China Mi̩ville РPerdido Street Station
Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is an independent scientist in New Crobuzon – a multi-million headed metropolis powered by steam and ruled by corruption – engaged in more or less eccentric research. His lover Lin is an artist of the insectoid kephri race, a taboo relationship kept secret. The both get extraordinary commissions – Lin is hired to capture the hideous likeness of a crime kingpin who has found a taste for her work. Isaac gets a visit from a Garuda, a race of “bird-men”, who has traveled far looking for someone able to restore his ability to fly. Isaac approaches the task with great enthusiasm, and acquires a multitude of flying things for his studies. Among those is a large, sluggish-seeming grub that turns out to be anything but once it emerges from it’s cocoon…
Summarizing the setting of Perdido Street Station is not an easy task. In a perfect world the term fantasy would be sufficient, but since fantasy has come to mean “a story about a youngster from a backwater community who gets involved in something that takes him on a journey where he meets races he only knows from stories (at least one each of “beautiful and wise†and “savage and hideousâ€) and ultimately saves the whole fairytale/medieval-inspired world from Evilâ€, I guess it will need a bit more explanation. The setting of New Crobuzon is fascinating. Imagine London from two centuries ago, grown to the size it is today. Then take the technology of the same time, with a bit of thaumaturgy added to put it somewhere beyond regular steampunk, and use the related sciences for a few lengthy discourses. Then top it off with with a good deal of the dystopian corruption, crime and perversions more commonly found in cyberpunk sci-fi, and you’ll have at least a rough estimate of what it looks like.
But there is more to Perdido Street Station than just the rich and imaginative setting. It is a love song to the great melting-pot cities, a foray into the dynamics of cultures co-existing as well as the powers that try to exploit them, a tribute to the free spirit, a story of love and loss, and – when the shit hits the fan – a damned intense horror-thriller.
It is one of the most refreshing works of fantastic fiction I’ve read in a long time, and for a verdict I’ll simply say that I agree with any superlative-filled review excerpts and award nominations you’ll see if you decide to check out Perdido Street Station yourself. Personally I have decided to catch up with China Miéville’s work by getting the follow up, The Scar,at once, and the rest will probably follow soon as well.
Wikipedia entry (China Miéville) | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk
