Perdido Street Station

By: China Miéville

Narrated by: John Lee

WINNER OF THE AUGUST DERLETH AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDS • A masterpiece brimming with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and fierce characters, from the author who “has reshaped modern fantasy” (The Washington Post)

“[China Miéville’s] fantasy novels, including a trilogy set in and around the magical city-state of New Crobuzon, have the refreshing effect of making Middle-earth seem plodding and flat.”—The New York Times

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

“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

Great mood, story doesn’t deliver

The world is the star of this book, more than any of the characters. Very strong, evocative opening, but then we get to a save-the-world-with-ineffable-powers kind of story, and it mostly stops being about the weird city life, a kind of shallow superhero plot, that feels like someone recounting an experience from the roleplaying game. You really had to be there.

Surprised

At first I thought this was not going to be all that enjoyable then i quickly realized this was a truly original story and one of my favorite for the rest of my life. It’s dark and brutal but so very original.

Booooring....

Endless stacking of three and four word descriptions is not the same as actually world building. Almost 5 hours in and still Nothing noteworthy has happened yet.

This was a really refreshing take on fantasy

I listened on a few recommendations. t
The setting is fascinating and experly built. the political subtext is up my alley as well. the narration was excellent.

WHAT AN AMAZING BOOK!

This book single handedly reignited my love of reading. China Mieville is what I aspire to be as an author.