Shout-Out Theme Naming: The monster hunters are named after the characters from The Hunting of the Snark, but in different languages. Their leader is Tinntinnabulum - the Bellman, and their ship is the Castor - Beaver. It's hard to avoid politics, and in particular, Mièville's politics when it comes to Bas-lag. In Mièville's Marxist oriented doctoral thesis, Between Equal Rights: A Marxist Theory of International Law, he argues that international law is fundamentally constituted by the violence of imperialism, which by implication, is driven to a large extent by capitalism. Hazardous Water: Gigantic armoured sharks are not even close to being the worst things to be found in the sea of the Scar.

Thank you, Mr. Miéville, for this amazing read that kept me engrossed in your fantastic world for so many days. And special thanks to Catie for embarking on this awesome Miéville journey with me. It was great! “In time, in time they tell me, I’ll not feel so bad. I don’t want time to heal me. There’s a reason I’m like this. And coming from her, someone without any illusions about New Crobuzon's brutality, or squalor, or repression, the declamation was far more powerful than if it came from any Parliamentarian.Embassy Town is a science fiction novel by China Miéville, set in a distant future in which humanity has spread out across the stars. The story follows Avice Benner Cho, a native of Embassy Town, a city located on a distant planet and home to a unique and mysterious alien species known as the Hosts.

The mysterious hunters are in Salkrikaltor, where they watch and wait and gather information. They skillfully and quietly interrogate the Cray translator and the divers working on New Crobuzon's rigs. The hunters learn about Armada. They believe this is where their quarry could be, and they begin asking the whales and fish to help them find it. Oh! There's so much going on in this novel, that I almost forgot about how Mieville plays around with quantum physics and metaphysics with his "possibility leaks". I really enjoyed that aspect.Of course, the rest of the fantasy is censored for the benefit of the large warrior woman, so we'll talk a bit more about The Scar after the cold shower break. Taking the setting, Bas-Lag, of his earlier novel Perdido Street Station, building on that world that Mieville created, and moving in a different direction, but keeping the wildly fantastic tone and character of the narrative, The Scar is not really a sequel. There are references to the earlier plot and many remembrances of New Crobuzon, but The Scar has its own story. Mieville focuses a lot on setting and on building atmosphere. Armada is a wonderfully drawn city- and Mieville successfully portrays the lies, deceit and betrayal that hide under its surface and never fails in making Armada (and the world of Bas-Lag as a whole) feel very distinct, unique and filled to the brim with crazy ideas and creatures. Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Bellis Coldwine in The Scar. Possibly a Stealth Parody of "strong, beautiful, and forceful" female protagonists in contemporary fantasy literature.

Armada continues its city-wide effort to prepare for the avanc's summoning and Shekel reflects on the incorporation of the Terpsichoria into Armada. With Bellis's help, Aum learns Salt at an amazing rate. Bellis begins to feel that he has no personality, just child-like fascination, and she is relieved that she will soon no longer need to accompany him. One day, Doul speaks with Bellis about his native language, Quiesy, and tells her a bit more about himself. After they talk, he shows her a hidden place on the Grand Easterly where she can hear the Lovers in private. Hearing them, she is appalled, and realizes that what they think is love is not at all.The Reveal: Bellis's letter was being written to no one; she didn't have anyone in particular in mind. In the end, she decides to deliver the letter to her one friend in Armada. Vast oceans and incredible seascapes… Miscellany of intellects… Enigma of the deep… The Scar is a nautical novel sculpted in the cosmic scale… A decade later the magic still holds, even if with a bit less intensity. I still love Armada, the odd pirate floating city, and with the years understand some of the characters a bit more, even those whom I judged a bit more harshly in my younger days. Bellis was described briefly in Perdido Street Station as Isaac's lover before Lin, a brilliant linguist who had grown bored with Isaac's "rumbustiousness" and broken his heart.

An extraordinary plan hides unknowns of an uncertain future. Projects for a new Era, between opposing factions and different purposes. China Miéville is one of my favourite authors, creating captivating and complex worlds that stretch the reader's imagination. His writing is skilful and often downright beautiful, evoking a strong emotional response and helping readers form close attachments to the main characters. Artifact of Doom: Silas steals a statue from the grindylow which grants him mysterious powers, yet has the unfortunate side effect of slowly turning him into a Fish Person. Rankin, Sandy (2009), Vint, Sherryl (ed.), "AGASH AGASP AGAPE: The Weaver as Immanent Utopian Impulse in China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and Iron Council", Extrapolation, 50 (2): 239–258, doi: 10.3828/extr.2009.50.2.6. Informed Loner: Hedrigall is described as being a loner many times, in spite of the fact that almost every named character in the books from Garwater is a friend of his.Still, I will tip my hat to Miéville for doing what I think he is doing here: writing an anti-epic. Here's why I think of it that way: A Magic Contract Comes with a Kiss: Not exactly a contract, but Silas has to tongue-kiss the Magus Fin statue to elicit its gift of magical powers. I first read The Scar a decade ago, new to the weird magic of Miéville’s writing, entranced by the bizarreness of his imagination and the love of thesaurus-heavy vocabulary. Something about this book pulled on just the right strings and made it my favorite novel by His Chinaness, a feat that eventually was surpassed only by Embassytown. Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, a human scientist, dabbling in all fields but obsessed with his pet theory of "crisis energy". Lover to Lin, and close friends with Derkhan Blueday. The Scar centers around Bellis Coldwine, a linguist who has been forced to flee the great city of New Crobuzon after the events described in Perdido Street Station. Enroute to exile she finds herself abducted and effectively imprisoned in the floating city of Armada- a collection of hundreds of ships, all lashed together and made into a mobile, piratical metropolis atop the ocean. From here she is drawn into machinations that could make Armada a serious world power, and into the dangerous and supernatural factions that compete for power in the floating city.