Rating: 
Summary: A vast improvement
Review: I read Perdido Street Station a few months back, not knowing what to expect, and found myself alternately delighted and frustrated. Mieville created an incredibly compelling setting - New Crobuzon - and just over-stuffed the place with history, science, multiple races. It was delightfully overwhelming. But, outside of the setting, things didn't come together as well. The characters weren't terribly compelling. The plot was fairly standard (and relied far, far too much on deus ex machina). And, I hate to say it, once you find out that the villains are, essentially, giant moths, everything starts to seem a little silly.
That's all to say that, I came to The Scar not really expecting much. I knew Mieville had set the book outside of New Crobuzon, and I was expecting that, minus what I'd found the most compelling piece of the last work, this one would prove a let down. But I figured I'd give it a shot.
And I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. It's been rare, in my experience, to see such a vast improvement from one book to the next. Maybe Mieville hit up some writing workshops, maybe he found a more helpful editor - I don't know. All I can say is that he more than corrected the deficiencies that marred my enjoyment of his previous work.
While I did hate to see New Crobuzon set by the wayside, the world of Bas Leg proves just as interesting. Mieville has a rare gift for stuffing his world chock full of bizarre cretaures, places and events (even throwaway lines - creatures half mollusc, half deity - give off a chill of enjoyment). I find it strangely reminiscent of some of Jack Vance's odder imaginings.
But the best thing here is that Mieville's done more than simply create an interesting setting and hope for the best. The Scar has a compelling plot that just drags you along (I finished the thing in a single stretch). The villain's are subtler, the action sequences (thank the gods) more coherent. It't not perfect - I could see pretty much every plot twist coming a mile away, and the ending doesn't quite satisfy. But it is a very enjoyable read, and the vast improvement between Perdido Street Station and this gives me high hopes for Mieville's future work.
Rating:
Summary: Just not good enough
Review: Let me start by saying that this novel is beautifully written and it has unique and interesting characters. Before reading it I was concerned that the author would just rehash some of the same weirdness from "Perdido Street Station" but gratefully, he didn't. He invented new creatures and situations that were just as imaginative as the ones from "Perdido Street Station" yet still completely original. The descriptions of Armada, the mosquito people, the avanc, and the vampir--all great stuff. However, I had several problems with this novel.
Starting with the characters: it seemed like the author took great pains to describe Uther Doul and his mysteriousness but then gave no ultimate explanation for his behavior. As an earlier reviewer said, he is the one who originally motivates the Lovers to seek out the Scar but then at the last minute he indicates that Bellis should stop the mission--why? We really get no insight into his character, yet earlier on in the novel he promises to be complex and interesting. There's the same problem with the Lovers themselves, they're built up to be so fascinating when we first meet them but we never really know anything more about them after their original introduction. They just turn out to be regular people with weird ways of expressing their feelings for each other. There was also a huge build up about the grindylow but when they finally appear it's for a very brief time and then you find out that their actions are all based on the threat of New Crobuzon building a canal--blah.
Finally, the ending was completely anti-climactic. To begin with this novel was impossible to resolve in a satisfactory way because there were too many plot lines going on simultaneously and I felt confused about what was the main issue/goal here. Having one plot and then adding layers and twists to it is one thing (like in "Perdido Street Station") but "The Scar" just seemed messy. The last chapter was like a summing up of everything we still don't know. If the ultimate plot line is about getting to the Scar, then all we're left with is Hedrigall's hallucination but no confirmation, is he crazy or is the Scar really nightmarish?--we don't get to find out. I realize that every novel isn't going to be neatly wrapped up but this just seemed particularly unsatisfying.
I think "Perdido Street Station" was a much tighter novel in terms of character, plot and resolution. I know some complained about it's deus ex machina ending but I'd rather have that than nothing at all.
Rating:
Summary: Another excellent Mieville
Review: "The Scar" is no "Perdido Street" -- but that doesn't mean it's not one of the best books you'll read this year in any genre. China Mieville is much more disciplined in this second novel set on the world of Bas-Lag, focusing on only a few characters and plotlines. But this maturity seems to come at the expense of the macabre brilliance that sparked the Slake Moth and Hellkin episodes in "Perdido," and no new creature in the book even comes close to the originality of the Weaver. Although the setting of "Scar"--a floating pirate city--is skillfully drawn, the main character's nostalgia for the city of New Crobuzon is catching--I can't wait to return to the scene of "Perdido" in Mieville's next work!
Rating: 
Summary: A Splendid Return To Mieville's World of Bas-Log
Review: "The Scar" is unquestionably China Mieville's best novel to date. While it lacks the intricate details and spellbinding plot of "Perdido Street Station", it more than makes up for this in its compelling cast of anti-heroes and rogues, led by New Crobuzon exile and distinguished linguist Bellis Coldwine and the pirate Uther Doul. Mieville offers his readers an exciting epic worthy of comparison to Melville's Moby Dick. Here he introduces to the fascinating libertarian pirate city Armada, ruled by a charismatic pair of humans, The Lovers. Soon they are engaged in a quest to find a mythological sea monster - a vast creature far larger and more terrifying than Moby Dick himself - hoping to harness it so it can drag Armada towards a distant realm on the other side of the world. "The Scar" refers to psychological and physical wounds shown by the novel's elaborate cast of characters, and describes aptly much of the ocean and lands visited by the Armada and its inhabitants. Fans of "Perdido Street Station" will not be disappointed with Mieville's latest epic, and those unfamiliar with his work will know after reading it why he is acclaimed as one of the finest new talents in science fiction and fantasy. Once more his pages are replete with lyrical prose as splendid as the finest I've come across from the likes of Gene Wolfe, Dan Simmons and William Gibson. Now, with "The Scar", Mieville deserves to be compared with such legendary figures in science fiction and fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: A Splendid Return To Mieville's World of Bas-Log
Review: "The Scar" is unquestionably China Mieville's best novel to date. While it lacks the intricate details and spellbinding plot of "Perdido Street Station", it more than makes up for this in its compelling cast of anti-heroes and rogues, led by New Crobuzon exile and distinguished linguist Bellis Coldwine and the pirate Uther Doul. Mieville offers his readers an exciting epic worthy of comparison to Melville's Moby Dick. Here he introduces to the fascinating libertarian pirate city Armada, ruled by a charismatic pair of humans, The Lovers. Soon they are engaged in a quest to find a mythological sea monster - a vast creature far larger and more terrifying than Moby Dick himself - hoping to harness it so it can drag Armada towards a distant realm on the other side of the world. "The Scar" refers to psychological and physical wounds shown by the novel's elaborate cast of characters, and describes aptly much of the ocean and lands visited by the Armada and its inhabitants. Fans of "Perdido Street Station" will not be disappointed with Mieville's latest epic, and those unfamiliar with his work will know after reading it why he is acclaimed as one of the finest new talents in science fiction and fantasy. Once more his pages are replete with lyrical prose as splendid as the finest I've come across from the likes of Gene Wolfe, Dan Simmons and William Gibson. Now, with "The Scar", Mieville deserves to be compared with such legendary figures in science fiction and fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: more bizarre and engrossing fun
Review: After reading China Miéville's novel Perdido Street Station last June, The Scar was quickly added to my Must Read list. Like the former, The Scar takes place on Miéville's intriguing and bizarre world of Bas-Lag. It's a world of vast oceans, many strange races, and a smattering of magic (or "thaumaturgy" in Miéville's prose). The protagonist this time around is Bellis Coldwine, a woman on the run from the New Crobuzon authorities. She boards a ship leaving New Crobuzon which is heading for a new colony. The ship hasn't traveled too far before it is captured by pirates from the floating city of Armada. There are some fascinating characters living on Armada and Bellis becomes embroiled in the strange plans of Armada's hideously scarred rulers known only as The Lovers. Miéville kept me continually in awe of the weird happenings and travels of the Armadans. His world of Bas-Lag is dense with peculiar people, landscapes, and customs. He's quickly become my new favorite science fiction writer. I was pleased to discover that his next novel, Iron Council, will also be set in Bas-Lag and is due out in July 2004. His novels are just wildly entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Yet another extraordinary tale from Mieville
Review: Although not quite as extravagantly outrageous as his previous novel, "Perido Street Station", Mieville's "The Scar" has even more substance, plot, and characterization. While it can be argued that the main character of "Perido" was, in fact, the city of New Crubuzon itself, this tale has a human, yet just as complex protagonist in Bellis Coldwine. While escaping the authorities in New Crubuzon, she is kidnapped by pirates with a flare towards the obsessive. As she is twisted and turned by forces that she cannot control - making poor alliances and even worse decisions and actions along the way - Mieville reveals a depth and complexity of characterization that is rare in this genre (if indeed you can really categorize this book into a set genre... the Victorian science fiction pirate genre?)
The plot itself is not as meandering as "Perido" either - nor is the introduction of countless new sentient races quite as taxing. In "The Scar", Mieville captures the essence of Bas Lag and it's odd assortment of species without reducing the story to a typical "continuing adventures of (name the hero)" sequel. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Scarily transcendent.....NEEDS MAPS
Review: An excellent book on its own and as a follow-up to Perdido Street Station, which avoids the usual "Sequel" traps of the genre. Many of the previous reviewers have done a great job itemizing why this is such a great novel. I'd just like to add that, maybe due to my personality,but my enjoyment of the book would have been doubled by the inclusion of maps of the Bas-Lag oceans that the Armada/Trident sails, as well as a map of the Armada itself. Given the detail of the story, Miéville MUST have maps of these locations to keep them all straight, and he's said as much in a interview on Science Fiction Weekly. God knows if he or his publishers read these reviews by us proles but that's my fervent recommendation. Maps maps maps maps!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a devout fan of China Mieville, I was not overly thrilled with Scar. I will admit that the setting and characters were complex and fantastic. Both Uther Doul and Brucolac as well as the Lovers were wonderfully woven. However, Bellis COldwine left me pretty "cold". The layers of manipulation by Fennec, Doul and Bellis herself also seemed pointless.
Rating:
Summary: Full Steam Ahead...
Review: Bellis Coldwine has decided to abscond from New Crobuzon after she gets into a spot of bother. Since she is adept at learning languages, Bellis has decided to hire herself out as a translator on a New Crobuzon ship headed for the colony of Nova Esperium. But Bellis has resolutely decided not to get her hopes too high, and regards her destination with something more akin to Nova Tedium. She is determined that her escape will only last for a little time, since like Dorothy, she still believes that there is no place like home. Unlike Dorothy, Bellis is determined that she will not pick up any stragglers along the way. But she is headed for a storm, whether she likes it or not. Like a character in a Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Bellis finds herself kidnapped by pirates. Not just any pirates though, these are the denizens of Armada: not one ship, but a multitude, comprising an entire city. Bellis's fellow passengers were looking for life in a new place, and although land is a bit more difficult to claim here, those who are willing to accept their fate are allotted their own berth. The Remade (the human/slave cargo of the New Crobuzon ship Bellis was travelling on), are positively welcomed and liberated. Punished for unknown crimes, labelled as criminals by genetic and mechanical brandings, the Remade are released into the community. However, even some of these find that their shackles to New Crobuzon are not quite so easily shattered. Bellis, as her name would suggest, is quite hostile to her abductors, and yet, unlike so many other unwilling passengers, she is left to roam the streets of Armada freely. Some parts of Armada are perplexingly like home: there is still bureaucracy and red tape, nightclubs, and trendy wine bars. However, these pirates are like Robert Louis Stevenson pirates in other ways: for they are after a huge treasure - almost an 'X' marks the spot... And there is a character as immortal as Long John Silver (although not quite as jolly): Uther Doul. Though he is called 'Uther', the sword he wields is not Excalibur: it Might be so much more. Like a scar, this novel criss-crosses many genres. I suppose it could be labelled 'Steam Punk': there are certainly quite a few steam engines in the novel, some redundant, others endlessly famished. In some respects, this is a good example of the British post-colonial science fiction novel. No other nation ever really quite ruled the waves as good old Britannia, and there is something quite eighteenth century about the New Crobuzon navy, with its officers and press ganged crew. Mieville does a Melville, although the motives for hunting the whale are not exactly the same as Ahab's (but there are a fair few cannibals/bloodsuckers on board). China Mieville skilfully bends space to even let some popular science in. Treasure Island itself proves to be a bit more bloody than usual, and Captain Nemo cannot be swayed from his dangerous quest. Mieville does not quote from other texts or even covertly allude to them, but such archetypes do spring to mind nonetheless. Armada is fashioned from the coupling of many different boats, after all, and I am sure that Mieville would agree that no writer can be truly original. Having said that, there is vibrancy in the text, a beating pulse, that China Mieville has fashioned all himself with clinical skill. This may be a science fiction novel, but it is very much a work of its times. An old naval nation that's unsure of its future direction, whose leaders are those who can spin the best lie, and whose taxes are really goring... This novel surveys the rise and fall of Communism - hidden spies abound, all kinds are people are embraced behind the Iron Curtains of the ships, but if you dare cross the wall, you may well be shot. More than just Armada revolves in The Scar (one of the main protagonists has a truly apt name). In his depiction of the Lovers, the rulers of Armada, China Mieville scratches at the pus of modern love in a most discomforting way. The nuclear family has been blown away; Romance is truly doomed in this dystopia. It would have been nice if Mieville had presented more of what it was like for Uther to live in High Cromlech's caste society, but then Uther is meant to be inscrutable, and I am not sure that Mieville completely believes that we are the products of our environment. The Lovers and The Hanged Man seem to be Tarot symbols of fate, but Bellis strongly believes in the exertion of her free will (although perhaps she should have listened to Captain Myzovic more attentively). When you're mining for possibilities, anything can happen... The resolution of this novel will no doubt have some reader's baying for China Mieville's blood. Yet Margaret Atwood won the Booker Prize recently using similar thaumaturgy, and China Mieville's new novel is the more convincing and ship tight of the two vessels in question. If you go back over the novel, you'll see just how expertly China Mieville has laid the foundations for The Scar. Mieville is no cheat - there are no hidden cards up his sleeve - he is an expert player and only his poker face is hard to read. After he has gently settled you into the narrative in the first fifty pages, the rest of the novel makes for compulsive, addictive reading. The pages are certainly easier to turn than Armada, and nothing can stop the prose. Something akin to G-force will compel you to sit tight and see this journey through.
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