Perdido Street Station

I loved so many aspects of this story. The world-building - a broken-down, dismal place where industry and magic work together and compete with each other - astonished me. This book drips theme. Some readers may find this time spent on the vivid description disconcerting, but not a moment was wasted in my opinion. I loved the constructs, the remades, and the alien aspects of the species.

The characters really took time to grow on me. I instinctively did not like Isaac and Lin repelled me, even though her uniqueness won me over first. Yagharek, I immediately decided was a victim of unfair judgment. Damn those Garuda! How could they do that to him? Clearly with all his bravery in the struggle, he lived up to my expectations. ;-) Damn those Garuda!

I enjoyed Derkhan most of the others, along with that nice fellow who gave Lin that job when she needed a diversion.

I'm not going to comment on the plot, except to say it NEVER felt forced. Everything was in its right place, all the time. The focus on the roles of the principal characters in the story was never lost and by the end of the story I nodded along thinking... yep, this feels right. I kind of wish someone could have repaid Motley for all his generosity.

I did think that the Weaver was a bit of a Deus Ex Machina element, but at the same time, he had enough negatives to keep the balance, so...

As for China Miéville's style, I found it very florid, lush even, with some exotic plants like oneiric &
kukris in the mix, which lend some color. Most often it reads too quickly and you want it to slow down. There are some sections, like when the weaver is introduced that are lovely and yet so chilling. I think that some of this book could be considered more horror than fantasy.

It is a big story and I took a long time to read it, because I was reading 4-5 other books at the same time. That's probably a mistake, but it's a habit. When the story gets its talons in me, I let go of the others, so it's first come first served. I think I finished this 3rd of that bunch (it's not really formal). One reason is that the book is longish. Not knowing the word count, I'd guess about 650 p is 240K words or more, so if you plan to read it in a skein, you better put some hardcore time together.

Anyway, this was a great effort, very enjoyable, and I'm glad I didn't listen to all the people that were so shocked by the gore (like the council construct's avatar). In this book, that is not terror. The terror is the overall air of repression which I'm hoping will be explored in the other two of the series.

Recommended!

3 to 3.5 stars. How I wish Goodreads let me choose half stars. I quite struggled with this book. For one, the author loves the use of big words. English is not my native language and so for the first time ever I had to make heavy use of the Kindle-provided dictionary. I probably forgot most of those big words again.

Describing the plot of PSS is tricky, because it's such a lengthy story, and even now that I am done, I am not 100% sure what the main story was. Was it Yagharek's struggle? The slake-moths? The crisis engine? I don't know. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Perdido Street Station is the name of the central railway station of New Crobuzon, a large city in the world of Bas-Lag. The world itself is a mix of magic and steampunk elements. To me, New Crobuzon felt like a second London, with a grimy layer of industrialization, poverty and oppression above it all. Technology was strange. You have steampowered constructs on the brink of achieving AI. You have a strange technology called Remaking that creates men with mantis arms, hookers that are all legs or whatever fetish is desired, or creatures like Mr. Motley, the crime boss of New Crobuzon.

Set in this world we have Isaac, who has a secret relationship with his khepri lover Lin. She's insectoid, and their relationship is taboo. He works as a scientist, she is an artist. Everything changes when Yagharek arrives at Isaac's door. He is a garuda, an avian race, and he committed a crime amongst his people that saw his wings removed. He now comes to Isaac to have him develop a way to fly again for the desperate garuda. In his thirst to accomplish this feat, Isaac unknowingly unleashes a threat upon the city that threatens to destroy all of New Crobuzon and more, the deadly slake-moths.

Really, when I summarize this, I marvel at the unique setting and the races, and everything that makes this novel special. I also despair that this is wasted when the author chose to make this novel at least 30% longer than it should have been. The cast of characters is too large, and some elements seemed pointless. Why introduce us to Derkhan's editor? Only to show us that New Crobuzon's government is ruthless? The exposure is too much, the hunt for the slake-moths takes too long, and even the end drags on after the grand finale. The book goes out with a whimper, not a bang. I am really quite torn if I should continue with the next book set in this world.

It's not light reading, and it drags, but it's also not what I would consider completely terrible. For the adventurous steampunk fan, I suppose.