China Miéville’s presence looms over genre fiction. Over the course of a dozen books, Miéville has ranged freely across categories and classifications—epic and urban fantasy, social and hard science fiction, crime, horror and more. And in each case, he addresses, dances with, pokes at and, ultimately, departs from, the traditions and expectations therein. Although many thousands of words have been written trying to put Miéville’s work into neat buckets (“New Weird!” “Fantastika!” “Literary Speculation!” “Hauntological Slipstream!” “Tentacular Metafusion!”), time has proven that a China Miéville book is ultimately, well—Miévillian. The man is a category unto himself.
And what is Miévillian? I’m tempted to use words like “tremendous,” “mind-blowing,” “amazeballs,” and “unmitigated brilliance,” but that doesn’t help especially. As each book is wildly different from its predecessor, the trick is to look at the qualities instead—a Miévillian book is packed with glorious entertainment, epic scale, powerful themes, intellectual depth, creativity of language, subversive approaches and, with a few rare exceptions, monsters.
He is also, and let’s just slap my bias on the table right now, easily my favourite author. If I were exiled to a desert island (possibly for overuse of hyperbole), I’d throw a really nasty fit until I got to take Perdido Street Station with me. And then I’d still sneak back for a copy of Un Lun Dun. And The Scar. And a few essential short stories. And… Let’s be honest, I’d be terrible at island life.
But, in this dark and uncertain world, I have to face the horrifying truth that not everyone has read Miéville. (Yet.) And with that weight of expectation (and the prodigious size of some of his novels), I can understand how one’s first foray can be a daunting task. Each and every one of his books is shellacked in critical acclaim and a-glow with reader adoration—so which makes the best place to start?
As with all reading decisions, this one is up to you. But here are a few recommended starting points:
The One at the Edge of the Everything
Embassytown (2011) takes place in tremendously imaginative city—but in this case, the setting is solidly science fictional. Embassytown is the city at the edge of the known universe, a tiny outpost of humanity on the alien world of Arieka. The Ariekei are, um, sort of Bug Eyed Monsters, insectile aliens with two mouths and a deep, deep love of words (they call it ‘Language’). Because of the whole ‘two mouth’ thing, communicating with them is tricky, the humans have to chat through specialised Ambassadors—twins who have been genetically tweaked to speak in unison. The result is a chilly status quo. The Ariekei could reduce the human settlement to rubble, but don’t bother because they’re fairly polite (and a bit curious). The humans indulge the Ariekei with the Ambassadors, but mostly just milk the planet for exotic biotech. They’re visitors, not colonists.
Of course this tenuous state of affairs doesn’t last, and everything gets… involved. For a book takes place surrounded by (extremely alien) aliens, Embassytown is very much about what defines us as human, interrogating gender and sexuality, language and thought, complacency and agency. All, of course, with a properly space operatic background and—again—monsters (of the “gigantic multi-dimensional” variety).
The One with the Carnivorous Giraffes
If that description makes Un Lun Dun (2007) seem silly… it is. Wonderfully so. Miéville’s first foray into young adult fiction is deliberately off-beat, and as such is both an exceptionally insightful subversion of the genre and a terrific story. When Zanna is revealed as the “Shwazzy”—the ‘chosen one’ of the fantastical city Un Lun Dun, she and her best friend Deeba answer the call to defend that city from the evil Smog. But Zanna… loses. Deeba, rather than let Un Lun Dun suffer, takes the task herself—and thus the ‘sidekick’ ventures forth to save the day. Un Lun Dun gleefully unpicks all the traditions of the ‘chosen one’, instead featuring a quirky, rebellious, ‘ordinary’ girl who tackles The Big Bad with charm, smarts and perseverance (and not prophecy).
As well as roving packs of carnivorous giraffes, Un Lun Dun also features (weirdly adorable) sentient trash—from broken umbrellas to a seriously cuddly milk carton. Funny and clever, Un Lun Dun also contains all of Miéville’s hallmarks: play with language, a deep-rooted love of cities, non-traditional (yet admirable) protagonists, political rebelliousness and tremendous monsters. (Oh, be sure to pick up one of the editions containing Miéville’s own illustrations.)
One With Everything, Please
No pressure, but Perdido Street Station (2000) is probably the Single Best Fantasy Ever Written. And part of that is because it contains, as Whitman said, ‘multitudes’. A disgruntled scientist and his allies—including a de-winged hawkperson, rebellious, um, steampunk cyborgs?, a bug-headed artist, and a badger—all tackle one of the great mysteries of the universe. Also, a shamelessly corrupt government. And nightmarish dream-eating insects. Also contains: adorably traditional adventuring parties, robot mobsters, the Ambassador of Hell, swashbuckling mantis-armed bandits, shapeless horrors, and Devices That Tamper With the Stuff of Reality. All set in the bizarre and ceaselessly tantalising metropolis of New Crobuzon.
Thematically, Perdido is just as ambitious, with discussions of free will and agency and the rule of law and rebellion and causality and governance and and and and… you name it, and you can find it in here. If you want the One Book to Bring Them All And in The (Oversized) Paperback Bind Them, this is the one.
The One Without Any Monsters
In the ancient days of yore, before Ancillary Justice nuked fandom from orbit (and Orbit), the most awarded book in the history of books was The City & the City (2009)—Clarke, Kitschies, Hugo, WFA, BSFA, Locus, Prix de l’Imaginaire, etc.—and with good cause. The novel describes two cities that are juxtaposed, well, politically, socially, culturally, economically and, perplexingly, geographically. The trick is to not-see, and the citizens of Beszel and Ul-Qoma have become expert at keeping the opposite city out of sight (and mind), even while existing in the same place.
An intensely political book, The City & the City is a potent metaphor for [anywhere] and can easily be understood to represent [pretty much name it]—elevating it into the timeless canon of symbolic SF works like “The Lottery” and 1984. It is also a damn good mystery, with a touch of the noir and underlying hooks and catches that not only advance the book’s theme, but keep the reader pleasantly on edge.
The One that is AWESOME
If you like your fantasy more… well, high—in that, vaguely linear, a proper quest, huge monsters, magic swords—The Scar (2002) is the best place to start. Of course, with Miéville, nothing is ‘by the book’, and from its delightfully non-traditional protagonist (a really grumpy translator) to the constant Machiavellian politics (many motives. much conflict. wow.), The Scar manages to be epic without being in any way predictable.
It does, however, have another amazing city—the floating rebel stronghold of Armada—a host of horrifying beasties, a properly kickass naval battle, and, quite easily the most amazing magic sword in all of fantasy. (When you are equipping yourself for your next bout in Thunderdome, ask for the Possible Sword. There’s your tip.)
If there’s any sort of recurring theme to Miéville’s work, it is monsters. Oh, and amazing cities. And notions of rebellion. And a discussion of language. BUT ALSO… the importance of free will. And, in deference to that last point, I suggest that you start your Miéville journey—well, anywhere you like. Be it any of the novels above, one of the half dozen I ran out of space before I could praise, his short stories, comics, editorial features or manifestos—find what’s best for you, equip yourself with tea and snacks, and then dive straight in.
Just, you know—watch out for monsters.
Jared Shurin is an editor for Pornokitsch and the non-profit publisher Jurassic London. He helps look after The Kitschies, the prize for progressive, intelligent and entertaining fiction with elements of the speculative or fantastic.
Having been intrigued by the reviews and descriptions of Mieville’s works I wanted in on the game. So…I picked up a copy (used, but that doesn’t matter) of Embassytown. I like sci-fi to a certain extent (loved Hyperion, like A C Clarke). However, I will be honest, I just couldn’t do Embassytown. It was certainly very descriptive of the surroundings and the characters, but the whole “Language” thing was hard for me to read and I ended up not finishing the book.
Maybe I started with wrong book? Would I give him a try again? Maybe…. I am getting the vibe that Mieville isn’t for everyone.
Answer is THE SCAR.
@1: JKC, boo. But, he works for some sometimes and not others. I also had a tough time with “Language” (I struggle with screwing with language, full stop, as it slows down my reading – took me two tries before I could get anywhere with Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking series!). Obviously I don’t want to be the obnoxious “YOU READ THE WRONG ONE” bully, but maybe try again with something a bit bonkers?
I do generally recommend Un Lun Dun, mostly because it is quick. Unlike Scar, Kraken and PSS, which are all a huge investment of time – and if you’re not sold on an author, that’s a huge ask. Un Lun Dun isn’t SF, but you’ll recognise all the traditional tropes of the quest story and appreciate how they’re being tinkered with. Plus, it is fun.
(The short stories are also, obviously, quick. But as good as they are, the novels have more space for freedom and bonkersness, so they’re better examples of what Miéville can ‘do’.)
I’d try “Kraken” particularly if you liked “Neverwhere” (although it’s much stranger).
I have read all of his fiction books. The only one I didn’t care for was Un Lun Dun, although I did read the whole thing. And Jake’s Stories, but then I am not a short story fan.
The Bas-Lag series are my favourites, although I found myself reading Perdido Station twice – it was just too much for me to take in in one sitting.
I’ve read almost all of Mieville’s books – the exception, Railsea, is on my bedside table. He’s one of my favorite novelists.
I’d give good money for audio versions of The Scar, Iron Council, and Un Lun Dun. I cannot believe those aren’t yet available in the U.S.
For my money, my favorites are The Scar and The City and the City, with PSS not far behind.
@@@@@ #5, Ces – that’s hilarious, I just write a comment praising Un Lun Dun… darnit…! It actually took me a couple attempts to get into Perdido as well. The first time I tried, I didn’t even make it past the first chapter (WHAT IS THIS PLACE? WHY AM I NOT SEEING THESE LOCATIONS ON THE MAP? RIVER?! WHAT?!). Now I’ve reread it a billionty times, and I’m still finding more stuff to enjoy in it. So good.
The only one of his I started and didn’t finish was Un Lun Dun, mainly because the punniness started getting to me after a while. (I think it was the “binja’s” that did it.)
The one that did my head in the most was The City & The City. Just utterly brilliant.
The Bas Lag books are of course great, although I think Iron Council gets a bad rap from many people. It may be the most delicately constructed novel he’s written – and it really brings the entire trilogy full circle.
Still need to read Embassytown, and your post may just have pushed that one to the top of the TBR stack.
The only book of his I’ve read (so far) was Embassytown, but it was amazing enough that I’ve already purchased half a dozen more.
Sometimes I find hyperbolic, gushy posts about things people LOVE LOVE LOVE OHMYGOSH YOU MUST LOVE THIS TOO NOW a bit much…
But no. Every word of this post is true and real and if you have not read these books then DO THIS THING NOW!
I’ve not made it around to Un Lun Dun or Railsea, and I am in the gooey glorious midst of Kraken (I bought it the day of release, and I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t gotten to it until now), but I’ve read everything else and the man is the best there is at what he does.
I started with Perdido Street Station and then King Rat, but The Scar is my favorite, hands down.
Just a bit of warning with Perdido Street Station: The book opens on a very, very depressed character. And such is the quality of the writing that it’s a major bummer to get through that prologue. I picked the book up three times before I could read through that without feeling dreary.
Read past that. It’s worth it. How strange is it? Stranger than that. No, stranger than that too. And yes, a little bit more.
Lastly: Lifeline Theatre in Chicago put on a stage version of The City and The City lsat year (very minimalist staging, the two cities indicated mostly by costume). Perhaps it will get put on stage again elsewhere, it’s very much worthwhile.
Mieville is a love him or hate him author.
For those who do not read much sci-fi/fantasy, or to those who only read the mainstream and bestseller sci-fi/fantasy, stay away. You won’t understand what’s going on and you won’t have the patience to deal with the thick language and deluge of new ideas.
For those who read tons of genre fiction and need a truely different voice, dive right in and he will be your new favorite author. Every novel is unique and fantastic, literally.
@12
I don’t know about that, I often suggest Mieville to people who exclusively read literary fiction or other genre fiction (crime, horror, thrillers) because of his writing and treatment of theme. He seems to go over quiet well and if I had to guess is it because he isn’t wholly a plot writer which a lot of other popular fantasy writers are, he takes time to pick words and have thematic arcs. That’s not to I say other fantasy writers don’t buy CM seems to have a lot of crossover appeal.
Re: 12/13 – Miéville has stated that one of his goals is to write a book in every genre, so e.g. The City and the City is crime fiction (if memory serves, he wrote it for his grandmother, who loved mystery novels). Un Lun Dun is his young adult fantasy, and so on. So there are definitely hooks for crossover opportunities. I also fundamentally disagree that you either “get Miéville or you don’t,” as #12 seems to suggest. Second paragraph comes dangerously close to saying “you’re too stupid to read this.”
Jared, I’m surprised that you’re not including Kraken. It’s so all over the place that I can see (or guess at) your reasons, but the plot is so goofy that it seems like an opportunity to say “hey, you like A. Lee Martinez, take a spin with this guy.”
The first of his books I read was The Scar, and it just blew me away. What happens to the narrator at the end layed me to waste. Maybe because I identified with her so much that I felt like what happened happened to me, but it was amazing. I love the way his books don’t have that neat and tidy everything works out at the end endings. The style is amazing and the layers are dense enough to keep you guessing, but don’t overly complicate things and then simplistically solve them the way so many steampunk novels end up doing.
I didn’t like the Iron Council as much as the Scar or PSS, but it’s less about him and more about me I think. So I was apprehensive when I picked-up Railsea, it being a train based Moby Dick (double whammy as far as I’m concerned.) But it was amazing again. Can you guess that I think China Miellvie is AMAZING?! I can’t wait to delve into more of his crazy worlds.
I’ve read The City & The City and was unimpressed. He tried to throw The Weird into a Chandler novel and dance around it with dialectical materialism. It really fell apart at the end (could be more specific in this thought though spoliers). I’m hoping this was his attempt to simplify writing to gather a larger audience…
Still willing to give another try with Perdido Street. Should look into The Scar. Was really suprised by the simplicity of the language of The City when it started with a quotation from Bruno Schulz. I have heard the other novels are more dificult and interesting reads. I hope so…
No idea what is meant by TC&TC elevating into the canon… BTW: How are either The Lottery or 1984 SF? Did you mean symbolic political works?
No love for King Rat?
@16: Nineteen Eighty-Four not sf? takes place in the future (at the time of writing), with effects of technology, in a possible world, in a possible speculative scenario.
sf does not have to have rocketships.
as far as “The Lottery”, more of a stretch and not strictly sf. but it does deal with a social order (in that town) different than default reality. so, yes, fantasy or weird fiction at the very least. fantasy does not have to have the equivalent of rocketships, though fantercy must.
I have a copy of this, but I have yet to read it, maybe when i finish my phd., i’ll be able to read his dis.
http://www.brill.com/between-equal-rights
http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Between-Equal-Rights-A-Marxist-Theory-of-International-Law
sigh
I vote Kraken all the way, if only for Wadi and the Tatoo.
Tried my best on Perdido Street Station and couldn’t make it past the 2nd chapter. Talk about kitchen-sink … I have a really low tolerance level for scuzz and grime and corruption. That’s not a knock on Mieville; I could see that it was really well done; but I just didn’t want to be there in that place. Perhaps I’ll try Un Lun Dun or The Scar … unless there’s more sludge.
I got into Mieville by gradually reading through Looking for Jake and Other Stories, which I think was a good decision as there is only so much weird that most people (myself included) can take at any one time.
I picked up King Rat for cheap before I’d read anything else by him…. And hated it. With a burning passion difficult to describe. Then I read Perdido Street Station and all was well. Although The Scar is probably the only book I own that I’m unable to finish
Don’t start with Embassytown. I was a Mieville apologist for years before I could force myself to climb the steep learning curve of that novel.
I started with Railsea, and it was one of my favorite books of all times in an instant. Then Perdido Street Station. I think either are good places to start, and The City and The City is fairly accessible as well.
Un Lun Dun is charming, but not as vast. The Scar is good, but a technically a sequel to Perdido Street Station and also a bit aimless (wonderfully so). But please, start anywhere but with Embassytown – if you start there you won’t like it, unless you’re a lot smarter, patient and tolerant of nonsense than the average bear.
My favorite author as well. Perdido is the holy grail of his books. I was disappointed in Embassytown mostly because the narrator was melodramatic and not interesting.
I think Kraken and Un Lun Dun are very underrated. Great books. If you like his stuff I recommend the novels of Nick Harkaway and also the Rook by Daniel O’Malley.
I loved King Rat, obviously. The Pied Piper is the most gloriously evil character ever. I adored The Scar and Perdido Street Station, but found The Iron Council way to preachy (and not wierd enough). This article is a good kick in the pants to pick up a few that I haven’t read yet. Thanks!
I’ve only read Railsea so far (it was wonderful) but I’ve got all his books in my to-read list.
Embassytown was clearly ahead of its time. Books about far-flung corners of galactic empires featuring characters with non-binary gender, complex insight into language constructions and deep discussions of what makes something ‘human’ didn’t really take off until 2014.
This post is perfect timing for me! I’d only heard great things about China, but never got around to picking up one of his novels. Then a few weeks ago I came upon “Kraken” in a used bookstore (Hardcover for only $4 in very good condition!) so I picked it up. I’ve debating between “Kaken” and “NOS4A2” for what to read next… guess I know what its going to be now!
You’ve chosen all my favorites, as well.
Bookmarking this for next time I want to introduce someone to Mieville’s work.
Don’t start with Embassytown!
Perdido is a good starting point. I’d also recommend King Rat or Kraken.
Perdido Street Station is easily one of my favorite books. Great characters, an amazing setting, and a truly depressing ending that I really didn’t see coming. (My favorite character, oddly, was Lemuel Pigeon. And man, was I pissed off at those cactus people after the Glasshouse chapter.)
I couldn’t get into The Scar nearly as much — maybe because it strayed out of the setting I liked so much in the first book — and I really didn’t like Iron Council at all, as it just seemed to me by then that Mieville had gone from an author with a very distinct linguistic style to an author in love with his own unconventional use of words, and a bit too fond of body horror for its own sake. That, and his political views had become obtrusive and a lot of Iron Council read like a tract. New Crobuzon, for all it figured into the narrative, just didn’t feel alive as it did in Perdido Street Station.
King Rat was a fun blend of Neverwhere and American Gods, if kind of unfocused, and I liked several of the stories in Looking for Jake. Still, I haven’t read any Mieville since. I picked up Kraken in the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble, and I’ll get to it sooner or later.
@32: I though Kraken suffered from self-indulgence but I liked The City & the City, another book with a very unique setting.
Embassytown is my favorite of Melville’s books so far (and the first one is read). I love all of the what is language stuff.
In general the books are different enough from each other, that I think most people will like some and dislike others, you can’t extrapolate from your reaction to one book.
Saying Perdido Street Station is the best Fantasy ever written in a world with things like Zelazny’s Lord of Light, Vances Eyes of the Overworld, Liebers Our Lady of Darkness, Sheas Nifft the Lean, or more recently Hunt’s Jackellian books etc, etc, etc makes me think the author of this article either hasn’t read much fantasy or just has their niche blinders on.
Almost forgot to tell you. I read Kraken last week and I thought it was amazing! The world building, magic, and his exspecially his imagination… I really considering going out and buying his New Crozbun series the next day haha
That’s fantastic! I’m glad you liked it!
Halfway through Kraken (so far way less than the sum of some brilliantly inventive & some almost unreadably derivative parts), ditched the pedestrian Railsea early on. I want to like CM, he interviews well, the logolept vocab has appeal but wielded like merit badges rather than luciferous enrichment. Fantasy is not really my thing, I’m glad you’ve all found something you like – but for mine he is a Stan Winston understudy revered as esemplastic hierohpany. For seriously strange try some MZD esp. House of Leaves, DM’s Cloud Atlas or IQ84 by Murakami.
I think CM’s books can be grouped to some extent, in their potential accessibility for different tastes. I think the Bas-lag novels are the most different from the mainstream – PSS, Iron Council, The Scar, not only because of their creative weirdness, but because of a relentlessly brooding ambiance, and in the case of Iron Council and the Scar, remarkably dull and unheroic narrator characters. (I still like all these books.) Embassytown is probably more or less in the same category, though the distant planet setting may make it more accessible for SF fans. I found it to be a refreshing change from the usual predictive litany and swashbuckle of mainstream SF. (Which may in fact make it less accessible for the mainstream SF fan.) The City and the City is an outlier, (no monsters) but is brilliant for the subtlety of its fantasy aspects. That is a novel i would recommend to anyone who reads fiction, not as an introduction to CM per se, but as a book that is such a clever variant on the detective genre. If the above books include your first exposure to CM, you would not realize how funny he is. Un Lun Dun and Railsea are flat out fun and funny. Do not be deterred (as I was for awhile) by their “young adult” labels. Kraken and King Rat feature the fantastically strange, and also have quite a bit of humor. (Kraken was the first CM book I read, and have to admit my first exposure to a sentient, parasitic gangster tattoo.) So, to conclude with possibly unhelpful direction for the CM noob, there are multiple potential portals into his work – if you subscribe to the wine tasting paradigm, you could start with the lightest and work your way into Bas-lag, which also goes good with Stilton cheese (joke). And even if you are tee-total, read the City and the City. MN mentioned IQ84 by Murakami – i think that book is an excellent complement to the City and the City, though Murakami is stylistically quite different from most of CM’s novels.
@38 MN
Funny to see Cloud Atlas and IQ1984 touted as alternatives to anything by China Mieville. I enjoyed both books but I wouldn’t describe Cloud Atlas or IQ1984 as “seriously strange”. I’ve read most of Murakami’s books, some translated, some in Japanese. His earlier books are very good, and Birnbaum’s translations have a nice dreamlike quality to them, but I wouldn’t put even the Murakami/Birnbaum collaborations in the same league as China Mieville.