Perdido Street Station, a task Gaxie really should complete
My friend Gax lent me Perdido Street Station by China Mieville, accompanied by lots of nice words about the novel. However, he never did finish reading it so I’ll just have to return it so that he can regain his pride after I’m flogging him here in public.
I can and cannot understand his inability to finish the book. First of all, Mieville has a very rich language, almost too rich. There’s a lot of looking up words here, at least if you’re to get it all – which I surely want. You get the picture without consulting the Oxford Dictionary all the time, but there’s more if you’re patient. Then again, it can be a real mood killer having to look up words all the time.
Pedido Street Station takes place in Mieville’s fantasy world of Bas-Lag, which sure is far from the average fantasy adventure in the book store. Steam engines and advanced physics battles with magical beings and remade people, weird races – all stirred in the bubbling pot that is the downright frightening city of New Crobuzon.
I can’t explain the setting. It’s just great, overwhelming and fantastic. You have to dive deep into it yourself.
Mieville does a great job in delivering New Crobuzon’s streets to your head. It’s not always easy to explain a world that clashes with our own, but Mieville excels in it. Perhaps that’s why he got the Arthur C. Clarke Award for the book. And later works as well.
As you can see I’m somewhat overwhelmed by Perdido Street Station. Actually, I’ve been meaning to write this post for quite some time now but it’s just too much in a way. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that Mieville’s work makes me feel very small as an author. He’s brilliant, swinging the English language like a brilliant sword fit for Elric to wield. I’m not quite there, I’ll be the first to admit it.
Still, it’s a great inspiration.
Anyway, Perdido Street Station is a book you should read if you’re even remotely into fantasy, science fiction or even Lovecraftian horror stories. It’s a masterpiece and a must.
I’ll pound it into Gax’s head the next time I see him. That’s a promise.
[rate 5]
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