emmtee
New Member
Let's go, Trenya.
Posts: 22
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Post by emmtee on Jun 21, 2011 20:33:30 GMT -5
I'm a huge Mieville fan (although I thought Kraken was one of his weaker books, I've got to admit), so I had this Kindled and ready to go the very second it was available. I've read it through twice now, and honestly it is among my favourite sci-fi ever. I think there are valid criticisms to be made of the structure and pacing - I don't agree with every word of Jeff Vandermeer's review and how-I-would've-done-it blog post but he makes some good points. On the other hand, and as Vandermeer pretty much concludes, the sheer weight of ideas, strength of character and setting and richness of world outweigh the faults by far.
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artw
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by artw on Jun 22, 2011 11:42:27 GMT -5
I'm way behind - haven't even read Kraken yet, but I'm really looking forwards to this. It's going to be interesting to see Mieville do something more explicitly SF.
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nubs
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by nubs on Jun 22, 2011 11:49:10 GMT -5
Shit! How did I miss this! (scuttles off and places a hold at the library). Give me a week or so and I should be able to have a conversation about this book.
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Post by jtron on Jun 24, 2011 9:37:28 GMT -5
Aw man I am so behind on Mieville but hearing this glowing review should help give me the gumption to plow through what I haven't read yet.
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nubs
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by nubs on Jul 19, 2011 12:33:33 GMT -5
As always, the amount of ideas and the setting are amazing. Mieville tosses off ideas in one sentence that entire books could be written around.
I loved the Festival of Lies - just a really neat idea to express both how concrete the alien language (and therefore thinking) was, as well as to show the impacts of change on them - something like that Festival could not have happened without aliens present, but yet their presence alone is not enough to engender new ways of thinking. I don't know if I'm making any sense at all...
I didn't enjoy the pacing of the book all that much, but as always, enjoyed the ideas and the exploration of them.
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Post by jeather on Jul 24, 2011 20:10:14 GMT -5
I got partway through and just got sort of bored. I guess I will try again.
(Kraken I thought was fun, but altogether lightweight and not up to his usual abilities. I thought The City & The City was brilliant.)
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