Iron Council

New Crobuzon, Book 3

By: China Mieville

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Following Perdido Street Station and The Scar, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon - this time, decades later.

It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.

In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.

In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council…

The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in Iron Council: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.

©2004 China Mieville (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Continuously fascinating.... Miéville creates a world of outrageous inventiveness." ( The Denver Post)

Amazing work

A bit tangled up in the politics at times, this is still an engaging and enjoyable read/listen. Juda Low and Cutter are great characters, depth and development. This is a Mieville novel, so it is full of creative imagery and concepts. There are gems in the writing and the word play- this is well worth your time. The narrator was marvelous.

Mieville is brilliant

This is an extension of the authors’ New Crobazon universe ala Perdido Street Station or The Scar.

In general, I could do with a little less of his metaphysics and *thaumaturgy*. But his originality and brilliance are undeniable.

This title may actually encompass two or three substantial novellas linked together.

Excellent narrator.

excellent work! a great end to a great series.

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Difficult to connect to

China’s work is difficult to connect to on this one. I do realize that he takes us on a journey of the dark, strange, uncomfortable and abstract with all of his works so it might seem odd to expect to connect. However, I do find that I am normally invested in the outcome of the story for his characters and fascinated by their journeys. I made it all of the way through this book without being able to rally anything more than a mild curiosity about the story arc (which I ultimately found utterly blah) and no particular interest in any of the characters. The narration is well done if not stellar or compelling.

Very Close to the First

The first book in this trilogy was my very first introduction to China Mieville. I dug "Perdido Street Station" and read almost every book from this author after that. It took me a few years to finish New Crobuzon Trilogy because I didn't believe that he could beat "Perdido Street Station." I thought that "The Scar" was well done, but not better than the first.

After starting this series three years ago, I finally wanted to finish the train saga with "Iron Council." The last book is my favorite in this series. I think that the "Iron Council" is far better than the second and very close to the first. I liked the drama from the council,more monsters, remade, the train and realism of each characters.

Mr. Mieville has a special talent of approaching science fiction and fantasy in a different way. It's almost addicting to read any of his books.

loved the first two-- this one was a struggle

Iron Council has some clever new ideas, but its characters have less depth and less quirk than the previous two books.

worth the listen

A difficult and occasionally obtuse book hard to get through, but infinitely worth it in the end.

Long Live Bas Lag

As the second was so different from the first, so too does this instalment separate itself from its Sisters. At first that change stalled me but I found as I continued the tale that it was, for me, just as fantastical and horrifying as its predecessors. This one moved water to my eyes. I hope for a fourth episode from China.

Miéville does not tolerate satisfaction in his audience

This book taught me that I need to break up with China Miéville as an author as badly as Cutter needs to break up with Judah Low as a lover—and for the same reason: he’s uncaring and self-righteous, and I love him.

A long way to get not very far

It's difficult to offer a decent review without spoilers. But this is the third in the "New Crobuzon Trilogy," so at least for me, the rating and this review is as much a comparison to the first two ("Perdido Street Station" and "The Scar") as it is on its own.

Note: as I think about it, this book is likely readable without having read the other two first. There isn't that much here that directly tracks, except for the city of New Crobuzon itself. And this book would likely give you enough of an understanding of the city to enjoy this book, without the various expectations from the first two.

Back to the book. One issue, for me, is that this is the most openly political of the books. Mieville hasn't hidden his political musings in other writings, but the first two books in this trilogy left the politics as an undercurrent, one that the characters and events dipped into but never, to use a phrase, swam in. Not so here. It's front and center. Which meant that I occasionally felt like I was reading a treatise from various revolutionary movements from history, as we never really get the Establishment view, except as reflected by the various revolutionary movements or deduce from their actions.

But it's also the structure. The first two-thirds are a collection of parallel narratives that take quite some time to determine that they truly are related. And this reflects on the title of this review, going a long way to get not very far. Much of this just seemed endless events for the sake of events.

To say more would be too close to spoilers. It is wildly imaginative, and the views of Bas-Lag added more breadth and depth from what'd been revealed in the first two books. But, again, on this, little would require you to read those to be able to appreciate the details here. The only way to get anything close to a full understanding of all of Bas-Lag would be to read all three books. Although all have a single city, New Crobuzon, as their trigger, all evoke different aspects of Bas-Lag.