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anilEhilated posted:It's got much tighter plotting while keeping the amazingly hosed-up imagery Miéville built his reputation on. Probably the best Bas-Lag book, definitely my favorite of the three. good stuff. I love all the weird hosed up poo poo (poo poo being literal most of the time) are the "digging deeper" books in op picture still good to read? Kurtofan fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Aug 28, 2017 |
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Aug 28, 2017 21:06
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Everything of his except for King Rat and maybe Un Lun Dun is worth reading in my opinion. A lot of the stuff is written in different styles, though; for example, Kraken has a lot of intentional silliness and Embassytown is pretty hard SF.
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Aug 28, 2017 21:27
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Lunchmeat Larry posted:Embassytown is objectively his best novel because it's half left hand of darkness homage and half extensive Marxist analysis of linguistics Yup. I really ought to get around to The City & The City, it sounds like it operates in a similar way.
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Aug 28, 2017 23:12
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anilEhilated posted:Everything of his except for King Rat and maybe Un Lun Dun is worth reading in my opinion. A lot of the stuff is written in different styles, though; for example, Kraken has a lot of intentional silliness and Embassytown is pretty hard SF. King Rat is very obviously a "first author book" in that he tried to figure out his own writing. The whole drum'n'bass thing went a little overboard imo. I liked Un Lun Dun, including the very silly ending. I have a soft spot for Mievilles YA books. (I don't know if they technically are YA, but who cares about definitions anyway).
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Aug 29, 2017 07:43
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I especially enjoyed the point in PSS when the last remaining d&d character asks Isaac if he looted her friend's sweet gun. Iron Council is the best Bas-Lag novel though.
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Aug 29, 2017 07:57
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:I really ought to get around to The City & The City, it sounds like it operates in a similar way. It's one of my favorite books of his. I'd say it's similar in that it's theory jammed into fiction, but instead of Le Guinn and linguistics it's noir detective story and Foucault's panopticon.
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Aug 30, 2017 20:42
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If you haven't read October yet, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. It may be a super condensed take on the Russian revolution but it's a really good read.
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Oct 6, 2017 17:59
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I bounced pretty hard off PSS a couple times — will I lose anything by starting with Embassytown?
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Oct 7, 2017 02:26
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mdemone posted:I bounced pretty hard off PSS a couple times — will I lose anything by starting with Embassytown? Which is kind of sad because if you end up loving Embassytown there's nothing else Mieville does that's quite like it. But also nice because you're in for some novel experiences if you keep going with him. If you want to keep going with his Bas Lag series you could probably even go straight to The Scar to see if you like it any better. You wouldn't miss out on much as all the Bas Lag books are pretty self contained. Though if you want to go on to Iron Council you might want to give Perdido Street Station another go just because PSS describes the city in much more detail. The Scar doesn't take place in New Crobuzon so it's not an issue.
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Oct 7, 2017 02:33
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OP got me really into the idea of the Bas-Lag books, and coincidentally I found Perdido Street Station (in pretty bad shape, still wrinkled though) at my library book sale. I'm going to start it today or tomorrow, but I can't help but think: China Mieville looks like a complete douche. It's all in the multitude of big earrings he wears on one ear, but it's enough to really not want to spend 10+ hours in his head reading PSS. Someone please tell me not to judge a book based on it's author's douchey fashion choices
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Oct 29, 2017 16:47
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Don't be an idiot.
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Oct 29, 2017 16:53
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chimi changa posted:OP got me really into the idea of the Bas-Lag books, and coincidentally I found Perdido Street Station (in pretty bad shape, still wrinkled though) at my library book sale. I'm going to start it today or tomorrow, but I can't help but think: China Mieville looks like a complete douche. It's all in the multitude of big earrings he wears on one ear, but it's enough to really not want to spend 10+ hours in his head reading PSS. I was gonna effort post, but it's such a dumb and disingenuous request that I can't be bothered. Read it or don't. If authors have to pass some visual inspection for you to read them, that's your weird hang up.
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Oct 29, 2017 17:05
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chimi changa posted:OP got me really into the idea of the Bas-Lag books, and coincidentally I found Perdido Street Station (in pretty bad shape, still wrinkled though) at my library book sale. I'm going to start it today or tomorrow, but I can't help but think: China Mieville looks like a complete douche. It's all in the multitude of big earrings he wears on one ear, but it's enough to really not want to spend 10+ hours in his head reading PSS. Don't judge a book based on it's author's douchey fashion choices1. 1Unless its Felsic Current.
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Oct 29, 2017 17:11
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Dienes posted:Don't judge a book based on it's author's douchey fashion choices1.  He looks like a straight shooter to me
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Oct 29, 2017 17:35
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Dienes posted:Don't judge a book based on it's author's douchey fashion choices1. Patrick Rothfuss approves.
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Oct 29, 2017 19:30
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Yup. I got into mieville after a bougie friend and big fantasy fan complained about how it didn’t make any sense, and don’t regret it at all.
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Oct 30, 2017 07:26
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chimi changa posted:OP got me really into the idea of the Bas-Lag books, and coincidentally I found Perdido Street Station (in pretty bad shape, still wrinkled though) at my library book sale. I'm going to start it today or tomorrow, but I can't help but think: China Mieville looks like a complete douche. It's all in the multitude of big earrings he wears on one ear, but it's enough to really not want to spend 10+ hours in his head reading PSS. Considering Mieville's most notable fashion choices are black t-shirts and being super jacked, that's a helluva bad take.
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Oct 30, 2017 19:50
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I prefer my fantasy sex scenes to be written by fat men with gnarly beards, tyvm.
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Oct 30, 2017 23:10
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ninguno posted:I prefer my fantasy sex scenes to be written by fat men with gnarly beards, tyvm. 
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Oct 30, 2017 23:22
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Hey everyone I really wish there was a new novel
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Oct 30, 2017 23:40
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Dirty Frank posted:women with bowl cuts Don't kinkshame this man.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:25
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*~*~attractive men~*~* can’t write my critically acclaimed, well thought out loving art fantasy/sci-fi novels. Only GRRM can give me what I need. What is wrong with you? You’ve actually gone a step farther than judging a book by its cover.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:33
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Welp I started it yesterday
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Oct 31, 2017 03:36
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I recall seeing an interview with Mieville where he said "dude, this is my apotheosis" in answer to a question about great big monsters showing up in a book about socialism and railways, which is possibly the most Mieville thing ever.
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Oct 31, 2017 10:50
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Mordja posted:Considering Mieville's most notable fashion choices are black t-shirts and being super jacked, that's a helluva bad take. Eh, black t-shirt is an obvious hallmark for a trendy nerd. And Mieville is hardly superjacked, but rather like a dude that actually goes to the gym in a while. I am kinda amazed by all people describing him as looking superfit, when in reality he looks like a dude that exercises. But I guess it says something about the people calling him superjacked and how they look at training.
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Oct 31, 2017 11:02
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At this point I wanna see who can bench more, if he can't do more than 185 then he's a literary loving hack Chapter 1 (in PSS) was pretty gross, I love it
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Oct 31, 2017 12:33
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I first read PSS while eating a huge spicy slimy Portuguese chicken burger. Needless to say I finished the book but not the burger.
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Oct 31, 2017 21:15
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Cardiac posted:Eh, black t-shirt is an obvious hallmark for a trendy nerd. Neil Gaiman circa the mid-90s posted:...seeing that the greater part of my wardrobe is black [It's a sensible colour. It goes with anything. Well, anything black.] But we all know that they're all probably just aping one of the Beatles or something.
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Nov 1, 2017 06:47
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Okay, so I have a serious question about China Miéville's bibliography. See, I read Perdido Street Station a few years back at this point, and frankly, while the first half of the book seems really neat and full of promise, the entire second half turned out to be such a relentless cavalcade of increasingly horrible poo poo happening to the main characters and the ending such a brutal, unflinching downer that it honestly caused my steady diet of novels to dry up to a trickle, and I've only slowly been getting back into the habit recently. Since I never saw any real warnings about the downer ending in any reviews (either before or after reading it), I really have to ask directly if any/all of his other stories are like that or what, because while I really liked Miéville's general style, I'm frankly not a fan of getting invested in a story only to watch it take what seems like a left turn, waltz itself right into hell, and burn down to a cinder before my very eyes.
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Nov 3, 2017 10:25
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The Scar probably has the most hopeful ending of the Bas-Lag books. I can't think of many of his non-Bas-Lag novels that have super downer endings. It's really just PSS and Iron Council. Edit: The Scar definitely takes several massive left turns near the end but at least for the protagonist there's a very hopeful ending.
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Nov 3, 2017 10:29
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Embassytown has a wonderful ending, I think. But then I really love that book. I've re-read Scar quite a few times, and IC, but I can never seem to make it through PSS again...
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Nov 3, 2017 11:17
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I think The Scar has the worst ending of all his books, but that is because i really can't the type of ending it had with all the twists and turns.
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Nov 3, 2017 12:58
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Oasx posted:I think The Scar has the worst ending of all his books, but that is because i really can't the type of ending it had with all the twists and turns. It's weird. The ending of The Scar totally poisoned my opinion of the book. It's my least favourite of his books or close to. Also the protagonist is extremely boring and miserable to read from the perspective of. Didn't know til I read this thread that it was so rated and I was in the minority by far. I feel like I ought to re-read it, but I very rarely re-read anything so I dunno if I actually will.
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Nov 3, 2017 14:22
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Kraken is mostly positive with a slight metaphysical downer.
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Nov 3, 2017 14:24
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Jeza posted:It's weird. The ending of The Scar totally poisoned my opinion of the book. It's my least favourite of his books or close to. Also the protagonist is extremely boring and miserable to read from the perspective of. The Scar owns and is his best book except for Embassytown. The ending is great too. PSS has a lackluster ending, not because of being a downer but because the story kinda randomly veers into debating the ethics of rape and cultural punishment.
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Nov 3, 2017 15:17
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Doctor Bishop posted:Okay, so I have a serious question about China Miéville's bibliography. See, I read Perdido Street Station a few years back at this point, and frankly, while the first half of the book seems really neat and full of promise, the entire second half turned out to be such a relentless cavalcade of increasingly horrible poo poo happening to the main characters and the ending such a brutal, unflinching downer that it honestly caused my steady diet of novels to dry up to a trickle, and I've only slowly been getting back into the habit recently. Since I never saw any real warnings about the downer ending in any reviews (either before or after reading it), I really have to ask directly if any/all of his other stories are like that or what, because while I really liked Miéville's general style, I'm frankly not a fan of getting invested in a story only to watch it take what seems like a left turn, waltz itself right into hell, and burn down to a cinder before my very eyes. Bas lag is a really loving depressing setting and he doesn't pull punches about that. His other books are far less so, especially, as mentioned, Embassytown.
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Nov 3, 2017 15:40
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I don't think any of the endings are remotely as depressing as Perdido Street Station. I understand that people didn't think the Scar had a satisfying ending, even though I loved it, but it wasn't so... uncomfortably troubling as PSS. I think there's a strong distinction that should be drawn between a "bad" ending and a "miserable" ending. The ending of PSS was pretty good in a lot of ways but holy hell was it miserable. Iron Council had a great mix of emotions but for me the potential more than made up for what was (in-universe) disappointing about it. It really worked for me and is the best ending I could imagine to a book like that.
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Nov 4, 2017 05:20
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But ultimately the “good guys” won in PSS by killing the moths, sure they were still being hunted, but they accomplished their goals. That is what makes it the most satisfying ending to me.
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Nov 4, 2017 07:26
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Cardiac posted:Eh, black t-shirt is an obvious hallmark for a trendy nerd.
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Nov 4, 2017 15:27
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ZeroCount posted:I have made my peace with the fact that he may never write anything as fantastic as Embassytown ever again. As far as peaks go, it's a hard one to complain about.
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Nov 4, 2017 16:24
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