Reviews

• Stunning and original

  This is the first book I have ever read by China Mieville. I picked it up by chance as a staff recommendation in a small but quality-centric bookstore in my city. It has become one of my top three or five favourite books of all time. If I had to compare it to any book, I would say that it is not unlike Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" in that it presents complex ideas in shifting points of view with no clear moral high ground. I would liken Cutter to Genly Ai, and Judah Low to Estraven. A large portion of this book is written in a style I am familiar with from Alan Paton's "Cry, The Beloved Country", and it is beautiful. I loved it when I read Paton's book in my first year in college, and Mieville's echo of it does not disappoint. It gives the story a sense of being otherwhere in time from the rest of the narrative. It's raw, immediate, the stream-of-conscious feels like listening to a story spoken aloud. Thematically, this is a difficult book. I rate it 5 stars because I understand and identify with its ideas on a very deep level; they are pets to me, treasured toys of intellect, many of which make up a large part of how I define myself. This is not a clear-cut tale of good and evil. Indeed, it is never made wholly clear exactly WHY the government's corruption is so deplorable (I suspect it may be clearer to someone who has read the previous books; I have not, and do not feel that it takes away from the overall story). The heroes and villains of the story are difficult to assign and change often. In the end, this story is not about good and evil, or freedom vs. corrupt government. It is about the importance of myth, and the sacrifices of those who create it and become it. It is not an easy story to relate to or comprehend, but if you do -- if the weight of memetics is something you find worthy of investigation, if the questions of who has a RIGHT to be a savior or a revolutionary is something you wish to consider, you should read this book. Other reviews have noted and criticized the homosexual/bisexual content of this book. I note it, because it is an essential part of what drives at least one of the main characters, but I do not criticize it. To those who would, I would advise you to reevaluate your outlook on humanity. Like Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness", this book challenges the traditional validity of romantic sub-plots and the roles played in relationships. There is a sort of convoluted "love story" carried throughout the book. It is tragic. It is unbalanced. It will confuse people who are tied to the notion that a love story is about a man and a woman. This love story ignores boundaries of gender, age, and even (sometimes) species. This book contains fairly graphic depictions of nontraditional sexual desires and acts. These are not, in my estimation, gratuitous. They are very human. They represent the basic truth that humans -- whether they are from Earth, from Bas-Lag, from Gethen, male or female or androgyne or Remade -- are human. They need. They hunger. They lust. There is no meaningful difference between those who hunger for one thing or another. We are all equally warriors, martyrs, lovers, and sacrifices in the end.

• So good.

  I am hooked on this author's books. So good.

• China Miéville

  He's a great writer, full of invention which not only makes sense, but is intriguing as well. Two of his books - 'The City & The City' and 'Perdido Street Station' are among my favourite books of all time.

• I love this series

  I love this series. I have read the series before with books borrowed from the library. Love them so much I wanted to have my own copies.

• Imaginative and surprising.

  China Miéville is to my opinion one of the most talented writers I have ever read. Iron Council is the third and last chapter of the Perdido Street Station trilogy, made up of three very different books, which build up a very original universe created by a uniquely imaginative mind. It is also the most “political” one, still very readable also for readers, who are new to “weird fantasy”.

Purchase links