Books by author: China Mieville

This is another strong outing from China Mieville. Like Perdido Street Station and The Scar, Iron Council is set in the world of Bas Lag, and it is infused with the politics of its major city, New Crobuzon. As in those other books, Mieville creates a rich tapestry of characters and setting, and he proves again the fertility of his imagination. Having finished the novel, my mental images of the Iron Council itself are as vivid and unforgettable as those of the Armada in The Scar.

Two of the characters, Judah and Ori, are drawn with great detail, and they are among Mieville's best characters to date. Many of the other characters, Ann-Hari, Qurabin, Cutter, Spiral Jacobs, and Drogon, are intriguing, but are intentionally left draped in mystery. Mieville loves to give minor details without ever revealing the whole picture — a device that makes the reader feel immersed in an unfamiliar world.

To be honest, when I only had fifty pages left to read in this novel, I wasn't sure Mieville was going to be able to pull off a convincing ending — there were several loose threads and a few seemingly inconsequential characters — but in the end, it's a coherent whole, and the final twists turn out to be pretty-much inevitable. If you are new to Bas Lag, start with the other novels, but don't skip this one.

King Rat was Mieville's first novel, and it displays a few signs of his later greatness, but it is much less satisfying than either Perdido Street Station or The Scar. Unlike his later books (and the upcoming, eagerly anticipated, Iron Council), which are set in the fictional world of Bas Lag, King Rat is part of the tiny fantasy sub-genre which sets mythological elements against a modern background of seedy underworld (c.f., Lisa Goldstein's Dark Cities Underground and Gaiman's Neverwhere).

In this case, the setting is London and the mythological element is the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The protagonist, Saul Garamond, is suddenly thrust into a conflict he doesn't understand, in which he is forced to come to terms with a burdensome heritage and engage an ancient enemy.

Mieville succeeds in creating a murky atmosphere, and (mostly) in making Garamond's character compelling, but the supporting cast are only sketched, and although Mieville tries hard to weave Jungle (drum and bass) music into the warp and woof of the novel, he is only partially successful. The climactic nightclub scene is like the rave scene in the second Matrix movie — vaguely exciting but definitely disappointing. The final showdown is anticlimactic (the bad guy's "secret" weapon is patently obvious 100 pages earlier), and although the denouement yields a somewhat unexpected relationship twist, it's not enough to pull the novel much above mediocrity.

If you are new to Mieville, start with Perdido Street Station, and come back to this only if you turn into a die-hard fan. King Rat isn't bad, but it's a long shot from his best work.

This book did not start off well for me. I'm not a fan of fantasy novels with main characters who are not human (few authors can justify such extravagance). Perdido Street Station introduces Garuda ("bird-man") and Khepri (half woman/half insect) characters within the first few pages, and I nearly stopped reading, but I'm glad I persevered. Perdido Street Station is extremely well written. It has many strange elements, but nearly all of them serve the story. Mieville is a very descriptive writer, and though he uses the word "palimpsest" way too many times (and I think there must be a different meaning of the word in England, because the way he uses it doesn't match the definition in my dictionary), he grabbed my attention within 75 pages and hooked me. I think Perdido Street Station is a better novel than American Gods and probably should have won the Hugo this year.

I'm not sure if The Scar is actually a lot better than Perdido Street Station, or if I just enjoyed it a lot more because I now know better what to expect from Mieville. Either way, I'm very impressed by The Scar. Mieville has created a well-balanced fantasy/sci-fi novel with an ambitious story arc, a handful of well-drawn characters, and a sustained set of climaxes that build on each other until they arrive at a very satisfying conclusion.

On a side note, I'm particularly intrigued by the Uther Doul character; I'd be very interested in reading about his life leading up to his time on Armada. On the down side, I would have liked to see the Brucolac character developed a bit more.

I recommend Mieville's work heartily. It's not a timeless masterpiece, but it is an outstanding work of fiction.