Embassytown
Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9781781030752 (1781030758)
Publish date: October 1st 2011
Publisher: Macmillan
Edition language: English
A good Mieville is always a treat, and Embassytown is very good Mieville. (Not quite as good as Perdido Street Station, alas, but then hardly anything is.) It's science fiction, and reasonably hard SF at that. The eponymous Embassytown is a colony on the edge of known space, cut off from its imp...
Science fiction that deals directly with language is kind of rare, which is a pity because the question of how we would communicate with aliens if we ever encounter any is one of the most interesting problems in science fiction. Too often the problem is waved away with a magical "universal translato...
I had a brief internal debate about whether I enjoyed Embassytown's story enough to warrant the five stars, but whatever; the underlying concept of this novel just completely blew my mind.You win this round, Miéville. Five stars all the way.
China Miéville has a knack for building worlds. Not only is he an expert at building them, but he can convince nearly anyone he has lived in these worlds. Miéville doesn't pause to explain his world or his knowledge of it, he just jumps right in and expects the reader to follow along. His perspectiv...
Wow. Just wow. I know it's been awhile since I'd gotten around to reading a Mieville book. But oh my, this was definitely the one for my return. Very glad I've picked up multiple copies of this at bookshops when they've been put on the bargain shelf. I'm definitely going to be giving copies of this...