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How far did you get, roughly? A thing to keep in mind about a lot of his writing, especially Perdido since it was one of his first and is so weird, is that he likes to front-load exposition so once the plot gets going, it can really get going. So, often, people will feel it kind of plodding along in the beginning, they read in dribs and drabs, and then the plot starts moving and they have to marathon the book and can't put it down. (Sample size of me and a dozen or so people I've gotten hooked.) It always felt like a roller coaster : you're slowly going up this gently caress off big hill and then WOOOOSH! So, like, if Isaac is still loving around with the flying animals, hang in there buddy, it's worth it later. It also helps if you are interested in the setting but that's just taste.
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May 29, 2015 00:37
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I mean. You have pretty constant references to him throughout. Not specific but it's hardly out of nowhere and they're designed to pique your interest. I was 12 and got it so... 
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May 30, 2015 02:24
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My copy got delivered to my parents' house by mistake. Guess I know where I'm going this weekend.
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Aug 4, 2015 22:20
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O holy poo poo Säcken. 
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Aug 10, 2015 20:39
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I'm sorry you don't get Classical references? It was a pretty cute story. (Finishing The Design now and will report eventually)
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Aug 13, 2015 05:19
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Finished the whole book. I'm gonna jump in on the conversation eventually and do a proper response to each story soonish, but in the mean time : I'll become thread pariah, but I really liked it a lot, especially the lack of endings. It seemed kind of rough and sketchy in a good way if that makes sense? I mean, yeah, I'm with you The Dusty Hat and poo poo needed another pass, but I actually enjoyed how Watching God and Estate and whatever were less stories and more like a Music Video Written Down that Made You Have Feels. Does that make any sense or is it crazy person rambling? The trailers are kind of like a microcosm I think (for me at least). I don't really get them but I have a strong reaction and I seriously wonder if that might not be the point. (Also a pretty strong fear/suspicion that I should get a joke but I don't so I feel vaguely embarrassed. So possibly I'm rationalizing not getting it as the point but I'm pretty smart and god drat it Miéville I'm in an existential crisis thanks)
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Aug 13, 2015 06:25
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People really like Three Moments more than Looking for Jake??? I loved Säcken and The Dowager of Bees don't get me wrong but Looking for Jake owned bones, guys.
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Sep 17, 2015 13:18
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Huh. Maybe I'm weird then. I loved Foundations, The Ball Room, Familiar, Details, The Tain, etc. Even that weird Christmas one.
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Sep 17, 2015 14:22
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Ask him if we're ever gonna get that encyclopedia of Bas Lag.
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Dec 16, 2015 20:28
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I have literally no idea how to process that or how I feel about it. Huh. (Also I think some bits of Three Moments were basically meant for that so their lack of inclusion is weird.)
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Jan 12, 2016 04:37
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Collingswood does indeed own very much. Also if you liked Un Lun Dun, you're gonna love Railsea.
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Jan 31, 2016 21:54
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Sorry, double post but this is a slow-moving thread : I finally got some uninterrupted time to just read and have a glass or four of wine and eat through This Census Taker. Short trip report? I have absolutely no clue about what half the poo poo that happened is, but I was thoroughly engaged the whole time and I think that's the point? I look forward to lending it out and discussing it with friends. But anyone on the fence : it's like 200 pages. Just read it. It's not like it's a commitment and it's thoroughly gripping if ???????  /10, but was happy the whole time.
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Feb 1, 2016 05:52
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Has he just been sitting on all this? What's with the famine then feast?
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Mar 5, 2016 06:20
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Pay me to buy and ship it? I mean my copy's already pre-ordered and all set, but I could swing by a bookstore I guess.
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Aug 7, 2016 23:55
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Soup scene?
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Feb 15, 2017 19:59
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Huh. Of all the poo poo in that book, that's what got to you?!? Like yeah that's pretty gross, sure, but like compared to : Brain sucking moths. A description of Yagharek's wings being sawed off. Literal demons. That bit in the slaughterhouse. Anything with The Weaver but especially when he cuts everyone's ears off and arranges them into the shape of a pair of scissors. O jesus like any of the ReMade but looking at you ReMade brothel section. Freaky deaky bug sexy times. The Construct Council's weird meat puppet. And probably a lot of other stuff I'm forgetting. Like I love that book, but there is some super gross stuff in it. The soup thing didn't even register in comparison.
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Feb 15, 2017 20:57
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canis minor posted:The only scene that made me feel ill was what happened in the end to Lin - the tragism of entire situation. That was basically my take so I was surprised. Obviously you guys are welcome to be affected differently by novels we all like enough to post in a thread about, of course, I just was taken aback. PS if that was a problem don't read Säcken. You'll probably die or something. PPS That's not smuglord dumb poo poo ; legit that story made me horrified by the concept of bags
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Feb 16, 2017 04:14
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O yeah Säcken is the poo poo. Owns bones. Sadly the German isn't perfect but I could tell he tried.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:24
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I have literally no idea how you would try to represent any of that visually, but I'll be very cautiously optimistic, I guess? Kind of surprised that of all his work that was the one to get a TV adaptation ; it seems like they're picking the most difficult of any of them.
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Apr 19, 2017 01:45
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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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The one thing I'd mention about The Last Days of New Paris is that you really need to be able to GIS the artwork he's referencing, at least if you're anything like me. I tried reading it on the subway once where I didn't have cell service and it drove me half-crazy.
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Nov 29, 2017 19:47
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Uhh can I introduce you to any parts of anything where he talks about class issues? Like as someone who literally has his PhD monograph and agrees with him politically, chunks of Iron Council and Looking for Jake are a bit much. I really want to like Iron Council but my main reaction has always been calm down. Please. No. Stop. You’re being a bit much.
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Apr 13, 2018 06:26
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Yeah but his name is unrelated. Double checked it on wikipedia (it was picked purely because of how it sounds), and it turns out his mom is from New York. Didn’t expect that.
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Jun 11, 2018 00:11
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Drone Jett posted:If he thinks it’s a good idea how much of an expert can he be. I wait with bated breath for your well-reasoned and certainly thoroughly sourced critique of Marxism that would rival the thought that goes into a dissertation. "Enh what the gently caress you got a PhD in neurobiology? Look smarty pants, maybe don't talk about some brain stuff in your novels. I have Opinions that I got from huffing my own farts and I know what I'm talking about. Also using like art or some poo poo to talk about real issues is dumb and I just want more loving the bug woman."
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Mar 2, 2019 06:48
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Drone Jett posted:Dude, don’t get syphilis, you’ll regret it. I'd honestly be surprised if you actually know what Marxism is. Like it's a flawed ideology, sure, (so is capitalism) but you sound like an ignorant 1950's stereotype. Also your syphilis example is dumb ; this is more like a doctor (i.e. an educated professional on a topic*) telling you to get a vaccine. And you saying that's dumb because of [??????]. *O wait it is. Cause he's a Dr. Mieville. While PhD's often get bit overly hyped as some magic people, they're legit people who have spent the vast majority of their life studying a topic. No you aren't going to blow them out of the water with your hot-takes. They had that thrown at them for several years by smarter, more informed people than you before they got anywhere near this. You idiot.
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Mar 3, 2019 09:09
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That's very true but I'd give a toe to watch someone play an even B-tier adaptation of the Brucolac.
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May 17, 2019 03:08
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It would finally give me the duncleosteus action scene I've always wanted to see. (O come on we know what a "bonefish" is, don't lie.) Also now I'm imagining Dominic West as Tanner Sack and that owns pretty hard.
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May 17, 2019 04:54
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Tree Bucket posted:Oh I know, he's awesome. I mean I have it on my shelf so yeah. I forget how much it costs. But if you don’t care if it’s printed up all fancy, you could probably get it pretty cheap.
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May 23, 2019 14:44
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I checked and it's like 30$ new from Amazon.
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May 23, 2019 15:23
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woah i wonder when he got into communism
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Jun 1, 2022 00:35
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Hedrigall posted:It's like if my DM stopped running the really awesome D&D campaign we'd been doing for years and just started inviting me to socialist meetings Agreed, and I say that as a pretty hardcore socialist who even likes reading about socialism.
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Jun 2, 2022 03:17
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Hedrigall posted:drat it if only he was a capitalist Look he has writing ability so his commie rear end can each to my need and give me some horror stories.
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Jun 2, 2022 05:36
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Sandwolf posted:What’s the benefit of reading PSS before The Scar? And maybe vice versa? There's the tiniest amount of overlap between the stories (literally, one character mentions the first book happened off screen, once) and there's a certain amount of assuming you already know stuff about the setting, but it's pretty mild. (Fake, toy example to give you an idea but with all the specifics made up : A character says that in City Name things were getting freaky this one summer where everything got weird about [5 words of specifics]. And instead of describing elves the first time they're in the narrative, elves just show up.). In terms of continuity though, it doesn't matter because those are things he does about stuff he's never elaborated on either ; you'll be able to follow the story totally fine, you just will be technically missing out on some details for a bit. I recommend starting with Perdito over The Scar because it''s got some more high-level introductions to the setting that I think are helpful and I think the style just serves you better, but I know I'm a minority in this thread and seriously it doesn't matter : it's like arguing if you should eat soup before salad or the other way around and at the end of the day soup and salad are both tasty things that you should eat so who really cares. Both books don't feel anywhere near as long as they look, cause once they get going, they really, really get going. Perdito has about a 100 pages at the front end where it's doing a promissory note slow burn as it introduces the setting and gets things going, then the engine starts running and it powers through to the end and it's great the whole way. The Scar doesn't spend as much time warming up, but (I find that) it overstays its welcome just the itty bitty tiniest amount too long and could've stuck landing better. If I was going to recommend one thing about Perdito that I loving loved that's not in The Scar, it's gonna be the spoilers below. This isn't a giant spoiler or nothing, it's literally just that a specific character exists and how they're introduced, but I'm putting it in spoiler tags just to be polite. About 200 pages into the book, there are some giant evil monster things that are attacking the city and eating people's brains. The city government has no idea how to fight these monsters, so they think of two things that might be able to help them : 1) The Weaver, a giant extra-dimensional spider who is alien and strange in every way you can imagine or 2) The no-poo poo literal ambassador from Hell, as in like he has diplomatic papers for being a demon. They unanimously decide that talking to the god drat Devil is the safer and saner decision. gently caress that spider, it's weird.
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Jun 27, 2022 00:41
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Tekopo posted:Embassytown 2, let's gooooo Embassytown 2 : Homophones.
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May 30, 2023 21:27
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Tekopo posted:That's almost as good as the review of embassytown where an apparent linguist/brain surgeon said that it was impossible for a species to be biologically unable to lie. Lol. If you can find that I’d love to see how dumb it is.
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Jun 1, 2023 03:35
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Maybe it’s a classy horror. Dude does good horror.
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Jun 2, 2023 02:22
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Sandwolf posted:The City & The City has some unnatural aspects but I’m not sure I’d describe it as Sci-fi or fantasy. It’s more like Balkan speculative fiction. It's sci-fi in the sense that imagining a parallel Earth with different geography and history is always going to be. Even if you're realistic outside of that.
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Jun 2, 2023 21:09
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Sandwolf posted:I’m not trying to raise an argument but I had a completely different reading that they are not parallel earths, but merely two cities inhabiting the same place, and centuries of socially conditioning people to respect one vs the other is what creates the divide. But if Joe Schmoe from America goes to the place and walks around that border checkpoint he’s not entering alternate dimensions. ...? The parallel Earth is because Besźel and Ul Qoma aren't real. There are Americans in the novel.
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Jun 2, 2023 21:35
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A plot point is the dead girl’s dad doing a Breach and everything. It’s explicitly a weird fake country on Earth with a couple pieces of random alternate history to make room for the setting.
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Jun 2, 2023 23:46
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FPyat posted:I disagree, there’s a clear distinction between alternate history that stays strictly within “normal” bounds of physical plausibility, and AH stories that introduce aliens, time travel, dimension-hopping, etc. Harry Turtledoge writes both kinds. And there are distinctions between poodles and great danes. That doesn’t mean they’re not dogs. That’s like, not how the concepts of “different” and “same” work. Is the thread okay? Y’all are having some bonkers takes today. Edit : or wait, were you fumbling at the distinction between historical fiction and alt history? That’d make more sense with what you said, but makes absolutely none in light of what the conversation is about. Xiahou Dun fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Jun 3, 2023 |
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Jun 3, 2023 03:00
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