Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood's next SF blockbuster?
Review: The imaginary city of New Crobuzon, set in some fantastic, distant future (or past?) on the planet Bas-Lag (which may or may not be Earth), is truly this novel's principal character. It is a wonderful fictional creation, and the reason for the book's incredible length is that Mieville takes his time presenting the city and its many odd neighborhoods and even odder, often grotesque residents - from humans to many species of, apparently genetically modified, humanoid amphibians, birds of prey, beetles and even cacti. Mieville's descriptions are very evocative, and his scenes of New Crobuzon are a pleasure to read. But in the end, this entire novel seems very much like one of those disappointing Hollywood-produced SF blockbusters: great scenography and mind-boggling special effects carried along by a rather simplistic, middling, sometimes even silly plot. That's not to say that the book isn't packed with suspense, and Mieville's excellent vignettes of New Crobuzon are skillfully intertwined with the overall story, which keeps readers transfixed. However, the story just doesn't live up to the scene and the atmosphere. Basically, it turns into a race to destroy some moth-like soul-eating monsters to end their reign of terror over the city. Mieville even resorts to trite philosophizing, apparently to give his story some depth. Even here, however, he fails to deal with some moral and ethical issues that I found troubling: Isaac van der Grimnebulin, one of the main protagonists ('heroes'), never really deals with his own betrayal, whether due to gross ignorance or extreme callousness, of friends, acquaintances and others; nor do Isaac and Yagharek the Garuda (a de-winged eagle-man who wants to fly again) seem to fully comprehend their accountability for getting the city into the whole mess in the first place. The low-key, very cynical ending does little to alleviate this feeling. Yagharek's moral transformation in the end is completely out of character and recalls the redemption themes beaten to death in 19th century Russian literature. Also, the entire sub-plot involving Isaac's scarab-headed lover, Lin, and the city's major crimelord seems pointless in retrospect. So despite all of its strong aspects, 'Perdido Street Station' is a pretty superficial novel - and I just can't escape the feeling that Mieville is hoping one of the major studios will pick it up for a film.
Rating: 
Summary: a absorbing story by a facinating imagination
Review: One of the best books I have read in a long time. I have encountered few imaginations with as much power and scope and mielville's. At least every 20 pages (if not much more often) he is hitting you with a fresh, though provoking idea or image. Anyone who can invent ideas such as the slack moths (one of the scariest monsters fiction has produced in a long time), the weaver, the construct counsel, and remades has much praisworthy about them. To be able to write all those into one book without becoming completely incoherient, which Mielville accomplishes shockingly well, is a work of genius. Unlike many other works of powerful imaginations the plot doesn't take a backburner. Almost every detial Mielville gives you either addes depth to his world or will at some point become succesfully incorporated into the plot (or both). This is a deeply moving work that will stay with a reader long after it has been put down. Heres to this one become recognized as the classic it legitametly should be seen as.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic place to visit
Review: I heard the author on NPR talking about this world he had created, where magic and science went hand in hand.
As I was traveling in a car trusting my memory to remember, it took me about a month of half hearted attempts to find this book.
Am I glad I did.
The story is thrilling, the characters rich and vibrant, and the world is intoxicating. Every night I looked forward to the next adventure. I have already given this book to some of my best friends.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I have read in years
Review: I can't really add much to what's already been said. But I will say this book is full with 700 pages of extremely cool ideas. I was never bored and always in awe of some new idea. It mixes all the things I like in a book: magic, technology, philosophy, action, horror, humor and characters that are all shades of grey as opposed to "sparkling white heroes". So there's my indepth review. I'm looking forward to more books set in this amazing world.
Rating:
Summary: Dumbstruck
Review: Freaky and fabulous. I am awed by this guy's imagination. (I also found it a little uncomfortable to walk home at night after this.) For the few days it took to get through it (it's thick) this thing completely took over my life. Original, powerful and well worth multiple readings. (Read KING RAT before this one, or you won't like KING RAT as much.)
Rating:
Summary: Dumbstruck
Review: Freaky and fabulous. I am awed by this guy's imagination. (I also found it a little uncomfortable to walk home at night after this one.) Original, powerful and well worth multiple readings.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT GREAT BOOK
Review: I'm not even done yet with this novel (still about 100 pgs to go) and I had to write this. It is that good. I read a tremendous amount, so it takes a lot for me to find myself not able to put a book down. This does it. All the other reviews will give you enough of an overview but I say don't read anymore said on this book. I was fortuately warned not to read the synopsis on the book and thus am enjoying it threefold. Take a chance here and buy this book. If you like SF/Fantasy even a little, you'll like this.
Rating:
Summary: Perdido Street Station - My favourite book.
Review: My favourite author used to be Neil Stephenson...until I read 'Perdido Street Station'. WOW! What an enjoyable read. Try opening it at any page and your finger will land on lush and entertaining text. To give an indication of my preferences: I also enjoyed 'Shiva 3000' by Jan Lars Jensen. It was a good read, but I preferred 'Perdido Street Station'. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Rating:
Summary: A Tremendous Work of Sheer Genius
Review: I have just finished reading it. I feel weak, spent, exhausted, enriched but drained. I feel as though I've been enlightened and enlivened and entrusted with some great and sacred truth, the mundane and all-encompassing environmental evidence of such is only visible as obvious in hindsight. I feel like great gaping holes have been torn in my flesh by the brutality of the horrors and betrayals characters wrought upon each other. I feel that I have walked these streets that call to me with a reality far beyond any other mythical place I have ever visited and many that are not mythical. Perdido Street Station is an intense drug that I cannot stand to bare in my consciousness alone, and I must have the company of my most respected peers to help me carry this exquisite cross. And so I am proselytizing this work to everyone I know, have already insisted that several of my friends rush out and buy it. Am shouting its virtues form the rooftops, and sounding its call through myriad emails and Instant Messages. I feel so much, and yet, faced with writing a review, I feel that all I can really say to even begin to do my experience of this work the justice it deserves is: ...My god, what a book! This book will make you want to have sex with a bug. Don’t be daunted by the language: a thick, glutinous, bubbling, fermenting, churning, boiling, engrossing, succession of places and things and adjectives and adverbs and nouns, slopped onto the virgin page like sticky thick dollops of oil and acrylic, to plop down in tangible, tactile imagery in this portrait in words. I really truly found this to be delightfully original, in a way that very little else has been. Read it now!
Rating:
Summary: Very Unique
Review: ... and I knew right away that it looked interesting. I was right; I really enjoyed it! I even had to come here to write a review about it. I have always liked science fiction and fantasy but I this book was different. It was unlike any other book I have read, which can be true for a lot of science fiction. The choice of words that China Mieville uses really describe the story well and get his point across. They fit exactly into what he is saying. It is wonderfully written and the story is very intriguing. I recommend this book if you are a fan of science fiction or want to read something new and different.
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