The Scar (Bas-Lag Book 2)

Hugely creative, breahtaking prose, frequently grotesque, always captivating.

I highly recommend Meiville to anyone interested in new wave sci fi and weird fantasy. Really excellent stuff, and the only person Ive seen successfully pull off steampunk elements without looking cheesy.

The Scar is a 300-page book stretched into 608 pages. The world Miéville presents is an interesting and fascinating world, but the manner he describes it in; the esoteric and pompous language used, and the utterly boring story presented, makes for a boring book that feels like its trying to be something it is not in way too many pages.

I had picked up this novel because I wanted to read a fantasy novel that was not the normal sword & sorcery or save the magic kingdom stuff we often see. I had seen Miévilles name about and picked the up book while browsing though a used bookstore. Once I began to read the novel, I found the setting to be rather intricate. It is definitely a fantasy setting, ripe with new races and other aberrations like the cray-people or the cactus men. The number of races is rather overwhelming to begin with, and the names keep on flashing by. However, by the time those races are important to the story, you know what they are. The magic in the setting is definitely akin to our modern specialization of scientic studies. It makes the magic more grounded and subdued. It does not stand out as much, though it is important to the setting. It is by far NOT insignificant. The main character is Bella Coldwine, a linguist on the run from New Crobuzon. She is rather flat on the surface, but it allows the reader to receive mostly unbiased perceptions of what is going on around. Do not get let her name mislead you though, she does have her biases and ambitions that fuel her through the entire book. The plotting of the novel is rather intricate. You are bounced around from perceptions of what is going on and who is manipulating whom. It keeps you on your toes and is rather well done. I would definitely advise reading The Scar if you want something different in the fantasy genre. Do not worry about reading Perido Street Station first. There is no necessary plotting between novels, though I head it is a cool read as well.

This takes place afterwards but is a completely different kind of story. The same creatures and remades and all are here but this is a very different kind of story. The story arc follows one woman, Coldwine, who had to leave the city following the events of the previous, but it really creates a whole new world/environment. I think the development of a few of the characters is what makes this book work. The previous book was about the fleshing out the world that New Crobuzon is in but never developed any characters more than was needed for the story. This book is an epic tale where you see Coldwine really develop as a person and the environment of Armada becomes such a rich and interesting part of the story. As with Perdido Station, the actual climax is not that interesting but somehow you do not really care.

Very good, showing an author that succeeds at basically everything theyre aiming for, and is aiming for the right things. Hes one of the truly great worldbuildings, on the level of Vance or Le Guin. Casual little details are thrown in that make for an very compelling and believable setting. Economy, politics and daily life appear clearly, this isnt just a background with a convincing set of dynasties but one that feels inhabited by a whole order of classes. Mieville is the other type of urban fantasy writer--rather than take the existing world and put a slice of the fantastic over it he weaves a fictional city in great detail. Moreover, in the Scar this city is Armada, multiple levels of pirate ships on the water, the whole structure slowly drifting across the globe. Multiple species, a giant mythological beast to pull it, yet the structures of internal trade and partisan politics are comprehensible. This book has as well wonderful moral complexity, a rich cast with a range of attitudes and desires. As a revealing incident, at one point major plot emerges from the vampire overlord of part of Armada launching an attempted coup of the city, aligned with Eldritch sea monsters. Hes an antagonist, but rendered sympathetically, along with much of the cast. The one faction in this novel shown as monstrous is also the one with the most banal focus, the city aiming at strategic transit and commerce. A very effective and unique work. Similar to and better than: Jack Vances Blue World Similar to and worse than: David Mitchells Cloud Atlas. Not particularly similar, mind you, but the ocean-centered segments are broadly comparable.

Sigh... I really wanted to like this book because I thoroughly enjoyed Perdido Street Station. Alas, this book a lazy and poorly written follow-up. It rambles. Its a poor set-up. I didnt care about the characters and had no sense of personal investment in the story. There is so much terrible repetition. There are so many instances of this happened then this then the person said this - a lot of description of action without much happening. Another note: this book changes tense all the time. We go from past tense to present and back again in the middle of the chapter with no rhyme or reason to it. Or maybe in the authors head there is but it is simply jarring and poorly written. The floating city concept was just... weak. It was like he had an interesting idea but couldnt really flesh it out all the way because, at its core, its just not a very solid concept. In fantasy worlds, the best world building has a sense of possibility. Things make sense. But this... this didnt make much sense. A floating city that had been around for a thousand years? Cmon. Because of that lack of clarity of ideas, everything felt vague and disconnected. Above all else, this book seems to have never had an editor and it could have used that. I really dont know why people like this book, actually. What if you could said from New Crobuzon, safely past the Gengris in safety... Thats just a bad sentence. Thats one of many many sentences. After a while, you get numb to it. But I dont like being numb when I read. Also, the word puissant or puissance - if I hear that one more time in another book I will stop reading it. This book is a mess. Dont read it.

I loved this book as much as Perdido Street Station. It helps if you read that one first because it familiarizes you with the different species, which also show up in Iron Council. It is easy to lose yourself in Mievilles books.

This was the best of the three Mieville books in the New Crobuzon universe. Interesting characters, good mysteries, suspense, and a plot that keeps moving. I liked this a lot.

Much has been written about the narrative and writing skills inherent in The Scar. This review focuses on the ending (without any spoilers). Essentially, those who read traditional fantasy will struggle with the ambiguities that present themselves. We never find out the answers to some very pertinent questions (although we do find out some). What Mieville has done is transformed the story structure of fantasy. For some, this new structure is not new. It is a common theme in the traditional stories of many Indigenous Peoples. It is, however, something quite daring (although I am sure some detractors will say it is pretentious), for the target audience of the aforementioned traditional fantasy. The only author who has made a career defying expectations with brilliant writing is Gene Wolfe. Wolfe, however, stayed true to the essence of his mythic source material. Although the Scar is a better book then the excellent Perdido Street Station, I do believe that Mieville has not yet reached his full potential. One interesting plot thread running through both of the Bas Lag books involves a key scientific principle. What is interesting is that it is presented in two diametrically opposed theories in the books. One is true and one is not. We dont know which one prevails. Goodness knows what will come next, but Im hoping that Bas Lag will be revisited.