PERDIDO STREET STATION by China Mieville - No Spoiler Review (New Crobuzon Book One) 

Forgot to add never visiting New Crobuzon even if someone paid me! 😆 The following book, The Scar, has some...stuff...and when I was reading, I felt like the stuff was on me! Real creepy-crawly vibes. Edit: Mieville has himself said he grew a lot as an author between Perdido (2000) and The Scar (2002) and he is a lot prouder of the latter. The third, Iron Council, I haven't read and is the most polarising among readers because he intersperses a bit more of his political views. Two other books I've read: Kraken - absolute wild ride and Embassytown, imo his best novel but it's SF. Coincidence, I'm reading his first non-fiction novel now.

Just finished this and it was like nothing I have ever read. Melville took chances and many times they ended up working in my opinion. His world building was so atmospheric that I choked on the humidity. The Weaver and Mantis? Loved those characters!! There just so much to digest in this one.

I am endlessly amazed by Mieville's imagination. Easily one of my favourite authors of all time. Beautiful prose with some of the most intense and thoughtful themes I've ever read. Kraken, City & the City, Embassytown, This Census Taker and Dial H are all 5 star reads for me. He's also just fascinating to listen to in interviews. He's intimidatingly intelligent and eloquent haha. Glad you liked Perdido and hope you check out lots more.

Picturing Yagharek looking like Big Bird had me snorting with laughter.

So you've discovered marxist fantasy. Perdido Street Station is among the first 5 books I ever got on audible, all the way back in 2007 and it flashed me completely back then. I read the horror element as a metaphor for the cost of living in that system, losing your mind. The ending of course is a brutal gutpunch. As for his other writings, all of the things I read of his was extremely thought-provoking from the weird magical realism detective's tale of The City And The City over the crazy fun popculture massacre of Kraken, the surrealist insanity of The Last Days Of New Paris that just goes insane with art history and WWII elements. A Spectre Haunting... is his non-fiction explication of the Communist Manifesto and Embassytown is one of the most interesting meditations over language and the impossibilities of communication.

The scene that always sticks in my mind from this book is the Abbatoir one where he goes in depth of the butchering of the pigs just to set up that one characters intro. Such gruesome detail for such a small scene that nonetheless criticizes the modern food industry. Such a well written book.

I'm reading this book right now, I'm about halfway through. I am utterly in love with it. The writing, the jaw-dropping imagination, the merging of disparate ideas and the reflections on society...if I could marry a book I'd be out shopping for a ring right now

Just finished this last night, the ending hit me hard. Woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Many different emotions. Wow. Definitely recommend.

Thanks for this great indepth review! I had quite a few people telling me that this is fabulous and that I need to read this. But you definitely convinced me that I need to give this priority and bump it up the tbr.

Wow what an awesome review-I feel like I would have the same critiques, but your chaotic passion for this one still had me pumped to try it

I subscribed to your channel after watching your Berserk's reviews, and for some reason I knew I'd find a great review of yours about some book of my favorite author. Please do continue exploring through Miéville's vast and awesome body of work!

This is a stellar review, man. The book could hang together better, but there were so many scenes that were just SO evocative. That ending hit me like a sledgehammer.

I've heard this title floating around everywhere and yet I somehow had zero clue what the book was actually about, lol. Really loved hearing your thoughts, sounds like this book was quite the experience! I am also not a visual reader and I think it's easy to get frustrated when you have to deliberately slow down your reading pace to be able to appreciate the descriptions and immerse yourself in the story, but it's nice to hear that you think it really paid off here! Great review, you really piqued my interest with everything you said here! ☺

I’m glad you enjoyed it! Wonderful review and articulation of the feel and imagination of the story, as well as navigating the various aspects that make it special but also hit or miss. If you want to continue Mieville I think there are multiple options with The Scar, Embassytown, The City and the City, Railsea-all good in different ways. I’ll just say generally that the ending also left me twisted, but I love that reading experience. Certainly, it’s a part of why it is so memorable for me.

I’m still thinking about this book regularly since finishing it a couple of months ago. Glad you enjoyed it! Looking forward to The Scar! Great review man!

This one is part of my 2023 TBR. I'll get back to you on it after reading it. Good to hear it's so mind-blowing.

Great video. I loved City and the City and Embassytown by C.M. I haven't finished this one and I'm now even more excited for it.

Loved this Jimmy! This is one of the approx 8000 series that I pick up on kindle when on sale with the plan to get to one day. Definitely intrigued to read and revisit this.

I went on a Mieville kick back in college and really enjoyed his work. Definitely some refreshing, if unsettling, takes! It's been a while so I don't remember the details of the plot for this one but I remember the vibes were immaculate. I'll have to give it a reread sometime.

You said the book hasn't left you after reading it, well I read this at the end of last year and I still can't get it out of my head, so I sometimes look for reviews. I like how none of the characters are left untouched in terms of flaws, and no one really has a good plot when you think about it. After looking into the cosmic horror genre, I think Perdido Street Station can be considered as cosmic horror. There's this overarching sense of dread throughout the story in some form or other, especially after Isaac's little incident. It truly was a fascinating book! To get into Mieville's world again, I recently ordered The Scar.

Great review! The book has so much great content within its pages

This book has been on my shelf for TWENTY YEARS! About time I read it!

I haven't read this one, but I've read a few of Mieville's book. My favourite is easily The City and the City - super interesting, a weird detective story that takes place in two cities with a weird relationship to each other. Unlundun was pretty fun too.

I read that book a few years ago and i loved it. I have no problem with the ending except that i wanted to know what happens next. Amazingly creative and original.

This was my favorite book that I read last year, I was blown away by the scope of New Crobuzon and just how tangible and real Mieville makes it despite how wildly fantastical it is. There's so much I could say, and Perdido Street Station is one of those books that overwhelms me with its scope and imagination. He did in 1 book what many authors would do in 3 with how much depth he put into the world and story. As for the ending, I really enjoyed it. It was heart-wrenching and it hit me in the gut really hard, but it felt satisfying at the same time if that makes any sense. I find the ending cements one of Mieville's biggest strengths as a writer, which is how he can create a culture that feels completely alien to our own. When what Yagherek did is revealed, there are still questions that I have about what exactly happened, but I won't spoil that here because I want people to read it for themselves. I have read the other 2 Bas-Lag books, and like I said before I think The Scar is also well worth a read. Iron Council has some good stuff in it, but I was left disappointed by it personally. It seems that I'm not alone since it seems to be a divisive book for many fans. Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed it and I liked the video!

Jimmy more than any other booktuber your tastes seem to align with mine the most, and I'm liking what I've been hearing about this book. Moving it up the priority list. Also you'll be happy to know I've restarted Liveship Traders.

Just finished this one. Great review. Agree with the chaos and unbridled imagination. Lots of funny bits in here as well. Minor spoilers: The 🌵 people chapter was great. I wanted more from the Minister of hell. I agreed that Lin POV was missing for the second half of the book.

As you suggested, I returned after I finished the book. Thank you for motivating me to read it. It was a huge one week challenge, but I read the first 43 chapters in Romanian ultil I got confident ( and until I got a hold of an affordable English Hardback ). Both Lin and Yagharek fascinated me. Also I now understand why this book is so divisive. Just that conflicting ending! For a moment it felt like it will tear my heart from my chest, but I appreciated it none the least. I am looking forward to read more from Mieville. A bit of minor spoilers ahead. The Weaver and particulary the Ambassador from hell were my favorites to visualize inside my head.

Oh one of my favorite books from one of my favorite authors! I was so mesmerized by it when I read it!

Just last weekend I thought it is weird that noone ever talks about China Miéville on booktube. And dang there it is. Glad you loved PSS. I liked The Scar even more.

I've heard this book mentioned over the years but I had no idea what it was about until now. I think I'll put it on my list. After reading Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky I think I'm ready to read a book where the main character is a bug.

Nice review, plenty of the things you touched upon dredged up some resonance in me. It's interesting how people can experience the same thing and come out feeling so differently about it. I read this book over 20 years ago and have never encountered another persons opinion on it other than to be aware that it is very well received by some. Something to which I am honestly at a loss to understand but am ok with. I think I must have been so finished with this book before I was done reading it that I don't even remember there being anything remarkable about the last chapter. To be fair 20 years is a long time and I don't remember some of my favorite books from that long ago so well either. But yeah, whether you like it or not, this book will leave a mark. And who knows, maybe I'd feel differently about it if I were to read it again. But that's just not going to happen. edit: With regards to your tbr; I may not be the best to give an opinion considering our opinions of Perdido Street Station. On the other hand I do love A Song of Ice and Fire and am currently enjoying some Robin Hobb due to hearing your relentless enthusiasm for her. Anyhow, Iain M. Banks, or just Iain Banks for that matter, I've read almost every one of them (all the sci-fi). And while they might not all be solid gold (some of them are diamonds though), I don't regret the time spent reading any one of them.

I remember someone watching me read this book and being surprised when I said I really enjoyed it. Apparently I made some disgusted and concerned faces while reading 😅 definitely time for a reread, thanks for the reminder! I would recommend The Scar next, which is a (very loose) follow-up of Perdido Street Station.

They say Piranesi is similar. I’ve never read Perdido but I have read Piranesi which is by far my favorite book of all time now.

Happy reading to you! 🍂

One of my all time faves, that ending still sticks with me.

And yes Mieville is fucking weird. I love it!

I got this book on kindle free many years ago but I’ve yet to read it…I think I’ll have to get to it now. I am a visual reader…it’s like a movie in my mind

absolutely loved this book/world....incredible imagination - i felt a real sense of loss when i finished

The city actually comes alive - undead really - for me the most in Yagharek's prologue (who seems a shadow protagonist, which kind of gets mythologized *slightly* in Iron Council, revolving of course around the myth of Jack too). An outsider's perspective for outsiders - the readers. And yeah, the sledgehammer ending to the Yagharek's subplot is quite something (and outlandishly symbolic come the Iron Council, but that little thread is really brought together in that novel, astoundingly in almost a throwaway line). Btw. if you got anything out of the Half-a-prayer character (figure?), do yourself a favor and go for the short story "Jack" in Jake and Other Stories.

‘Vermishank’s voice was hushed. “Our thoughts ferment like the purest liquor. That is what the slake-moths drink, Isaac. Not the meat-calories slopping about in the brainpan, but the fine wine of sapience and sentience itself, the subconscious. “Dreams.”’

A great review of a very unique book. New Crobuzon is so gritty and Mieville's writing just amplifies that. 100% agree with you about "What is going on in Mieville's head"? 😄 Mieville is basically one of the two (three?) pivotal New Weird writers. Spoilers below: The ending absolutely wrecked me. I was so angry because Lin was my favourite character. So the author succeeded if that was his intention but oh my God it was so hard to read.

i hope you read The Scar. of the three in the New Crobuzon trilogy, i thought it was the one that works the best. still grimy, somewhat less chaotic. If you like Sci-fi, definitely read Embassytown. lots of world-building before the story really gets going, but the plot requires that you have a lot of information so you understand how the humans are living among the natural inhabitants of the particular planet they're on. it's very inventive.

Wonderful review. I DNFed this book about 15 years ago. It sounds like I gave up too soon on it.

This book is so graphic that I had to stop audiobook 'cause it was too much for me, creepy things almost felt real and I definitely didn't want them to be any close to my reality 😅 The plot was fascinating almost as much as all descriptions were creepy. Very good review, agree with mentioned downsides of the author's execution.

The end is brutal ...

I loved this book too. It's one of the most unique things I've read so far and yeah it really shows you where the genre can go. I was worried you hated it by the thumbnail 😆 . (Spoiler below) . . . . . The ending did hit hard. I had a bit of it spoiled, in the sense of Issac's choice to not help Yhagarick, but I didn't know why until I read it. I like how it ended on such a personal and tragic note. The characters definitely gave it all to save a city that will never know or appreciate it.

I loved this book, but the followup, The Scar, is even better in my opinion. Rat King is good too and Kraken and Embassytown. Actually all his books are good.

hi i would reccomen u read sirens of titan it is a great sci fi classic writen in 1960 i think it is a great and interesting contrast to moddern sci fi

China Mieville is a genius. Helps that he's a good person too

This one could be a hidden gem. I haven't heard of it.

I love this indepth review, my dude. I also have been recommended this a ton but it just sounds too freaking weird lol

Absolutely love the first two books. Wasn't a huge fan of the 3rd, felt it lacked compelling characters and didn't have much in the way of a plot.

This book gives a glimpse of what fantasy could do if writers and fans were not so conservative. I wish some people would do a spoiler discussion of it. The Scar is just as good, or bad, and very different. It works as stand alone, in a different location in the same world.

Finally watched this, sorry buddy. You’ve pushed this from “might read” to “high priority” 🤘🏻 the sound is super crisp too, keep that mic plugged in

Wait I thought you said you can't visualize? Did you improve?

Hello! Just upload the review of metro 2033 horror novel....

An interesting review, but I have to disagree with your assessment, and it seems everyone else's. You mentioned the use Mieville's description of the city as something that put you off, but that matched the "feel" or "charm" of the book. Where is the charm in guns that are described as "vomiting" bullets, smokestacks that "retch" pollution into the sky? The buildings all seem to be scabby and scaly, or else covered in snot or mold, the air is everywhere dank, rank, fetid, rancid, or having a stench or miasma. The water is everywhere mucal or fecal or some other bodily fluid. A sack that is full is described as "bloated," machines are described as "rutting." Does anyone really enjoy this type of writing and description? Does anyone think that this is high art? Obviously, these word choices are deliberate, and they serve some goal (although besides showing the author's obsession with bodies and their lack of purity, I'm not 100% sure what that goal is...). Is the goal they serve a worthy one? And if everything is dirty, then we can't really talk about dirtiness in a meaningful way, because we can't distinguish between clean and dirty. Real writers describe their worlds in mixed terms: some things are beautiful, some are neutral, and some are negative. Mieville can't seem to manage this most of the time. Mieville's style also strikes me as similar in some ways to Janny Wurts. I remember loving her way with words as a teenager, but when I tried to re-read her books several years ago, I was horrified to find it...bloviated and overly-flowery. Most of Wurts' and Mieville's sentences are packed with adjectives and adverbs, building on connotations and repeating certain themes. I found it hard to distinguish between important themes and events and things that they just throw out for...reasons. Here is an example from Mieville: "The great cable slipped in spurts into the water by the riverwall. It plunged absolutely precipitately into the darkness, hitting the surface at 90 degrees." The event he is describing is part of an important plan to eliminate the main baddies in the book, but the act of the cable going into the water is not in itself important, yet it is described in exhaustive, exhausting, and repetitive detail. He takes the same approach when illustrating the relationship between Lin and Isaac at one point in the story: while most writers are taught "Show, don't tell," Mieville takes two paragraphs and literally explains to the reader the meanings behind a several sentence exchange between the two. He could have accomplished the same effect using a few carefully chosen adverbs to describe how each character reacted to the other. Similar to my point about his use of bodily fluid language, if everything is decorated and frilled with adverbs and adjectives, then everything starts to blur together. We need simple sentences with punch. We also need complicated ones that make you think and create dense imagery. Using both well is what good writers do. I see a heavy use of the latter in Perdido Street Station. To get out of the weeds a bit, there are the problems of his plotting and world building. Killing one of the baddies, who are described as only partially existing in our dimension (and thus not easily damaged by physical attacks), by dropping a big heavy object on it, is not an appropriate choice. One might even say uninspired, contradictory, or stupid. As for world building, I'll just say that combining elements of real world cultures the way he does is not creative or interesting, but for me was more distracting. One of his characters uses "capiche," for fucks sake. How does Italian-American gangster slang belong in a world where Italians and the mafia don't exist? Or Hell, for that matter, in a world that doesn't seem to have Christianity, Judaism, or a god. Or how about currencies like shekels, marks, and Guineas? This all just seems like lazy world building.