The Scar (New Crobuzon, #2) in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Apr 06, 2012 Nataliya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2022-reads, favorites, location-is-the-true-protagonist, 2012-reads, strange-avenues-of-mieville-s-mind, locus-winner, hugo-nebula-nominees-and-winners

2022:

“In time, in time they tell me, I’ll not feel so bad. I don’t want time to heal me. There’s a reason I’m like this.
I want time to set me ugly and knotted with loss of you, marking me. I won’t smooth you away.
I can’t say good-bye.”

I first read The Scar a decade ago, new to the weird magic of Miéville’s writing, entranced by the bizarreness of his imagination and the love of thesaurus-heavy vocabulary. Something about this book pulled on just the right strings and made it my favorit ...more

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Apr 09, 2014 Lyn rated it it was amazing

After reading Kraken, and The City and the City and after Perdido Street Station, it occurred to me that China Mieville was certainly one of our most imaginative and talented new writers and that he was on a short list of authors who were dramatically making new ground in new fantasy. But after reading each, I also decided, knew in fact, that he could do better, that his masterpiece was yet to be written, that as great a talent had been displayed, more, so much more could be expected.

The Scar ma After reading Kraken, and The City and the City and after Perdido Street Station, it occurred to me that China Mieville was certainly one of our most imaginative and talented new writers and that he was on a short list of authors who were dramatically making new ground in new fantasy. But after reading each, I also decided, knew in fact, that he could do better, that his masterpiece was yet to be written, that as great a talent had been displayed, more, so much more could be expected.

The Scar may very well be that masterpiece.

Taking the setting, Bas-Lag, of his earlier novel Perdido Street Station, building on that world that Mieville created, and moving in a different direction, but keeping the wildly fantastic tone and character of the narrative, The Scar is not really a sequel. There are references to the earlier plot and many remembrances of New Crobuzon, but The Scar has its own story.

This is the story of a pirate city. There is a very interesting plot, and many memorable and colorful characters, some fun twists and a unique steam punk setting flowing from the world building of the earlier Perdido Street Station, some political and social metaphors and a socialist sub-text, but make no mistake, what fills the sails of this very enjoyable book is Armada, a floating amalgam of pirated vessels. Add some steampunk elements to Gore Verbinsky’s vision of the Pirates of the Caribbean films and this provides a sustainable glimpse of the book’s remarkable setting.

Also noteworthy is Mieville’s relationship, as a writer of the “New Weird” to that literary ancestry. As a scholarly descendant and heir to H.P. Lovecraft the nautical tale, with cryptic references to otherworldly denizens of the deep, is an atavistic link to Cthulu and to a storied past. Mieville’s Avanc, an extra-dimensional monster from the deep lends a further mystery legend to fuel this fictional history.

The Scar also demonstrates again China Mieville as an urban writer. In every other book by Mieville, he takes the reader on a guided tour along the back alleys and cozy café’s of the city he has put together. Armada, though afloat, still captures the author’s ability to make us feel a citizen of this unique municipality. Akin to his virtuosity as a writer of urban settings, is his adept ability to create and maintain complex characterizations and purposeful dynamic relationships. As much as I am against series, I like what Mieville has done, this is a series about Bas-Lag, the world he has built and within the context of which, any number of stories can be told.

Finally, as a political activist, Mieville has left us with a sub-text of political underpinnings. Mieville is a proponent of left wing political ideology and Armada, a free-floating, egalitarian-libertarian pirate city full of press-ganged but loyal citizens is a fitting palette for his dogmatic brush.

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Mar 25, 2013 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, 2016-shelf, fantasy, worldbuilding-sf

So. I have a question for you.

When's the last time you watched vampires go fishing?

No?

Then where the f***ing hell have you been? Seriously!

Okay, so the effort involved is a bit more than even the undead can muster, and a fleet, or no, actually, a whole *nation* of boats has a hard time with this fish story.

Of course, Miéville finally gets to show us how he deals with an epic war scene, interesting treatments of betrayal, kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome, and extended spycraft, but what's really ...more

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Nov 06, 2015 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: world-fantasy-nominee

This is quite a strange book and it really didn't head in any of the many directions I could have imagined. Mieville's extraordinary world-building is in evidence again, with legions of creatures, aliens, and countries in play.

This one takes place entirely on the ocean, from one ship to a connected flotilla-landmass thing... Okay, clearly I don't have Mieville's way with words. The point is that there is a focus to the things that are under the water, beyond the water, across the water, at the e ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Liam || Books 'n Beards rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, science-fiction, fantasy, owned-books

God I love China Miéville. The worlds he creates are so deep, so well described - I could lose myself for days in his books. Good thing I still have seven to read.

When I put down Perdido I was upset to leave the world I'd been existing in in my mind for the past 800~ pages. And whilst the Scar isn't set in New Crobuzon, it does take place in Bas-Lag. If anything my feeling at the end of this book was worse, in the Scar you are introduced to so many more locations and characters in that fantastic ...more

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Aug 24, 2019 Jeff rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

The first thing that struck me about this book, as I slipped a bookmark between the pages after reading the first few chapters, was how thoroughly it had enfolded me. Like a thick fog, it muffled, dimmed and slowed the world I sat reading in, and replaced it with something new, something strangely warm and comfortable, yet which I struggled to comprehend.

The second thing I was struck by was how vast and strange Miéville's imagination is. The beings, the places, the magics with which he so densel ...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Helen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Think I'd rather give this 2.5 stars, I don't think like is how I feel abouyt this book but it did interest me more than just ok. I also feel it was more sci-fi than fantasy. ...more

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