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emibutton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? No
3.75
averypleasantpineapple's review against another edition
2.0
It’s full of big ideas and sometimes this is enough for me, but this time even the most imaginative concepts could not save this mess of a book. It’s the narration that I just couldn’t stand and it wouldn’t let me feel engaged in the story. I liked the parts that talked about the mechanics of Language but for most of it I felt like I had a stroke. (And I don’t mean the sci-fi vocabulary – I can deal with that! It’s the style of prose I had a problem with.) I’ve loved “The City & the City” and am seriously disappointed by what I’ve read this time.
timinbc's review against another edition
4.0
Three stars. No, six. I settled on four. There's so much in here. I won't forget it for a long time. Can I say that it's a great novel but not necessarily a good novel? I love it but I don't like it? Something like that. Maybe I could find a simile ...
OK, a serious examination of how languages work, and limitations on communication, and colonialism, and what it might be like to try to coexist with aliens, and lots more. Stitched into an acceptably ordinary SF framework. I read Ursula LeGuin's review, and yes, what she said (although how did she miss what a "miab" is, when we were told in so many words?)
Good characters, many of them complex and credible. Reasonably plausible story arc, although I have some serious reservations about the resolution (see below).
But I struggled throughout with Avice's simile. I didn't get who decided that this would be hers, and what it would be. And it bothered me that her simile was repeated over and over and over again as if the entire plot depended on it. Maltese Falcon, Maltese Falcon. You could argue that the plot DID depend on it, but I'd respond that any of 20 other similes could have been as good a hinge. Indeed, the whole simile thing bugged me. We are only shown a few, and the others are obscure. I waited for an explanation of how they got started on using the similes; in the end I'm not sure it connects properly to the other things that were going on in the alien society. I admit that perhaps I just don't have enough understanding of the theoretical/academic underpinnings; it appears that Miéville does.
I was fine with the Ambassadors, not so much with Ez. I had trouble accepting that the alien language was workable, and I'm not fussy. I had no trouble with Niven's Puppeteers, or wheeled creatures, or creatures that float in Saturn's atmosphere or live in a moon's ice. Maybe I can accept it like this:
The last 80 pages or so brought things together nicely, but I had problems with it.
I will give Miéville credit for the way he worked the last two unchanged aliens into the resolution.
Maybe I need to read this again. It's not an easy book, not at all. If you've been reading sword/inn/magic/elf pageturners or lantern-jawed blaster-wielding planetary-ambassador stories, maybe you should read another Miéville as a warmup.
OK, a serious examination of how languages work, and limitations on communication, and colonialism, and what it might be like to try to coexist with aliens, and lots more. Stitched into an acceptably ordinary SF framework. I read Ursula LeGuin's review, and yes, what she said (although how did she miss what a "miab" is, when we were told in so many words?)
Good characters, many of them complex and credible. Reasonably plausible story arc, although I have some serious reservations about the resolution (see below).
But I struggled throughout with Avice's simile. I didn't get who decided that this would be hers, and what it would be. And it bothered me that her simile was repeated over and over and over again as if the entire plot depended on it. Maltese Falcon, Maltese Falcon. You could argue that the plot DID depend on it, but I'd respond that any of 20 other similes could have been as good a hinge. Indeed, the whole simile thing bugged me. We are only shown a few, and the others are obscure. I waited for an explanation of how they got started on using the similes; in the end I'm not sure it connects properly to the other things that were going on in the alien society. I admit that perhaps I just don't have enough understanding of the theoretical/academic underpinnings; it appears that Miéville does.
I was fine with the Ambassadors, not so much with Ez. I had trouble accepting that the alien language was workable, and I'm not fussy. I had no trouble with Niven's Puppeteers, or wheeled creatures, or creatures that float in Saturn's atmosphere or live in a moon's ice. Maybe I can accept it like this:
Spoiler
In the end we see that this is a society that's sort of gone sideways to get where it is, and is unstable; the humans help them get back. So maybe it wasn't workable, and a few of them knew it (perhaps subconsciously). But if so, HOW did they get there?The last 80 pages or so brought things together nicely, but I had problems with it.
Spoiler
(1) You held Scile over our heads for the entire book, and in the end THAT's what he was up to? Feh. (2) For a long, long time the aliens struggled with their limitations of thinking/language, with a very few making tiny steps forward. Avice steps in, cycles through variations on her simile, and a few hours later an entire society is transforming a drooling army into an ivied university campus and we're all buddies again. It's as if Abe Lincoln sat down with three slave owners, explained things to them, and they walked out saying, "Hey fellas, stop the war, we had it all wrong!"I will give Miéville credit for the way he worked the last two unchanged aliens into the resolution.
Maybe I need to read this again. It's not an easy book, not at all. If you've been reading sword/inn/magic/elf pageturners or lantern-jawed blaster-wielding planetary-ambassador stories, maybe you should read another Miéville as a warmup.
rainjrop's review against another edition
3.0
This book may be 340-some pages but spiritually it's 700+
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
How could I not be drawn to a book that is actually about language? Especially when it's by China Miéville. It was wonderful, though not flawless, and when I find the time I want to do a fuller review because there are Things I want to talk about.
grahamclements's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliantly imagined alien world with some of the most alien aliens I have read encountered in a novel. In the far reaches of space a human embassy town inhabits a section of an alien city. The aliens and humans had taken decades to be able to communicate, and the humans are still not sure how the communication works. Then one day they change they way in which the communication is delivered with unforeseen consequences. This is a novel about language and communication, where there are no Star Trek universal translators. Where the main character becomes an alien simile. It will probably be unlike any novel you have read. A ripper slab of world building and its plot is more like what actual contact with intelligent aliens might be like. The novel is on par with Mieville's The Scar.
competencefantasy's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
pegasusjones's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The opening three-quarters of the book are spellbinding, but the conclusion stumbles frequently enough to decrease the overall quality, resulting in a good novel that could have been great.
boazkwakkel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
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
An excellent mix of sci-fi, political commentary and structural linguistics. Like nothing I have ever read before.
bgoldber88's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
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? Yes
4.5