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Embassytown  By  cover art

Embassytown

By: China Mieville
Narrated by: Susan Duerden
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Publisher's summary

China Miéville doesn’t follow trends, he sets them. Relentlessly pushing his own boundaries as a writer - and in the process expanding the boundaries of the entire field - with Embassytown, Miéville has crafted an extraordinary novel that is not only a moving personal drama but a gripping adventure of alien contact and war.

In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.

When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties - to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.

©2011 China Mieville (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

“A breakneck tale of suspense...disturbing and beautiful by turns. I cannot emphasize enough how terrific this novel is. It's definitely one of the best books I've read in the past year, perfectly balanced between escapism and otherworldly philosophizing.” (io9)

Embassytown is a fully achieved work of art…Works on every level, providing compulsive narrative, splendid intellectual rigour and risk, moral sophistication, fine verbal fireworks and sideshows, and even the old-fashioned satisfaction of watching a protagonist become more of a person than she gave promise of being.” (Ursula K. Le Guin)

“Brilliant storytelling... The result is a world masterfully wrecked and rebuilt.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review])

What listeners say about Embassytown

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    571
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Performance
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  • 4 Stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    35

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Too Confusing

Great Narrator, but this book was so hard to follow. And the craving the Hosts had for a certain thing was not working for me at all. Nor was the relationship between the Hosts and everyone else in the book ever clearly understood. Nor was the whole two-parts to an ambassador thing -- Ez and Ra rather than Ezra. I think this is a book better read than listened to. It is much harder to back up on an audible book than flip back to previous pages when something is confusing which was my entire experience, and I did give it all through Part 1 and through the first third of Part 2. I listen to lots of books and this is the most disorienting book I've listened to.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Couldn't hold out any longer

Several hours in to this book, essentially nothing had happened. Note that I'm an avid reader/listener of sci-fi, mystery, and literary fiction, and I don't mind a book that eases in to a story gently, but this book was boring beyond belief. It goes on and on about the main character being a "simile," part of the "hosts" language. Great, very clever. Now what is the point please, is anything going to actually happen.

It just didn't hold my interest, though I gave it several hours.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Science Fiction

Like all of his books, there is no explanation for what is happening, but the story is so cleverly constructed that partial understanding soon follows. His stories never end with complete explanations and the lack of full understanding is, in my view, one of the hallmarks of his brand of speculative fiction. The prose quality is excellent and the reader is clear and articulate. Mr Mieville's mind and imagination are, as always, outstanding. This is almost as good as the Scar which I believe to be his best. Great listen, well worth the credit and probably essential to read a couple of times.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Smart Humans-and-Aliens Story

Any additional comments?

Excellent story of two cultures colliding: humans and fascinatingly strange aliens. This story is more focused and tighter than China Mieville's earlier (also excellent) work. Truly great.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Conceptual Story of Inter-Species Communication

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rated: PG13 for violence, strong despairing situations

Static or Dynamic: Relatively static story; there are strong plot arcs but for the most part the story has a localized concept; it's not an adventure book.

1st or 3rd Person: 1st person female

Abstract or Concrete: Leans more towards abstract. Most of the intrigue of the book is what is hypothesized about the actions that happen. The content is intellectually challenging and thrilling. You really have to think about some of the events to get a real appreciation for the book. large chunks of it are hard science but it's not the purpose of the story.

Linear or Non-Linear: Linear; the story progresses firmly down a timeline and tells a story.

Narrator: The story telling is done quite well. At parts I was a little out of touch with the reader but it's a long book and so that should be expected. Her inflections can become emotional though a lot of the story is her internal dialogue which is "cool".

Plot Outline: In a distant space port on the edge of known hyper-space, a race of creatures has a very unique way of communicating that has shaped the culture and epistemology of the local earthen colony. The story progresses as the unique barriers of the communication become more and more complicated.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Oh, Mieville.

So, I gave this 3 stars, and that's not very good. That said, I think this book is probably amazing, but it's just so complicated. Mieville bit off a lot with this exploration of language using aliens. You need to be a reader/listener who can listen to an audiobook attentively enough that you do not miss details. Because I promise you, if you zone out or lose focus, you will have to rewind! For that reason, I feel like this is not a good choice to listen to as an audiobook as opposed to reading as text.

The performance is a little tough for me. The reader is British. I am not British, but I've certainly listened to plenty of audiobooks narrated by British people and enjoyed them. However, in this case, the performance seemed a bit of a British accented drone to me, which made the complex material all that much more difficult to follow in audio format.

My husband and I had long talks after both listening to this book, so despite my negativity here, it is an intellectually stimulating book. If you like Mieville in general you may enjoy this book, but it's not an easy listen.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What is the synonym for:dull

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The author could have showed up in the first 18 chapters.

What do you think your next listen will be?

The Art of War.

What does Susan Duerden bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think she was even confused for the first 18 chapters.

What character would you cut from Embassytown?

The author of the book. Oh, that's right he is not a homonym!

Any additional comments?

Dry reading. This book should be used as ..... Whom ever thought, "This author thinks out of the box"; sorry. If young readers were to have to read this book in school; no one would ever want to read another book...ever. Tragic.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A must listen for the Sci Fi genre

Very engaging and challenging. The way the author kept the reader in the dark with the use of Language and language. Similes versus metaphors. It's like a puzzle for the reader to solve while being immersed in a story about a human colony on a alien planet. I listened to this as an audiobook. I can't imagine reading this because of terms. After a slow start, it picked up speed because I wanted to learn about the terms that drove the plot. This was a true production for an audiobook and the narrator was superb.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a serious work of art

Some need to have everything explained to them with alot of action and movement. This book is like stepping into a real, working culture. It doesnt explain itself, doesnt define its idiomatic expressions or its history to the visitor like a museam exhibit, It just IS and you are left to figure it out. It is like dropping yourself into a foreign country and getting to know it without an interpreter. I loved it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Definitely a "must listen"!

Not only is this an excellent book with regard to the writing and the story, it is one of the best audiobooks that I have ever heard. Susan Duerden narrates magnificently. And the special treatment given in the narration for "Language" is absolutely spot on. Upon finishing, after I caught my breath, I immediately started a second time through. It is an extraordinary listen!

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