Perdido Street Station

By: China Mieville

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 24 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award

The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the center of the world. Humans and mutants and arcane races brood in the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the river is sluggish with unnatural effluent and foundries pound into the night. For a thousand years, the Parliament and its brutal militias have ruled over a vast economy of workers and artists, spies and soldiers, magicians, crooks, and junkies.

Now a stranger has arrived, with a pocketful of gold and an impossible demand. And something unthinkable is released.

The city is gripped by an alien terror. The fate of millions lies with a clutch of renegades. A reckoning is due at the city’s heart, in the vast edifice of brick and wood and steel under the vaults of Perdido Street Station.

It is too late to escape.

©2003 China Mieville (P)2009 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the August Derleth Award

"Primal awe and erudite references have always mingled in Miéville’s work—along with a healthy dose of pulp playfulness.”—The New Yorker

“Flawlessly plotted and relentlessly, stunningly inventive: a conceptual breakthrough of the highest order.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Perdido Street Station is brimming with enchantment. Written in intense, evocative prose, set in Dickensian New Crobuzon, peopled with characters of Boschian demeanor and diversity . . . the book flourishes and shuffles the conventions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.”—Tordotcom

China Mieville never disappoints

China's books are so detailed and nuanced that the absurd becomes completely realistic. This book is no exception.

an awful world told in copious detail

The novel: This is a work of craft, to be sure, but that doesn't make it either good or fun. A very well-realized (albeit vile) world, in which live no characters we care about nor happenings we want to follow. I kept waiting for it to get interesting, and from there to get enjoyable. The first happened briefly, the second didn't happen. I finished it only because it was so highly regarded. As acquired tastes go, it's closer to stinkhead than coffee.

The recording: Better than most. Good audio, good performance. Got kind of a Sir Sean-Connery-esque delivery at times, but it works for the material.

Too Descriptive

Not for the squeamish.
Fantastic world building.
I didn't know there was such a thing as too much description. I frequently catch myself zoning out. I think it's the first time I've wanted an abridged version of a novel. I have loved much longer books, but this one couldn't hold my attention.

Overhyped

It seems like the "steampunk" theme was an afterthought. The depictions of the city lean closer to (and likely had origins in) dieselpunk, but some editor wanted to ride some red felt coattails. Ctrl+R'ing steel for copper, and aluminum for bronze is also too obvious.

I like that it was a story of the city, or stories, but it was just a constant roll. There are no twists because there are no expectations.

John Lee is, as always, great.

An outlier on the spectrum of imagination

I wonder if savants and geniuses have fever dreams that feel like this. Compelling, principled and absolutely enrapturing. Chapeau, Mieville, chapeau. I would read a whole novel about The Torque, fyi... if you feel like it... please.

A mixed bag

I started this book 2 or 3 times over the course of a decade before I finally read the whole thing.

Parts of this are 5s. The prose is fantastic more often than not.

The biggest problem is the consistency. There is none. The type of book you're reading changes a dozen times throughout the book, not just chapter to chapter but within chapters and within sections of the book. The viewpoints are inconsistent and the characters do not make choices which make sense with their worldview of 3 pages ago. The entire boon pivots a bit past the halfway point and it feels not only that it's a different story but a different author.

The next biggest problem is the thesis of the book. There is none. There are dozens of little threads in the book, but not a single one hold up from beginning to end. This feels like a book which wants to say many things and in the end says nothing.

The last peeve I had with this book was the lack of resolution. There is no resolution to anything except for the "big bad" storyline, which always felt like a distraction from beginning to end. Yes, there's a sequel which probably follows the main characters as they move forward. But there is ZERO resolution of any of the side plots in the book. Once the main characters aren't looking a plot in the face, we seem to be compelled to forget about it.

So, I'm conflicted on how to score this. The prose is easily 4 or 5. The storytelling is at best a 3. The internal consistency is a 2.

It was a slog to get through and I do not recommend it. Read excerpts of the most beautiful writing and accept that.

Great imagery

This was an extremely well written and articulated book! Mievelle paints a beautiful and grime filled world, and John Lee articulates this perfectly. The ending left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but it was well worth the ride.

Great reading of an original story

I really liked this story—interesting steampunk fantasy world and very original plot. I liked the narration—fun accent added a nice layer. Sometimes had a difficult time keeping track of characters towards the end and a bit too much description of the scene. Loved this story though and recommend it.

Great Book

This was a fantastic book. I usually read more traditional fantasy, but China Mieville is such an intelligent and imaginative writer I didn’t even need any time to warm up to a new genre. Highly recommended.

Astounding Experience

Every so often, a book comes along that makes you see other books cast in a less flattering light. Many years lay between my first and second readings of Lord of the Rings, and - after the second - I was dismayed to realize how many lesser fantasies I had read trying to recapture the experience found in Tolkiien. Perdido Street Station has made me reassess many of my recent reads. It, too, has made me remember why I read: to be challenged, to go to unknown places, to feel empathy in new ways, to recapture a sense of wonder. John Lee's narration was simply superb.