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I see that the upcoming issue of Dragon is going to focus on this China Mieville person. Personally, I can't remember ever hearing the name before I saw 352's cover. Still, if they are devoting a good portion of an issue to this guys stuff, then it can't be all bad, right?
So how about it? Any thoughts, opinions, etc as to Mieville's works?
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I read Perdido Street Station and, after a slow start, I thought it was brilliant. Good characters, interesing world (sort of grungy fantasy Victorian), not a simplistic black-and-white morality, though I thought it was stretching it a bit that the hero would be having an affair with a girl with a beetle for a head (yes - you did read that).
Tried to read the second book (forget the name) and again an interesting premise (a floating city made up of boats lashed together, travelling across the ocean) but somehow it dragged and I never finished it. There's a third (Iron Council, I think) but I was put off by the second so I didn't indulge. They are thick books and I didn't want to commit if I wasn't going to finish it. However, he is quite a distinctive voice. He's a British author and his fantasy is interesting and different. Eberron haters, though, beware - he has trains in his books.
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I second that. I've heard hype about it for years so I started to read Perdido Street Station in anticipation of the next Dragon. So far it's pretty slow but every now and then some odd little something lures you deeper and entices you to continue on.
...of course I liked Leonard Nimoy's Ballad to Bilbo Baggins from a different thread.
I also read Perdido Street Station. I thought it was pretty great and really drew me in. He takes a good long time getting to the meat of the story, but that allowed him a lot of character development time. I just ordered "The Scar", which is the follow-up to Perdido Street Station. It's a very dark setting based in Victorian/industrial revolution England.
It's a fantasy novel without elves, dwarves or hobbits. There are also guns, trains, and other more exotic things. Mieville is great if you enjoy moral ambiguity in your novels. I think it's kind of neat that his heroic characters lead lifestyles outside of the norm for his fantasy world, since it's more interesting to read about the exception to the rule rather than the folks that hunker down with a spouse of the opposite gender and same species and start a brood of kids.
I heartily recommend his work, especially if you're a Richard Pett fan.
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I think it's kind of neat that his heroic characters lead lifestyles outside of the norm for his fantasy world, since it's more interesting to read about the exception to the rule rather than the folks that hunker down with a spouse of the opposite gender and same species and start a brood of kids.
So you'd like a girlfriend with a beetle for a head, huh? Weirdo....
I think it's kind of neat that his heroic characters lead lifestyles outside of the norm for his fantasy world, since it's more interesting to read about the exception to the rule rather than the folks that hunker down with a spouse of the opposite gender and same species and start a brood of kids.So you'd like a girlfriend with a beetle for a head, huh? Weirdo....
You know, somewhere out there on the internet there is more than likely a website for people with Isaac's particular...romantic...abnormality. The kind one likely needs a credit card for. Oh, internet. Oh, Mieville.
I cried at what became of Lin. Who cares what shape a head is. It is what is inside it that matters. Mieville is an expert at making one identify with characters. Sometimes the fact that someone is alien or other is what is most exciting. I would think less of a person who judged a relationship like theirs to be something perverse or shameful.
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I cried at what became of Lin. Who cares what shape a head is. It is what is inside it that matters. Mieville is an expert at making one identify with characters. Sometimes the fact that someone is alien or other is what is most exciting. I would think less of a person who judged a relationship like theirs to be something perverse or shameful.
Would you sleep with a girl who had a beetle instead of a head? No, me neither.
I won't deny it is moving what happens in the book. But the relationship is still a bit, um, hard to swallow as a basic premise. But it's still a good book, which ever way you look at it.
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I really want to thank the Paizo staff, and my fellow message board posters for bringing China Mieville and Perdido Street Station to my attention.
Basically everything I've heard about this book was through the pages of Dungeon, Dragon, Polyhedron or here on the messageboards, so I probably never would have read it otherwise.
I found it a really good book, really enjoyed reading it - so thankyou Paizo community.
And Aubrey ... no, I probably wouldnt either. But by about halfway through the novel I can believe that Isaac would.
You know, somewhere out there on the internet there is more than likely a website for people with Isaac's particular...romantic...abnormality. The kind one likely needs a credit card for. Oh, internet. Oh, Mieville.I think it's kind of neat that his heroic characters lead lifestyles outside of the norm for his fantasy world, since it's more interesting to read about the exception to the rule rather than the folks that hunker down with a spouse of the opposite gender and same species and start a brood of kids.So you'd like a girlfriend with a beetle for a head, huh? Weirdo....
Yeah, I bet they are all into "role-playing." Weirdo freaks. There should be a camp. Oh well, off to the Paizo store to use my credit card to buy more downloads.
;)
GGG
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Have you ever kissed a beetle? Why do you think I'm so malformed - those pincers HURT!I had a hercules beetle on me in Panama once. Boy was it big.
It wasn't that sexy or anything.
Yeah, but did you get it to open its carapace, and delicately trace your finger along it's fragile wings whilst -
um. Never mind.
Would you sleep with a girl who had a beetle instead of a head?
You've heard of the proverbial paper bag, right? From the description of Lin in the book, she's HOT, despite having the scarab thingy for a noggin, so . . . yeah . . . I'd do her.
Seriously, I too want to thank the guys at Dragon for introducting me to this series of books. I am nearly halfway through The Scar and finding it a bit better than Perdido Street Station. Just a bit. Tanner is an interesting character - bottom of the barrel scum to most but earning a modicum of respect and dignity on Armada. Bellis is also intriguing. And Doul?! The Brucolac?! Like Ronald, I'm lovin' it!
Now if I can only convince my DM to let me roll up a cactacae . . .
My drawings for Iron Council (completely unsactioned and probably violating some copyright laws) are on my blog thingy, The Shelton Diagram Factory if anyone wants to check out some of my interpretations of things in the book. If I had time, I would do more Mievillian stuff like Cactacae and Khepri, but I'm short on it now.
Mieville is imaginative and has a vivid world. I like his use of adjectives. Definitely echoes of pulp Howard and Lovecraft.
I've read both Perdido Street Station and The Scar, and I really enjoyed them... now I'm reading The Sword of Truth series and the Wheel of Time series at the same time (crazy me) so someday, someday, I'll pick up The Iron Council for sure.
I'm sold to China Miéville world, and that mostly because of two words: POSSIBLE SWORD... awesome.
I really wasn't an Uther Doul fan. Maybe it's just my gut instinct against the Inscrutable, Infallible Super Kill Guy Character but he wasn't anywhere near as compelling as some of Mieville's other characters. I'll take Tanner Sack, Isaac Dan Der Grimnebulin, Bellis Coldwine or Lemuel Pigeon over that guy any day.
I really want to thank the Paizo staff, and my fellow message board posters for bringing China Mieville and Perdido Street Station to my attention.
Basically everything I've heard about this book was through the pages of Dungeon, Dragon, Polyhedron or here on the messageboards, so I probably never would have read it otherwise.
Yes. Because of Dragon 352, featuring Perdido Street, I was introduced to a whole new direction of fantasy novels. Amazon links helped too but it all started with Paizo.
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I really wasn't an Uther Doul fan. Maybe it's just my gut instinct against the Inscrutable, Infallible Super Kill Guy Character but he wasn't anywhere near as compelling as some of Mieville's other characters. I'll take Tanner Sack, Isaac Dan Der Grimnebulin, Bellis Coldwine or Lemuel Pigeon over that guy any day.
A-friggin'-men, dude.