China Miéville/Bas-Lag megathread

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > China Miéville/Bas-Lag megathread

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Casimir Radon posted:

How overt is it?

It's there, especially in Iron Council. I don't know why people bitch about it, especially given the setting. It's clearly based on the late 1800s, with both the rear end in a top hat industrialists and the anarchists/communists taken to larger-than-life extremes. Not being able to handle a book written by an author who has views you don't agree with strikes me as bizarre too, but whatever.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2009 06:25

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 00:23

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Pascallion posted:

Also, maybe I'm dense but I never understood how the train in IC was supposed to move. My impression was everyone had to keep on laying track in front of the train, presumably picking it up from behind. How could the thing ever move faster than people (even FANTASY people) can pick up the track from behind and move it to the front?

I don't recall him ever saying anything about the train moving faster than the rail could be laid, I don't see how this is a problem.

# ¿ May 31, 2009 20:00

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Grand Prize Winner posted:

This may come out kinda hazy as I'm a little sleep deprived right now, but I'm certain Doul mentions some degree of difference between torque and whatever tech the Ghostead Empire used.

I agree. Torque seems like some sort of magical radiation. The sword is a play on quantum mechanics, as best as I could tell. It's everywhere at once until it actually strikes, different probabilities governing where it hits, all that. I don't think there's necessarily any connection to torque.

# ¿ Dec 29, 2009 21:32

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Perdido has two distinct halves, usually people like one or the other more. I didn't like the book at first either, but I stuck with it and am glad I did. You might want to keep reading and see if the second half grabs you. The other books don't have that problem.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2010 16:47

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I had to read Perdido for the science fiction course I took to fill one of my English requirements. That was a great class.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2010 03:33

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I've heard the "everything is brown" complaint about plenty of games, but this has to be the first time I've seen it about a book.

But I'll forgive that for blowing my mind, I never even noticed that New Crobuzon is Sigil. Mieville is a massive D&D nerd so I'm sure there's a connection.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2010 20:42

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

onefish posted:

Man, I wonder if the industrializing world presented in the three books so far would ever develop technology along the lines of our "modern" world. Electronics and computing?

I doubt that. The technology was developed a long time before the books, and people have largely forgotten how it works. Remember the weather control device in New Crobuzon, it's been broken for centuries and no one has a clue how it worked, let alone how to fix it.

Maybe the machines will advance by themselves, but everything else is decaying.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2010 19:09

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I found it refreshing to have some different politics, and given the setting, the whole communist revolutionary element fits perfectly. I don't understand the complaints at all.

# ¿ May 4, 2010 15:11

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

It's been mentioned before in the thread, but the first and second halves of PSS are very, very different. The first half is slow world-building, the second half is much more of a fast-paced plot adventure.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2010 18:28

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 00:23

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Only thing that throws me is having the incredibly distinctive Bank of China Tower in there with the sci-fi buildings.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2010 18:30

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > China Miéville/Bas-Lag megathread