Reviews

The Scar by China Miéville

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giovanni_real's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jaqueca's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Content Warnings

Heaping scoops of ideas and general weirdness piled on a solid foundation of steampunk pirates... No real good guys, except maybe for the escaped slave with the tentacles and the gills...

Some of the fantasy ideas in here seem to be purposeful metaphors, and the author even rubs some in the readers' faces, like when he compares the murderous mosquito people with a deep sea oil drill. But there are so many strange things going on, so that there is a lot to puzzle over. I'm not sure what he is trying to get at with the Scar of the title and all the other scars in the story, for example.

Other, more familiar fantasy tropes are rearranged, like a bureaucratic vampire-pirate leader whose followers gladly pay him a "goretax" ... is Mieville writing an apology for dictatorship here or asking deep questions about how leader/follower relationships are sustained?

adz864's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

beebidon's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I have to be careful when I think about The Scar because it takes very little provocation to think "I should read that again" instead of whatever book I'm actually trying to get through. I cannot get enough of the world, the concept, the plot. I could read 18 books following Armada through the years and never get bored. It's an incredibly ripe vein of content from an author that already knew how to create killer lore, character design, and mythos.

I'm a fanatic for Bas-Lag and while I keep meaning to read Iron Council it's because of the Scar that I'm so enamored. If you've read Perdido Street Station, you'll know there are some...very problematic choices (imo) that Mieville took with his female characters there. Here, Bellis may be annoying in the beginning (really, the only complaint I have, but stick with her, it's worth it)but at least she has growth...and doesn't get fridged to cause someone else trauma.

(By the way, you don't have to read Perdido to enjoy this. There are some nods to it--Bellis' reason for being on the ocean is related to the events, but you don't NEED to know what happened, just that things were traumatic and bad in New Crobuzon and now she's fleeing. Anything else relevant it tells you.)

I also feel like comparatively China has found his voice more in this one. Perdido has a truly wild plot and characters and creatures but it felt stuffed to the gills with vocabulary like he was trying to show off. Here he chills out a little, other than flexing how many words for different types of boats he can cram in.

Seriously, I recommend this book so much more than Perdido.

thatsmrsnyder's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

A frustrating and ultimately disappointing read. An interesting and unique world populated by thin characters and prose that shows potential and can be beautiful, but too often feels too amateur to really land. Mieville seems delighted with his own vocabulary, but personally if I never read the word "puissant" again I'll be delighted.