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

Slow start, but it picks up steam.

Took me a bit to get into the story but the characters grew and blossomed. Ending was not what I expected.

A great listen

I have been wanting to listen to this for quite some time and am glad I finally took the time. This was a fantastic book and the narration was immensely satisfying. I look forward to more from this author and will seek out titles this narrator has done.

Really enjoyed this.

This was a stunning, strange, original, unpredictable, and beautiful novel, and one of the most original novels I can recall reading. The atmosphere of the city and its denizens, and the many surpsurprising twists and turns of the narrative kidney guessing until the very endI will definitely be reading more by this author.

Also, I found the performance by John Lee to be excellent. His characterization of the voices of the various characters in particular was very well done, and well-suited to the book.

Brilliant descriptive writing.

Mieville paints a brutally descriptive image of a fantastic world of interlocking species and technology. Amazing, for example, how an entire chapter about laying cables in a city can continue to capture one's attention... Sometimes the description goes on so long that one is left begging for some action, but he usually finds a balance. The reader is excellent, capturing the tension, the pace, and the varied characters.

Trilogy Review - Jabber and Fck! Brilliant!

If you like Ian M Banks this is for you. Absurdly creative and wild and weird. Very well written. A world as vivid as Middle Earth. Genius. I’m so happy I found these books. Blew me away. And excellent narrators. Spend your credit here.

Rich

China Miéville creates! His worlds are enticing and dangerous, attractively frightening as the world’s highest roller coaster. I wouldn’t miss the ride for love nor money!

not bad, but didn't really pull me in

I'm sure it's technically an excellent work, but i didn't enjoy it very much. if you're looking for a moralizing thinker, go for it, but it's not what I would call a fun read.

Great story... ending a bit muddled

Wow, China Mieville can sure write a great story! The fabric of this story is so well described, so well written, I feel I've actually been to New Crobuzon.

Great work. Wish the ending was more upbeat and focused, but no worries. Not all stories are happy ones I guess.

Big gripe... there is a chunk of the story missing on the audiobook. Dunno how much. The main character is getting ready to leave his hideout to save the day, then a skip and a millisecond later he is across town planning with his team. Could have been a missing page or a missing chapter, dunno.

Fantastic listen!

China Mieville creates an incredibly rich world populated with interesting characters and creatures. Very decadent and character driven (at least for the first half). John Lee's narration and character voices are also great.

Masterpiece. My new favorite author.

No kitschy wish fulfillment, no cliche story, no hackneyed premise or generic characters. Mieville is marvelous throughout, and the narration is brilliant.