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 hideous”) and ultimately saves the whole fairytale/medieval-inspired world from Evil”, 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