|
No.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 05:59
|
|
|
The Supreme Court posted:Definitely. The radio play is brilliant (I think it was originally written as a radio play? Anthony Stewart-Head is just great), and the graphic novel is pretty good too. The BBC series is the best version in my opinion. I remember not liking the comic book, because the character designs were kind of embarrassing.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 08:58
|
|
|
The TV series (or at least its script) came first! Then Gaiman wrote the novel. The comic was pretty bad. The black guy was literally black in it. Like, #000000. The TV series was super low budget but pretty fun. Terrible music though. That opening credits music haunts me to this day. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Jan 17, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2015 09:15
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:The comic was pretty bad. The black guy was literally black in it. Like, #000000.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2015 11:52
|
|
|
Door also looked completely silly with that face tattoo and the artists insistence on always focusing on her large clevage. Perhaps i am just biased because the BBC series is the first time i experienced Neverwhere, it may have had a small budget, but there are some really good actors in it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2015 18:11
|
|
|
Avshalom posted:Wasn't he literally just a pure black human-shaped silhouette with a pair of floating lips in the middle? I thought he was actually described like that in the book. It's been a couple years, so I could be completely wrong. I'm about halfway through Perdido Street Station as narrated by John Lee (about chapter 33), and I'm really enjoying it so far. Mieville has a great way with words, and I especially like his names. He sure does love his adverbs, though!
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2015 02:03
|
|
|
Avshalom posted:Wasn't he literally just a pure black human-shaped silhouette with a pair of floating lips in the middle? And eyes, and wrapped in frilly jacket and pants, but yeah, solid #000 silhouette. I'm pretty sure that he was described just about everywhere, except the comic, as Black-as-in-African rather than Black-as-in-dunked-in-India-Ink.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2015 23:29
|
|
|
I just started Un Lun Dun and it is just wall-to-wall whimsy. Enjoying it so far, wish he'd been writing when I was YA age.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 14:27
|
|
|
I didn't like that one but I suspect that's mostly because I read it translated into my language and there's no way it got the puns right. I figured the obvious ones like black windows out but there's so much more.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 14:39
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:I just started Un Lun Dun and it is just wall-to-wall whimsy. Enjoying it so far, wish he'd been writing when I was YA age.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 14:46
|
|
|
Forgall posted:Yeah, whimsy isn't bad. I'd like to see animated movie/series of it. Wow I bet I'm the billionth person to think this but this made me think what a shame it is Miyazaki retired before adapting a Miéville book. Although he probably wouldn't get dark enough for Bas Lag. E: although Monoke was pretty brutal/gory and Howl's moving castle had its  moments
priznat fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Jan 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2015 18:52
|
|
|
Naussica was Mieville-esque.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2015 02:25
|
|
|
Final blurb/jacket description thing for new collection: https://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/new-jacket-description-for-three-moments-of-an-explosion-stories/
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2015 04:05
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 07:29 |
|
|
quote:Firstly, it’s kind of interesting that there’s no mention of science fiction, fantasy, or even New Weird. It seems as though the publisher (Pan Macmillan) is attempting to market this book much more as literary fiction, albeit with a magical-realist flavour. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact, the more readers and acclaim this collection brings to Miéville’s work, the better. I just hope they haven’t held out on including anything too much in the realm of genre fiction, such as (and this is some wishful thinking) a new Bas-Lag story. This is probably what they are aiming for. The next Margaret Atwood/Michel Faber. If the collection isn't as big as hoped, my question is: What's China been doing that's kept him so busy? thehomemaster fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Feb 5, 2015 |
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2015 04:17
|
|