Perdido Street Station

by China Miéville

Book Overview

WINNER OF THE AUGUST DERLETH AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDS - A masterpiece brimming with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and fierce characters, from the author who "has reshaped modern fantasy" (The Washington Post)

"[China Mi?ville's] fantasy novels, including a trilogy set in and around the magical city-state of New Crobuzon, have the refreshing effect of making Middle-earth seem plodding and flat."--The New York...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345443020
• ISBN13: 9780345443021
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 752 Pages
• Weight: 1.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The First Time You Have Been Here

To claim a given book is an entirely new experience is probably inaccurate; too many books have been written. However there are some works that are such a unique read that they come as close to unique as a work can. "Perdido Street Station", is such a book, and the Author China Mieville is just such an Author. How this person finds time to produce a work such as this and read for his PhD at the London School Of Economics is pretty impressive in itself. You can also put aside any preconceived notion of what Economists may look like, for Mr. Mieville is as far from Alan Greenspan in appearance as one can get.I cannot classify this book with any other that I have read. To illustrate the unusual place this book describes and the apparent contradictions that abound there is this. If you can imagine a society that has analog computers that have gained sentience but then use black powder flintlock guns as weapons, you are on your way. If you believe art is something that originates and flows from the mind, this Author has an artist you will never forget. The book is large in size, scope, and complexity, yet it all works it all makes sense.There is a character that has committed a crime for which he seeks to recover from. The crime is not unique; however the law that codifies what he has done is extraordinary. Simply stated this individual committed, "choice theft". I don't know if there are two words, or a phrase of any length that describes virtually every crime that is perpetrated, in this fictional world, or in ours. It is not just a clever phrase; it governs an entire society through those two words with variables for emphasis as the only modifiers.The Author's world is inhabited with enigmatic species, humans, and Re-mades. The last of the three may seem easily defined, but to make such a presumption would be wrong. Re-mades are the result of need, criminal punishment, and sometimes for the deranged a method of self-expression. These are not the, "skin-jobs", of, "Blade Runner", fame, nor are they clones. They are about as far from clones as is imaginable.The conflict the book deals with is not unique, however it is delivered in such a manner as to deserve the distinction of being referred to as such. The world of New Crobuzon must deal with the consequences of one man's actions to reverse the results of a punishment. Or perhaps it is the result of more traditional faults not limited to the entirely human world. However you choose to read and see this dark place as you travel through, "Canker Wedge, Spit Bazaar, The Glass House, The Rim, Mog Hill, and Bonetown", the adventure will become your own. And if you happen upon the, "River Gross Tar", well that will be for you to deal with in your mind's eye.A remarkable piece of fiction that is filled with social commentary, the structure of society, and yes, even a bit of economics.

Rich, oustanding novel

The thing that I really hate about most science fiction/fantasy, is that with a few notable exceptions, the authors treat their characters as throw-aways. All to often they are insipid automatons, that exist for the sole purpose of populating spectacular worlds. The authors of these novels have great creativity and imagination, but they never turn it into anything meaningful.Not so, China Mieville, who creates characters who think and feel and have consciences. In his masterful "Perdido Street Station" he not only creates a city-state of remarkable depth and grit, but his characters are perfect fractal reflections of their environment. Some are good, some are bad, all are troubled and burdened with doubt and fear; but they are also all complex and beautiful.In a remarkable world that mixes science fiction with fantasy and populated by a jaw-dropping variety of sentinent life forms, Mieville examines what it is to be "human". That is to say he explores what it is to be passionate and compassionate, moral and amoral. His characters struggle with "right" versus "easy" or "self-interest" with an astonishing depth. There were many points in this novel when I was genuinely moved.One last point, all allegory and subtlety aside, "Perdido Street Station" is just an amazing read. It has suspense, intrigue, action and romance, and it is all written in a remarkable (almost like Dickens recording a particularly vivd nighmare) style. I truly can't recommend "Perdido Street Station" strongly enough. Enjoy!

Makes you wonder.....

Oh my god, what a book. Sorry for the loose reaction to the novel, but I am still on the come down. Complex, gritty, emotional, fantastical, dark..... all of these apply to what I consider to be an immense, and epical tale from an imagination that sems fit to burst. Its a big book. It took me a while to fall into its grasp. Once I had established a relationship with the content, I was pulling 6 hour reading stints. And as a TV producer/researcher, I don't have that sort of time.Sink your teeth into this novel. Just as 'Lord of the rings' took you to another world, so will this book. You will feel yourself relating to the world it creates, and almost smelling the atmosphere described on paper. It is a story of love, freaky creatures that suck out your dreams, and insects that spit art..... If that doesn't make yo want to read it, what will? Happy reading.

Dickens, Kafka and Neal Stephenson all rolled into one!

Perdido Street Station is an extraordinary book; a work of enormous imagination fueled by a writing talent that is rare in genre novels. His skills in world-building and his brilliant use of elements from our own various mythologies lend a strange familiarity to the tone of the book. Instead of relying upon the tired, tried and true stereotypes of traditional sword & sorcery to tell his story, he has created something utterly new, utterly bold.The nightmare that is unleashed upon the city of New Crobuzon as a result of one man's good intentions is simply terrifying. The characters he has peopled the city with are neither all-good nor all-bad. They are complex, emotional, real and we understand them. They are us.Do nothing else until you read this book. And remember the name of China Mieville; he may very well be a genius.

Rocking the world of traditional Fantasy fiction

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