This Book Is Angry 

Ah, the New Weird. Some of the most distinct Worldbuilding ever, uniting SciFi, fantasy and horror. And the political messaging gets more intense particularly in Iron Council. Love these books.

This book is such a weird combination of "boots on the ground, politically-inflected urban fantasy" and "gonzo avant garde borderline surrealist weirdo stuff", and it's fascinating. New Crobuzon is one of my favourite settings because of its incredible ratio of grounded stuff to bananas stuff. Like, they have beetle headed people, but there are still workers' strikes.

it says a lot that one of the major influences for Disco Elysium was China Mellvile

Dang, this sounds like a really compelling read; not the sort of thing I'd ordinarily pick up on a whim, but after this review I'm thinking I might have to grab it. No spoiler section for me, yet!

Melville really is outstanding in mixing very personal, immediate character stories with very unique worlds and settings, and layering in his philosophy . Not always very subtle, but it's always so meaty. And it's always so interesting that most of his stories- however large the stakes may get, are very 'person on the ground who may get tangentially involved', but of the ones i've read- it's never a chosen one, it's never the person actually with power. The Scar is filled with characters with very complex backstories, amazing abilities... and our main characters are a criminal/laborer, and a linguist fleeing her government.

I'm a Political Scientist. I read Fantasy and Sci Fi to get a break, a retreat so to speak, from my day to day job which is why I was always quite hesitant to give this one a shot. But after your review, I think I'll give it a try.

My freshman year of college, I took a fantasy class taught by a very political teacher. The class was supposed to explore themes and stories from different fantasy perspectives. Included in the class was the "New Caprica" storyline in BSG and this book. I was a terrible student and ended up not reading most of the books in the curriculum, but I think it's time I get to this book.

Perdido Street Station was my introduction to Mieville as well! It was such an engrossing read that I went down the Mieville rabbit hole and pretty much read everything else he had available at that point (which was about 8 years ago, I believe). In retrospect, The City and The City would have been an easier introduction to his brand of weird fiction, and I can definitely recommend that one!

I have found your channel a maybe a few months from today now after I found myself returning to my healthy obsession of books, and now I noticed how excited I get when getting notifications that you posted a new video. Basically, you made my days a little better throughout it, and I love how genuine you seem in all your video! Thank you for that!

Hey, Daniel, hope you're doing well!

Perdido Street Station is a huge inspiration for me as far as making a place -- New Crobuzon -- truly a character in and of itself. The author's depiction of more abstract/philosophical concepts (like a clockwork machine undergoing a particular repair process) is also a fantastic treat. I am surprised though you didn't mention the really surprising twist of the story (SPOILERS): It wasn't a worker's uprising plot, it was a monster horror story all along! The moths are genuinely one of the most unnerving species I've encountered in a long time. This story is a blast all around, definitely one of my favorites now.

This book was hugely influential for me as a young adult. PSS is an intense multisensory experience. strange, uncomfortable at times and fueled by drug use, revolutionary verve, and deep weird fiction roots. His writing comes from a very lived in place. Gritty, urban, aggressive, and philosophical in equal parts. When I read someone I can infer and intuit their life experience. Many fantasy authors are very sheltered people, and that comes through in their writing; their characters, the underlying morality of the story and it's philosophy. Mieville is the real deal, and has seen some shit. Cannot believe PSS is over 20 years old. No one has made a city like New Crobuzon since. His writing gets more sophisticated as his career goes on, though the prose heaviness of PSS is unmatched. Embassytown -- his language based scifi - is rewarding.

But also super weird, and the world-building is amazing. Honestly, I really loved this book

CM's prose is just phenomenal. Iron Council in particular just blew me away on a sentence by sentence basis. Makes The Name of the Wind look like The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar.

It's worth noting that Miéville nowadays has a somewhat self-deprecating position on Perdido Street Station. He's called it a young man's book and laughed at it for being so gritty. So if that aspect was a bit much, I would recommend checking out later Miéville works. I personally found it refreshing, even though I read it years after its publication.

Mieville is a super interesting & thoughtful guy. He's joked before about being a bit embarrassed by how gritty and angsty he was trying to be with Perdido. Definitely recommend checking out his other books like the Scar or Kraken

Thank you for reading China Meivle. He generally doesn't have happy endings. I do love all his works, though I think his second book in the same world Scar is his best.

Damn that summary is wild. Oh and Congrats on 400k by the way.

As someone who mostly loved this book, I’m continually torn by the ending (especially what happens to Lin-who was a character I really adored and sits out most of the back half of the book and by the end is just…yeah). I mostly come down on the side of ‘totally getting what he was trying to do and appreciating it’ while also thinking he goes too far/plays into some bad tropes in a few places. Otherwise, I loved this book. The prouse, the unique worldbuilding, the political content, everything. I think he’s such an amazing writer with such a wild imagination-daring to do things few other SFF authors would. Stuff like the Weaver, Mr Motley, the Slaker moths, the emissary of hell all just seared themselves into my brain and have never left though I read this book like a year ago. I especially love how he handles race/racism. He’s definitely someone with a deep understanding of sociology, social dynamics, and social oppression which means that-while he does indulge in fantasy race-related tropes I’m generally speaking not a fan of-those elements feel so much more thoughtfully implemented and true to life than they usually do. Would personally recommend either the city and the city (his take on detective noir) or Embassytown (his take on a Le Guin style politically and linguistically motivated sci-fi thing) next, or the next book in the Bas-Lag series the scar if you were to go further. Really enjoyed the review and treasure this author a lot.

You should read "The City and the City" by him! It's so unique!

“The Scar” is my favorite of the bos lag books. You want pirates we got pirates. You want mosquito and cactus people we got that. You want steam punk we got that. You want a little lovecraftian we got that. Amazing book. Yes there is politics but it just makes you feel part of the world. If you are going to read any other of his books read this one.

When it comes to politics in books I tend to ask these questions 1: Do the politics realistically reflect the world they're in. For exsample if you're writing about a different world. Whose people have completely different cultures, histories and even genetics to our own. Then their politics should be widely different. And there should be lots of exsamples of blue and orange morality. And political struggles that feel detacted and seperate from out own. 2: Are the characters just proxies for the authors political views. Or are their politics a natural extension of who they are the world they find themselves in. Essentially do they have organic political views or does it feel like I am having a one sided argument with the author.

I believe it’s New Weird. This was the first book that blew my mind in terms of world building, executing so much ideas and just making it work. His other Bas-Lags books, Scar and Iron Council, have different writing styles and if you felt this way with Perdido, well, there is no joy in those books as well. Even his weakest book, Kraken, which sounded absurd introduced some disturbing ideas (which I feel Rick and Morty borrowed). Mieville’s happiest book is Un Lun Dun. Railsea was pretty good too, but the use ampersands kinda annoyed me. I think Mieville’s greatest achievement so far is The City and The City. Great stuff.

If you're willing to take the plunge into more CM, I'd recommend Embassytown, mainly for the themes it explores. It is probably closer to scifi, but still quite hard to categorize. It explores language and identity, but in directions completely unlike what you would expect.

I've never heard of this author before, so I clicked on the video thinking that Daniel was going to talk about Wuxia

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Hey, Daniel! Hope all is well. Perdido Street Station may be my least favorite Mieville. I urge you to read more. The stand-alone Kraken is fantastic!

The one I absolutely love is The City & the City. Books can take you to another world, and the world in the cities is operating on such a different baseline that you can't make sense of the first couple of dozen pages. It's gibberish, but as you read on you learn about it and can see the rules and logic behind it all. You can go back and read the first parts, and now makes total sense. My favourite type of literature!

Ayyy back to dem book reviews! Love it!

Starting the year right with some sff that twists the good ol'brain Edit: Must a book leave joy? Can it not just expose misery? In that it is very akin to Russian literature, the epitome of "Hey, life's fucked up". And in the age of Squeecore we probably need to put stories of this caliber more on the limelight

When I saw that Phillip K. Dick quote, I knew I was in for a wild ride with this book. I do think China Meville overuses certain words.

I haven't read a ton of Mieville's books but the other novel of his I'd recommend in a heartbeat is The City and the City. It started off a bit slow but then sucked me into its world like a black hole, and had enough intrigue to keep me hooked till the last page.

I am so happy you finally reviewed this. Please, as much more new weird as you can stomach!

Great review! I would love to hear your thoughts on other Mieville books like Embassytown!

Nice, I started reading this two days ago, and here you are with a review. Well timed.

I have been waiting for this video since I joined book tube community in circa 2017. I am in tears.

Good to see your doing better👍👍

So happy to see you back and you doing book reviews. I get book reviews do not get any many hits, so I just want to engage and say that I am very thankful to see them. It is because of your reviews that I have found so many great books (hello Greenbone!)

Currently pitching for a Creative Writing PhD, with the critical component looking at Revolution in the works of Terry Pratchett, Naomi Novik, and China Miéville. I haven’t read this book yet, I’ll admit to being a bit intimidated by it, but your review has me excited to get started. I will say, Miéville’s academic insights into Marxist theory when he’s written academically and how it applies to fantasy is fascinating.

Did you get a new camera or lighting setup? The video quality is really good.

I really suggest not giving up on this author. PSS left me with a sour taste in the end but The Scar, The City and The City, and Embassytown are wonderfully fantastic

Loved it. Am working on the sequel right now and am thoroughly enjoying it as well

Really happy to see a book review again!

Really liked this review video! I feel like I got a good enough sense of what it’s doing to know it’s probably not gonna be a good one for me to pick up. Thanks!

0:00 Is the shirt that Daniel is wearing available on the merch?

What a coincidence! I finally made the commitment to get into the New Weird after buying an Ambergris omnibus at a bookstore, and just bought Perdido Street Station a few days ago!

This book has been sitting on my shelf for ages! I am very intrigued!

I pronounce it Me-ay-ville. But great review as always. This is the next book I'm reading after I finish either Conan or Black Leopard, Red Wolf. Can't wait to dive in.

What struck me about Mieville is that he seems to have double an average writer's vocabulary. Haven't read his fiction books yet though "perdido street station" is lying on my pile of shame, know him from "October, an history of the Months between the February- and October Revolution.

3:20 - Preach it, brother. I've had my mind changed by people who understood the points I was making better than I did and refuted them

I missed the cover of the book on the screen this time. But it is good to see you doing reviews.

Wonderful review as always! Really balanced discussion of the book's themes and style and why they may be compelling to some and repulsive to others. Much respect for the way you spoke about it! ^_^

Oh man, I do love seeing a dedicated book review from the Goblin and I almostttt bought this book a month ago... Now regretting it

Daniel, have you read the Cradle series by Will Wight or The Beginning After the End series by Turtle Me? If not, please do! I would LOVE to see you review them. TBATE is only available on audio book though. Also the first book in the Cradle series is slow to kick off and not the best, but the story gets amazing. I finished all ten books so far, in a month.

Oh this was recently recommended to me. How serendipitous.

Finally! This channel needs more Miéville

I also shared your unease with a named character's ending, and frankly I do the dishonest reader strategy of imagining an alternative page or two at the end for that character specifically. But throughout Isaac is one of my favorite protagonists in fiction.

I would highly recommend reading another one of his books Embassytown. It is more science fiction than fantasy but it is absolutely fascinating and in it he creates an extremely unique system of language that made me just as excited to learn more about as any Sanderson magic system.

Thank you so much for covering Perdido Street Station! I love you takes, and I've literally been fascinated with this story ever since I first listened to it as an audiobook!

I've been looking forward to this review ever since you got the book in a PDGDBAB! You've mentioned often how you're interested in seeing Sci-Fi and Fantasy be pushed in new directions and I think China Mieville is one of the most important authors leading the charge. Every single one of his novels (even those set in the same universe) are very different, each trying something new. They rarely have happy, neat, or even conclusive endings, but they are filled with such vitality and imagination that I have never been disappointed. I highly recommend The Scar, which is the next novel set in Bas-Lag (though only very tenuously a sequel to Perdido Street Station). If you disliked the latter's vocal politics, I think you might enjoy it more!

King Rat is probably his most accessible book. For everything else, his best strength is his worldbuilding. His skill that you admired in PSS is consistent in his work.

I love that you’re doing more book reviews and related content lately, fantasy news is great but I’ve always enjoyed hearing your thoughts on books

Great review. Thanks for bringing this author to my attention!

I love the style of this video, and the openness to understanding and being compassionate about someone with aggressive views.

i loved PSS, in fact I love CM's books. I have read quite a few of them. They do really make you think. PSS was the first CM book I read and I read in in 2 days and half, I found it unputdownable. And recently re-read it's so good. I do know what you mean though by the 'aftertaste' that it leaves. Makes you think you need a mind shower. Between PSS, The Scar and Iron Council, my favourite is The Scar (I have read it 3 or 4 times) but my favourite of his books is 'Kraken' though - I can read that over and over again. There is something about China Mieville's prose that I love. If you do read more of his books, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them eventually. by the way have you heard of Lavie Tidhar's 'Bookman Chronicles' - they're Steampunk-ish fantasy and I enjoyed them .. also another recent favourite of mine is L.E Modesitt Jr 's 'The One Eyed Man: A Fugue, With Winds and Accompaniment. Also love love love love all the WOT stuff you do - thank you so much

Ugh damn you! I was in the middle of my first Wheel of Time read through now I want to reread this

You should read the sequel, The Scar. Same world, some time after, different people. But it's set in this sea setting that's inherently more beautiful and romantic than New Crobuzon, so it's a lot less grueling an experience than Perdido. I'd say The Scar is probably the best of the three Bas-Lag novels.

I had to get used to China Miéville for a while before I could enjoy him more. I was reading his "Three Moments of an Explosion" short story collection, and I would go back and forth between hating and loving him. I'll admit that there are not many authors that have such a strong impact like that for me, so I did finally finish it and also read his novella "A New Day in Paris" (which is a fantastic, surrealist WWII work of art). I haven't read Perdido yet, but I do agree that it takes me a little time to handle his punchy and bleak style, so I'll get around to that when I can.

Is this the first China Melville book on the channel?

I get the logic behind reading books by others of different political viewpoints. But when those different viewpoints include the idea, "These 'people' do not deserve the same rights as me because they are my lesser." I find it hard to follow that logic. I'm not saying China Miéville has those beliefs. Not at all. But there are some authors who do and I will avoid them.

I just love how many different ways you found to say this man's last name lol MYEville, MEHville, MAY-EYE-ville, so good

Thanks for this review! I've been recommended this author once or twice but now you have me intrigued to try it out.... though I guess I'll wait for a day when I'm in the mood for something dark :P

Haven't read it in close to 20 years but I still consider it one of the best books I've ever read. You should totally read at least the other two books set in the same world. They are not the same characters at all but are also really fascinating in many ways. The Scar has some concepts/locations in it that are the only things to ever inspire me to want to write any fan fic. You say there's no joy in it, and fair enough but for me the main joy was the pleasure of the writing, and the energy in all the ideas constantly buzzing around you. I remember that he would often change his stylistic approach really effectively depending on what was going on. So as you point out, it is mostly quite dense and intricate language, but it can shift. One example I will always remember was there was a section where Isaac is babbling on to someone about a whole lot of high concept science stuff and it goes for bloody ages, but Mieville switches to a very plain writing style that has the pace of what used to be called Airport novels. That ability to change his approach to suit the moment was so consistently enlivening to me as a reader. Also for anyone interested in the politics side of it, Mielville is a marxist economist by training and is one of the founding editors of the radical journal Salvage. Anyhow, sorry to the slight rant, love this book so much.

The Weaver is the inspiration for a number of screen names and discussions amongst my friend group. That character is a true delight!

Great video!

Please try something by Jeff VanderMeer (Annihilation is a good one to start with) as well, he's another big name in the New Weird movement, and another favourite author of mine alongside Miéville and Le Guin. As for my favourite Miéville, it'd definitely be Embassytown: some of the cleverest, most beautifully imaginative (weird) science-fiction ever imo. Kraken is probably my second favourite: just insane amounts of urban fantasy fun with clever concepts and loads of references to SFF culture, mythology and folklore.

I read The Scar before Perdido Street Station, and I read it again after. The Scar is one of my favorites!

I would have liked to see the cover, though. The title is a bit difficult to remember, so seeing the cover would have made it easier for me to recognise it in a bookstore.

I got to experience this early in my Fantasy journey so the bar for world-building was immediately set very high. The setting is so raw and organic, it's beautiful. Thanks for the review Daniel, I think a re-read is in order now.

Glad to see you going on a bit of a speculative, weird fic kick in some recent reviews. This book is mad, in both senses of the word - it's fantastic!!

Interesting. I was recently told that parts of my writing sounded so much like Mieville it was uncanny. I’ve yet to read any of his work, so I wasn’t sure how to take it. Lol. This sounds like something I should pick up.

The scene from this book that has stuck with me the longest is the Abbatoir scene with the pigs. The details and visceral reality presented there of food production was eye opening. Also boi this book/works weird and it’s glorious.

these are really great comments on PSS. i'll be honest that in my reading of the book (i've read it twice now), i wasn't all that personally aware of the political overtones though i do recognise they're there. but i think that's just my perspective, and maybe my attention (or lack thereof), that's doing that. i'd definitely recommend you try The Scar though, the second in the Bas-Lag collection. it's been my favourite mieville book so far. really good if you like stories set at sea, with pirates, and again complex world-building.

Glad your arms better :)

I would like your thoughts on 'The City and the City'. It is near future scifi and reads like a detective novel. I don't remember it being to depressing. Thanks.

Agreed. This was my first China Mieville and so far my last. Amazingly written, a great world, I didn't mind that I disagree with a lot of the lecturing - but, it just left me so sad at the end that I had no desire to do that to myself again.

My brain really dropped the r in angry and I thought for sure you but Angy in your title…welp. My brain.

Fun fact: I only know of this book because we played through the Dungeons and Dragons adventure "The Styes" (published in "Ghosts of Saltmarsh") in an only D&D Adventurers League. The adventure was appearently *heavily* influenced by some of the themes and the atmosphere of Perdido Street Station and the DM told us afterwards that he highly recommends reading the book in order to understand the themes of what we had just played through better (and because it's a great book in his opinion, of course).

Really loved this book, thick atmosphere and interesting themes. I also read the other Bas-Lag novels afterwards but I think Perdido Street Station remains my favorite.

The final revelation left such a bad taste in my mouth that I actually negatively recast the entire book, but I think I want to reread it because I did enjoy it while I was reading it and maybe knowing the final twist will leave me if not happy, at least satisfied. All that aside, my favorite Mieville so far is The City & The City. I would definitely recommend giving it a read.

I read Perdido Street Station for the first time almost a year ago and have not stopped thinking about it since.

Can you make Kaitou Joker review?

I love to see you getting into the weird. Great review.

2:34 can someone explain to me what "pros" mean in this context? i've seen daniel use this word quite a lot and i never quite get the idea of it

I couldn't continue this book because the body horror was just to triggering for me, but light I loved his prose and the story. So glad to see this review of it and the spoilers for the 2nd half.

I usually recommend "The city and the city" as the first China Mieville book to read. It's kind of like "1984" meets noir detective story. The setting is weird - of course - but I think it's a bit easier to get into than his other fiction writings. With the exception of the short stories collection maybe. The series is good too.

I went through most of Mieville last summer. Perdido is imo one of his rougher around the edges books but also pretty great. The rest of New Crobuzon is great. My personal favorites are Kraken (basically just a completely wild action adventure comedy story) and Embassytown

Thats why he calls his genre "Weird Fiction"

5:57 I'm guessing that was a corrupted graphic?

China Mieville is one of my favorite authors. He's so good.