Rating: 
Summary: Sweet
Review: Hmmmm...hmmmmm. I have been reading sci-fi and fantasy since I was 7 years old. Thats a long time. And I can honestly say do yourself a favor and get this one, its good. This author is good..really good. This is the kind of book you dont want to end. I cant wait till he makes another offering. This is genre-breaking stuff. What else can I say? He's making new worlds here that others will try and imitate I bet ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Stick with it, it gets better near the end
Review: I found the first half of this book quite dull and slow-moving, and I almost gave up on it. I'm glad I didn't, though. The second half moves a good deal faster, and towards the end of the story there are a lot of surprises and twists and plots within plots. There were a lot of interesting characters here, but I can't say that it was better than Perdido Street Station. I did not care at all for the snobbish protagonist Bellis. I thought Tanner Sack made a better hero.
Rating:
Summary: well...
Review: i have just one adjective to bestow on this book: incredible.
i am in awe of china mieville. the way he describes settings and characters are so imaginative and well-written that i can just see the people and places in my mind's eye. i've read his other books and they've all been excellent and i can tell that he's just going to keep getting better and better. this is a must read for anyone, including people that aren't normally into fantasy.
Rating:
Summary: Mieville continues to amaze me
Review: I read Perdido Street Station a few months ago, and was blown away, to say the least. Considering the astonishing inventiveness of that book, I was sure that the "sequel" would recycle a fair amount of the background material. Since that background was so extensive and so compelling, I figured Mieville could produce quite a few more amazing books just about New Crobuzon. But I was wrong. Working within the basic confines of the reality he created last time, Mieville creates an entirely new world for his readers to explore, just as incredible as last time. I have not yet finished the book, since this time I'm trying to take my time and really appreciate the wonders and horrors that Mieville conjures up so convincingly, but I can already tell that this book is a very worthy companion to Perdido Street Station. Mieville is a master of world-creation, but he combines this with an astounding ability to pull the reader into that world and make it real. Think books are boring? Read this one. I dare you.
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous Writing, idiotic plot, lackluster protagonist
Review: I really wanted to love this book. However, I did not. The process of reading it was one of frustration and irritation, because the author is so obviously capable of writing better than this. At least, I hope so, for he is a wordsmith of fantastic ability, whose sentences thrum with surreal vision and passion. The descriptive passages were thrillingly vivid and entrancing. The setting of Bas-lag is minutely rendered in sense-stirring detail, though the marriage of science fiction and fantasy elements was a bit heavy-handed and less than deftly done. (I had to keep telling myself, in the case of the mosquito women that this was -not- science fiction, so that I could quiet my mind which kept screaming: "But they shouldn't be able to fly! Exsanguinated pigs do not look like that! ARGH!") The main reason I give this book only three stars, (and considered giving it two stars) was because I found the characters to be dull and one-dimensional and the plot to be ludicrous, trite and ponderously slow-moving. Bellis Coldwater has to be the least likeable protagonist I have been faced with recently, and her entire story is one of incapability, manipulation and quite frankly, stupidity. She had absolutely no likeable qualities, so I never could connect with her in the slightest. The most likeable character was killed, for no good purpose, except to torture the second most likeable character a bit more; I felt that was a cheap shot for an author whose description leads me to believe that he is more emotionally sensitive than that. Finally, the plot, which is full of senseless violence and gore, is one where, in the end, nothing really happens. No one really changes or is changed by this plot, no epiphanies are made, no life lessons learned. Just a quick jaunt to the end of the universe to turn around and go home again, and return to the status quo. What in the name of Theodore Sturgeon was that about? Basically, this book is not about people, it is about themes, and a beautifully rendered setting. Which, as far as I am concerned, does not a fine novel make. The masters of science fiction, such as Asimov, Bradbury, leGuin and Sturgeon, all stated (in one way or another) that the purpose of science fiction and fantasy literature isn't to tell stories about fantastical worlds, robots and crazy adventures. The purpose of this literature is to tell stories about people, real people, and to ask questions that cannot be asked in a historical or modern setting. Unfortunately, "The Scar" tells no story, has no interesting people, and asks few fascinating questions. I really hope the author keeps writing, though. Because when his prose is that gorgeous, I know that eventually he is going to tell me a magnificent story one day.
Rating:
Summary: I hope that this proves to be a long series.
Review: I was glad to see a return to the Bas Lag world. _The Scar_ is not a sequel to _Perdido Street Station_ but picks up tangentially where the first book left off. Instead of setting the action again in New Crobuzon, Mieville instead turns his attention to the great oceans that surround the city. When linguist Bellis Coldwine decides that pressure from the authorities necessitates an extended trip to the colonies, she doesn't expect exactly how extended it's going to be. I wasn't expecting to love _The Scar_ as much as I did. I'd had a problem with the first novel in that while I found the imagination to be masterful I found the plotting less satisfying. This book corrects any deficiencies that the first book might have had and then some. I was fascinated by the details of Armada, found the characters more than clever gimmicks, and simply couldn't stop reading to find out what was going to happen.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: I'll keep this short. I picked this up before purchasing Perdido Street Station (still haven't read it), so I can't compare it to The Scar. This book is really fantastic. China Mieville has imagined a world filled with unusual beings and interesting blend of magic and technology. From the thaumaturges to the Ghosthead empire, from the grindylow to Uther Doul and the Remade, Bas-Lag is curiously believable. Very interesting ideas in this book. All that aside, The Scar is an engaging tale. It's worth a read just to meet Uther Doul, seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Mieville's best thus far.
Review: If you liked Perdido Street Station or King Rat. You will like this. If you haven't read it, check it out. If you don't like science-fiction (or weird fiction as the author prefers) get it simply for his amazing use of the language. Great story, great writing, great book.
Rating:
Summary: Another remarkable achievement by Mieville
Review: In "The Scar" China Mieville has proven that "Perdido Street Station" was no fluke, he is a force to be reckoned with in the literary world. Once again he returns to the world of Bas Lag, although this time he journeys outside the confines of the city of New Crobuzon. In fact, his characters travel the length and breadth of Bas Lag, as they are the occupants (willing and unwilling) of the floating pirate city, Armada. It would be nearly impossible to recount the plot here, both because of its complexity, and the risk of spoiling it. However, there are a few general points that I think bear mentioning. First, while this is not a sequel to "Perdido Street Station" it does reference events in that book; there are no common characters, but the protagonist, Bellis Coldwine, is fleeing the city as a direct result of the happenings in the prior novel. While one could easily read "The Scar" without any knowledge of "Perdido Street Station" I would still recommend reading it first, as your appreciation of "The Scar" will be greatly enriched as a result. Second, "The Scar" is a darker, more ambiguous novel than its predecessor (which was by no means cheery to begin with). It is not an easy beach read for the summer; while it is immensely entertaining, it is also monstrously complex and intensely thoughtful. This is really a novel that needs to be read without distractions and with a great deal of thought as to what is going on. There are a lot of subtle themes and messages in this book, and it needs to be approached in a manner more befitting "literature" rather than your average "sci-fi" (I use quotes because SF can obviously be literature, I'm just speaking in stereotypical terms). Which brings me to the writing; anyone who read "Perdido Street Station" would have to agree that Mieville is a master of his craft. There are few writers today who have the same grasp of the English language; Mieville absolutely revels in the descriptive abilities of the written word. I would read an atlas if Mieville wrote it just to see how he described the landforms contained therein. He is also intensely interested in exploring human nature across its entire spectrum. From compassion to cruelty, Mieville is fascinated by our motivations. If one reads an interview with him, it becomes obvious that Mieville wouldn't mind being cast as the anti-Tolkien. While giving a nod to Tolkien's creation of an entire world down to the smallest details, Mieville revels in his characters' moral ambiguity and indecision, as opposed to Tolkien's characters who always know where they stand. Furthermore, while Tolkien used his races to highlight different ideals, Mieville uses his vast panoply of creatures to highlight the absurdities of racism and the nature of "humanity". Finally, Mieville is a master of the metaphor. I can say, without, giving anything away, that the Scar, of the book's title, is an actual place, but also a recurring theme throughout the novel. All of the characters (which are so diverse and beautifully realized it is nothing short of breathtaking) have scars, physical and mental. Some rise above them, some never come to grips with them, and some are brought low by them. In the end, the Scar is, at its most simple level, a double entendre. It is the heart of darkness of the world of Bas Lag, but it is also that heart of darkness within the primary characters that draws them to their destiny. In the end, some of the characters refuse to have their future dictated by the scars of their past, while others wallow in their pain and meet their end. I could go on indefinitely, and not even scratch the surface of the message in this book. However, I have covered the key elements I took away from the novel; I'll leave it for others better versed than I to continue the discussion. Ultimately, "The Scar" is a novel of immense emotional depth. The characters are brilliantly written and act upon a world stage that is breathtaking in its scope. It is a highly entertaining adventure in the finest nautical tradition, but it is so much more. It is an exploration of the depths of our ambition and the foundations of our humanity. Do yourself a favor and read this novel (and carefully), it will not disappoint and it will leave you thinking for a long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: Strong worldbuilding overcomes flawed plot--compelling
Review: It seemed like a straightforward enough plan. To flee a criminal/magical investigation in New Crobuzon, Bellis Coldwine takes a job as a translator on a ship destined toward the colony continent. In a few years, when the heat dies down, she'll return and get on with her life. Bellis doesn't count on being captured by a floating pirate city--Armada. But being on Armada, cut off from her own land, is not the worst of Bellis's problems. The rulers of Armada have set themselves a mission--to trap a huge underwater creature large enough to pull the entire city--and to explore the torn parts of the world--where probabilities and possibilities can be mined, tuned, and used. Second only to the two lovers who rule most of Armada, Uther Doul dominates the pirate city and the entire novel. Doul has trained himself as a martial artist, but is armed with a sword that he calls a possibility blade--it is simultaneously capable of exploring all of the possibilities open to a sword, and killing with each of these possibilities. Yet Doul's own motivations remain unclear, unknowable. Between Doul and New Crobuzon spy Simon Fench, Bellis is manipulated, fooled into actions she never would have taken on her own, and nearly destroyed. Yet Bellis continus to strive for her hopeless eventual return to New Crobuzon. Author China Meiville excells at world building. The magical system, the rich history of this world, and the city of Armada itself dominate the story and keep the reader involved, anxious for more. Meiville's writing style is strong, descriptive and intellectual. Although the plot itself is flawed--we never really understand the basic motivations that drive Doul, the critical actor in the entire novel--I found myself nevertheless entranced by the novel.
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