Perdido Street Station Review
I’m like the Grinch when it comes to giving out five star reviews. I’m stingy, but it’s for a reason. I reserve those magical five stars for books that are truly transcendent (whatever the hell that means). Typically this means the story has got to be on point, no dragging, no off-putting tangents that ultimately feel like literary weed-whacking.
Not to mention the prose has to be fresh.
Perdido Street Station is a highly acclaimed piece of speculative literature from China Mieville. Mieville, for those unfamiliar with his work, writes what he calls Weird Fic, and it shows in PSS. It defies categorization, what with its seamless blending of fantasy, steampunk, and straight sci-fi. PSS was my first experience with Mieville and (as I suspected from a guy who is consistently nominated for every award being thrown around these days) I wasn’t disappointed.
Well, let me amend that: I was only slightly disappointed.
This might very well be the first book I’ve ever given five stars to where I believed the story could have been improved. Usually when I give five stars, it’s to a book which is more or less perfect. Unfortunately, PSS isn’t perfect, but damn if it isn’t really good.
Let’s do a pro/con list lightning round style.
Pro: The language is beautiful and descriptive. China reminds me of Patrick Rothfuss with his haunting prose. He paints such vivid scenes that it’ll make your head spin.
Con: The prose is dense, with a weight that makes you feel sleepy and mentally exhausted after only a few pages. Over the course of a 600+ page book this becomes overwhelming. You might very well get crushed beneath those hefty prose. Read at your own risk.
Alright. If you say so.
Yeah, that’s what I figured.
Pro: The worldbuilding is second to none. Seriously, I haven’t experienced such robust world building since the likes of Brandon Sanderson. That’s high praise in my book. China creates an interesting, weird world that is unlike anything else you’ve ever experienced, while grounding it in this earthiness/grunginess that ultimately makes it entirely relatable.
Con: There is such a thing as too much worldbuilding. That particular line in the sand is drawn somewhere near the end of Act 2 where the reader no longer needs in-depth, multi-page historical lectures. What they need is action. This is one of PSS greatest faults, in my eyes. China frequently drops the rising action he’s worked so hard to build by taking a sideways step every so often and launching into descriptive worldbuilding. PSS could easily have been 150 pages shorter, with a tighter story, had he removed the unnecessary details.
Pro: The story line isn’t half bad.
Con: Then again, the story line isn’t entirely good either. Well, no, wait. That’s not really fair. What I mean to say is the story line often gets lost beneath the crushing weight of heavy words and dense worldbuilding.
Pro: This book is straight up creative in a way I haven’t experienced recently. China really doesn’t pull out any of the stops!
Con: With that said, China might have benefited from pulling out maybe one, or even two, stops. Sometimes too much is…too much. <– Anthony’s crunchy wisdom nugget for the day.
Overall, PSS is amazing. I loved it. And yet, I hated certain things about it. I think that’s the sign of a good book, though. That dichotomy of emotions pulls you deeper. At least it does for masochists like myself.
Sure, there are some things I would have changed about this book, but then you have to wonder if it would be the same story at all. *shrug* Hard to say. Regardless, this book is on my top 5 list for the year so far. If you’ve never read a Mieville story, I would highly recommend this story. Be prepared for a heavy, long read, however. You’re unlikely to fly through this book.
Also, as a public service announcement I’ll say this: China Mieville is one of those authors who will polarize readers based on his style. If you like the pros I’ve listed above, then you might really love China. If you lean more towards my views on the cons, then you might be in for a rough slog. Be warned, not everybody will like PSS.
But hey, risk not, win not. Or something. Pick up a copy and let me know what you think. Or, if you’ve already read it, get down to the comments and share your thoughts on Perdido Street Station. Love it or hate it, I want to hear from you!
I’m a big fan of Mieville’s books, and I agree whole-heartedly with everything your list of pros AND cons! Very dense and fascinating novels. Have you read ‘The Scar?’ I think that’s my underrated favorite of his. I think it’s a little more streamlined, and it also takes place in the same world as PSS.
I need a little mental break from Mieville, but im gonna try and get to The Scar next month!
PSS was the first Mieville I read, and I’m now a huge fan of his work. His stories are always deep, imaginative and smartly written, with great world building.
That said, I think PSS is the weakest of the three books he set in this world. The Scar and Iron Council are both smoother reads while being even more imaginative. Given how much you liked this book, I expect you’ll love them.
I’ve heard great things about The Scar. Ive already picked up a copy and will hopefully get to it next month!
I might see if I can read a bit on Kindle before I purchase this – it isn’t my normal genre, so I’s cautious. About halfway through the other book – it has more good points than bad.
A preview would be a brilliant idea before plunging into a book like this. It will not tickle everybody’s fancy, and you do not want to discover that fact halfway through the book with 400 pages still to go.
Also, Noelle, I just want to say how awesome it is to hear you picked up a graphic novel. Taking risks and reading outside your comfort zone is something we can all learn from! Hopefully by the end of it, the “goods” will still outnumber the “bads”!
I recently read Kraken by Mieville and really enjoyed it. He does have a very engaging writing style.
Ooh, I love the name of that book. The Kraken! Rawr!
On a quick aside, has anybody noticed in the bookstores that Mieville’s novels are all pretty much different sizes? The format of the Kraken is enormous by comparison to the smaller 6×8 versions of Perdido Street and The Scar. This only bothers me cause they look silly lined up next to each other and I’m nothing if not an aesthetician. <– like a beautician, but with less eyebrow pruning.
I agree with many of the comments. But where the cons seem to be an issue, perhaps China is simply ahead of his time. When many books of our era are long forgotten, his will shine into the future. Time will tell.