Perdido Street Station

Rating:
Summary: A great book that keeps you reading
Review: The author manages to pack in the detail and explanations without slowing the book's pace. The action sequences were incredible- I felt like I was there. All of the characters had a lot of depth and the author was good about showing all sides of the characters and making them do some bad things to make them more human. The language was very vivid and descriptive. The author has a great imagination and there were times I had to put the book down out of fear!! The book touched on some very deep fears and dilemmas which kept it re-playing in my mind for hours after I had finished. Above all, the story was riveting and the writing style was amazing. None of the impact was lost in the sweeping scope of the book. Incredible!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Rocking the world of traditional Fantasy fiction
Review: Any admirer of the works of Philip K. Dick will surely know what I mean when I talk about a writer gifted with prodigious imagination. British China Miéville, the mastermind behind Perdido Street Station, is one such author.

With King Rat, his first novel, the author had already given proof of uncommon imagination and storytelling skills. But in this second book, Miéville manages to surprise everybody by outclassing with considerable margin the excellent King Rat, leaving us packed with anticipation about future works.

In Perdido Street Station, Miéville abandons the London underground and takes the reader instead to the dirty and labyrinthine New Crobuzon, an imaginary metropolis inspired by the architectural opulence of Gormenghast and the negative panoramas of cyberpunk fiction. Under the iron fist of a corrupt Parliament and its ruthless Militia, humans and a large assortment of mutant species live side by side, as do the grotesque Remade, a collection of criminals sentenced to painful and often-times irreversible disfigurement to account for their misdeeds.

From humanoid cacti living under a great glass dome that encircles their ghetto, to the enigmatic giant spider responsible for the consistency of reality, it is impossible to recognize the trivialities that so many Fantasy authors have unfortunately accustomed us to since Tolkien. China Miéville proposes to rock the genre to the foundations, lending no quarter to stereotyped concepts and delivering a brutal world that cannot help but fascinate the reader through the sheer wealth of its contents.

It is in this setting that the protagonist of Perdido Street Station, freelance scientist Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is interrupted from his work by the arrival of a garuda, a half-man, half-bird creature desperate to regain the ability of flight after losing both wings. However, in his attempt to help the outsider, Isaac ends up unleashing a nightmare creature over the city, an oversized transdimensional insect that is also a wink of the eye to the cosmic horrors of H. P. Lovecraft.

Determined to undo his mistake, Isaac enlists the aid of his khepri lover (a woman whose head is a giant scarab) and their misfit group of friends and, later on, a party of psychotic adventurers that almost seem to come out of a Dungeons & Dragons gaming session.

Through over 700 pages, the anti-heroes of Perdido Street Station move about the myriad fantastic settings that constitute New Crobuzon, the city itself a character in its own right, making the acquaintance of numerous and peculiar individuals. From each of these elements blossoms a new story, either through Miéville's powers of description as well as from the intense stimuli to the reader's imagination. The rate at which these ideas keep flooding in is sometimes overwhelming, and keep the reader gripped to each and every word instead of merely providing vacuous filling to the book. Each page lends an extra dimension of depth and wonder to the universe of Perdido Street Station, be that to describe the mass murderer that steals his victim's eyeballs, the rumours of the tortures Remade endure, or even the colossal skeleton of some prehistoric creature that rises well above the tallest building of the city.

I assure no regrets to any reader who places his or her bet on this new and almost (though not for long) unknown author. From the very first paragraph of Perdido Street Station, the reader is guaranteed an extraordinary and yawn-free ride through a rich world of Fantasy turned inside out. Two thumbs and eight tentacles up!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant fantasy epic
Review: In New Crobuzon, physicist Isaac Grimnebulin works on the United Theory that would tie alchemy, magic and science into one force. However, a visitor, the wealthy Yagharek, bearing gold interrupts Isaac's work. Yagharek is willing to pay plenty to fly as he used to before having had his wings clipped for committing a crime.

Isaac agrees to help his customer. He considers magic to bind new wings or a mechanical device to provide the lofty endeavor. He turns to botany to study animals that can fly. However, one of his creatures, a giant caterpillar escapes, metamorphoses, and terrorizes the city. The townsfolk of New Crobuzon quite rightfully want to change Isaac into a fig newton. If he wants to return to his beloved theoretical work, Isaac must deal with the crisis he managed to create.

PERDIDO STREET STATION is quite an astonishing fantasy tale that is must reading for genre fans. The story line is incredibly creative, satirical, and witty though some key characters are overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the plot. The underlying science is written intelligently yet never slows down an action-packed, exciting plot. Fans of epic fantasy will reread this classy tale many times over in the years to come.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: The easy second book
Review: The covers of his books made me start to read China Mieville, and after reading both King Rat and Perdidio Street Station just after each other, I can't say I regret it.

This book is one of the best I've read, ever, it is full of new ideas, believeable characters and vistas which draws you in. Immersion is complete. Not once did I feel like putting this book down, everything compelled me to complete it in one sitting.

The story starts out in an apartment where two lovers share their breakfast; their hide out. The two characters are among the ones which we'll follow. The scientist will be the catalysator of things to come, and his lover, the artist, will be the knot of several strands in this story.

It is a story where a lot of small chance happenings cumulate to a destructive force, which even the emissary from Hell don't dare confront.

What are the highs of this book?

The story has several good threads which are knit closely, and believeably by the end. Good ideas abound, and is thrown away without care.

What are the lows of this book?

There are some interludes, in first persion between the chapters, which breaks the pace. The book ended as well, which is a defenite low.

Rating:
Summary: Rocking the world of traditional Fantasy fiction
Review: Any admirer of the works of Philip K. Dick will surely know what I mean when I talk about a writer gifted with prodigious imagination. British China Miéville, the mastermind behind Perdido Street Station, is one such author.

With King Rat, his first novel, the author had already given proof of uncommon imagination and storytelling skills. But in this second book, Miéville manages to surprise everybody by outclassing with considerable margin the excellent King Rat, leaving us packed with anticipation about future works.

In Perdido Street Station, Miéville abandons the London underground and takes the reader instead to the dirty and labyrinthine New Crobuzon, an imaginary metropolis inspired by the architectural opulence of Gormenghast and the negative panoramas of cyberpunk fiction. Under the iron fist of a corrupt Parliament and its ruthless Militia, humans and a large assortment of mutant species live side by side, as do the grotesque Remade, a collection of criminals sentenced to painful and often-times irreversible disfigurement to account for their misdeeds.

From humanoid cacti living under a great glass dome that encircles their ghetto, to the enigmatic giant spider responsible for the consistency of reality, it is impossible to recognize the trivialities that so many Fantasy authors have unfortunately accustomed us to since Tolkien. China Miéville proposes to rock the genre to the foundations, lending no quarter to stereotyped concepts and delivering a brutal world that cannot help but fascinate the reader through the sheer wealth of its contents.

It is in this setting that the protagonist of Perdido Street Station, freelance scientist Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is interrupted from his work by the arrival of a garuda, a half-man, half-bird creature desperate to regain the ability of flight after losing both wings. However, in his attempt to help the outsider, Isaac ends up unleashing a nightmare creature over the city, an oversized transdimensional insect that is also a wink of the eye to the cosmic horrors of H. P. Lovecraft.

Determined to undo his mistake, Isaac enlists the aid of his khepri lover (a woman whose head is a giant scarab) and their misfit group of friends and, later on, a party of psychotic adventurers that almost seem to come out of a Dungeons & Dragons gaming session.

Through over 700 pages, the anti-heroes of Perdido Street Station move about the myriad fantastic settings that constitute New Crobuzon, the city itself a character in its own right, making the acquaintance of numerous and peculiar individuals. From each of these elements blossoms a new story, either through Miéville's powers of description as well as from the intense stimuli to the reader's imagination. The rate at which these ideas keep flooding in is sometimes overwhelming, and keep the reader gripped to each and every word instead of merely providing vacuous filling to the book. Each page lends an extra dimension of depth and wonder to the universe of Perdido Street Station, be that to describe the mass murderer that steals his victim's eyeballs, the rumours of the tortures Remade endure, or even the colossal skeleton of some prehistoric creature that rises well above the tallest building of the city.

I assure no regrets to any reader who places his or her bet on this new and almost (though not for long) unknown author. From the very first paragraph of Perdido Street Station, the reader is guaranteed an extraordinary and yawn-free ride through a rich world of Fantasy turned inside out. Two thumbs and eight tentacles up!

Rating:
Summary: Great City, Weak Story
Review: I read "Perdido Street Station" because I'd been swayed by the hype surrounding it--and was intrigued by the comparisons between Mieville's novel and Mervyn Peake's "Gormenghast" books (a series criminally ignored by most readers here in the US). The guy's definitely influenced by Peake: instead of a rambling castle inhabited by wierd bureaucrats, servants and nobility, the reader tours a crumbling metropolis populated by human and demi-human ragpickers and malcontents. The creation New Crobuzon is where the novel succeeds: it's a vividly-painted, real place--and a fine stage on which to set the action. The story, though, is another kettle of fish. I was surprised by how conventional it was at its core: a band of reluctant heroes join forces to take on unstoppable monsters terrorizing their city. It's very, very familiar stuff, overly-reliant on shopworn SF tropes--hand-shaped mind-controlling parasites, mutants firing laser beams from their fingers, etc. Its excessive length doesn't help, either: if a novel ever required a brutal edit, then this is Exhibit A. If you dug "Perdido Street Station," I'd suggest you seek out Mervyn Peake's "Titus Alone" or "Gormenghast" for a similar literary experience--minus the giant dimension-shifting telepathic spiders.

Rating:
Summary: Epic work of fantasy,a must read!
Review: Perdido sreet Station is a tremendous novel. Sluggish in parts throughout the book and at times I felt as though it needed winding up to speed it up. Having said that, on reflection I feel as with any epic story (and even some, smaller in scope tales!!) "sluggish in parts is par for course". Some of the greatest works in fantasy such as Imajica by Clive Barker and King's Dark tower series are two examples of this. Perdido is a novel that must be read especially if you are a fan of fantastic or weird fiction. It has everything a fan of those genres could ever want. Mieville has become a must read author for me. I'd read his King Rat novel and I personally prefered it over Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere but I would only give either of those novels three star ratings. Having said that it was Mievilles first novel and having read and loved Perdido all I can say is I'm really looking forward to reading his other works. Top stuff me old China mate,keep it coming!

Rating:
Summary: Strange, yet captivating
Review: Mieville breathes some life into many genres all at the same time. His use of horror, gothic, sci-fi, fantasy and so on captivates you, leaving you wanting more.

At first, of course, it is a little hard to read. You wonder who these characters are and why are they so strange and different. This, though, is the key to Mieville's success. He writes so well that you believe the characters and feel for them, despite being so alien and unreal.

In fact, Mieville has created his own world, leaving you in awe of what he has created.

The plot itself flows effortlessly, moving from point to point with enough drive and acceleration to make you want more. When it climaxes and concludes, you are left with jaw open. Not because of anything spectacular, but because of how it ends, so uncharacteristic for most authors. Yet, as a good author does, the different ending works perfectly, leaving you feeling like you have just read something great.

Rating:
Summary: Perdido Street Station
Review: Let me begin by saying that this novel is one of a kind. After finally finishing it I realized that although it took me a long time to read, I am dying to read it again and revisit the many scenes that made this novel so memorable. I enjoyed this novel as much as I did because it was so vast and immense. Mieville creates a fantasticly detailed and disturbing world that you find yourself completely immmeresed in as the novel progresses. The characters are also fascinating. Mieville involves a host of different kinds of "beings" into the story. There are humans, insects that somewhat resemble humans, "beings" that are purely from the imagination, gigantic spiders, and hell itself. The story is very long, complex, and seems to grow, develop, and flower over time. This book really does have everything, from an intense and twisting plot, to horribly sinister and fascinating characters, and finally a huge and fresh world that is so beautiful in it's ugliness and so detailed that you begin to think that it could be real. Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Unbound imagination
Review: The story takes us to a city, unlike any that has been dreamt of. It is a city full of strange creatures (insect-like, slug-like, bird-like, etc). In addition there are the beings that are 'remade'. Surgically enhanced or tortured creations modifed at times for a specific task or just for someone's pleasure. The story touches on a number of story threads, which all focus on the slake moths. These creatures have been released onto the city and have to be stopped.

I found this book to be very strange. It takes Mieville a long time to develope the story, the characters, the city, etc. It is, at times, tough to get through this first third of the book, but it is worth the effort. Once you've gotten through this strange city, it residents, and the terror that must be stopped, the story begins to pick up speed. It is like a run away ride. You want to stay with it for the thrills and to see where the ride ends.

I think the book is good, but a little overdone regarding the book's language. I enjoyed it and the strange world that was created.