The Scar (Bas-Lag Book 2)

China Mievilles third book, The Scar, is cursed to be overshadowed by his first, Perdido Street Station. The Scar, however, is a classic in its own right. A entertaining, absorbing and complex book, The Scarshould serve to further seal Mievilles name amongst the greats of this (and any) genre. Although The Scar takes place in the same world as Perdido Street Station (and has a few oblique references to some of the events of that book), it leaves New Crubozon behind and explores a vastly different city, Armada. Mieville is a practiced tease - rather than succumb to overtly masturbatory world-building, he gracefully dances around his exotic locations, leaving the reader desperately praying for another scene in the library. Or under the ocean. Or by the rift in the world... Mieville has created one of the most compelling worlds in fantasy, and hes such a great writer that he knows not to give in to wallowing in it. The primary protagonist of The Scar is Bellis Coldwine. A talented linguist, Coldwine is fleeing New Crubozon for mysterious reasons that dont become clear until late in the book. Although an ostensibly chilly and unapproachable character, Mieville gives us access to her thoughts (and her diary). Empathy is unavoidable, as Coldwines past - and her present loneliness and homesickness - quickly become apparent. Without getting too far over my head, the main theme seems to be one of authorship. Coldwines dismal world-view is exacerbated by her sense that her fate is completely out of her control. Her life is out of her hands, and, more importantly, she struggles with the awareness that even her own choices may have been prompted or influenced by others. Throughout The Scar, Coldwine is little more than a pawn - generally self-aware and only occasionally sanguine. Bellis Coldwine is also surrounded by a cast of unusual characters - a well-meaning academic, a Remade engineer striving to find a new home and many more - including mosquito-people scholars, a displaced vampire-lord and one of the nastiest swordsmen in modern fantasy. As The Scar journeys forward, the reader discovers that these characters are struggling with the same problem - how can they take control of their own lives and destinies? Even the city itself struggles with this issue - drifting (metaphorically and literally) under the control of outside powers, and eagerly trying to achieve the ownership of its own actions. The most valuable lesson is simply that China Mieville does not start and end with Perdido Street Station. If anything, The Scar is slightly more conventional fantasy, making it more immediately accessible (not to knock Perdido, which is probably the best fantasy published in the past twenty years). Whereas Perdido Street Station is more thoughtful (and Iron Council more openly political), The Scar is still an absorbing and complex take on the traditional fantasy novel. -- PORNOKITSCH

I really had a hard time getting through this one. I really loved Perdido Street Station, so was looking forward to its continuation. I just had a hard time staying with it. It seemed like this book was just all over the place. I will read the next in the series and hope it all comes together.

I realized, well into The Scar, that China Mieville had again drawn me into alien cultures, in an alien world, with alien languages and conventions, layering these with detail and immediacy that has completely suspended my objectivity and disbelief, and immersed me in the unfolding events. Mieville has the unique ability to pair his rich imagry with his readers in a way that places them in the middle of his story. This is more than a fantasy adventure novel. Much of it occurrs in the perceptions and reflection of the characters, and in the limitlessness of his possibility thinking, alternate technologies, alternate science, alternate cultures, alternate histories.In The Scar, Mieville achieves breakthroughs in plot and language, and again comes into his own as a literary master.

Frankly, I was a little skeptical in trying to read this book. Afterall, how can a story that takes place on a bunch of boats tied together be interesting? Leaving my skepticism aside, because, of course, for Mievilles resounding success with Perdido, I bought the book. I could not have been any more happy. I thought Perdido was great, but The Scar is much better. Taking place shortly after the events of Perdido, the plot quickly moves forward with enough suspense and emotion to want to continue to read, regardless of the time. Again, as with my review for Perdido, the strangeness of the characters brings so much flavor to this book, breathing life into an arena of literature that could be seen as lackluster, or becoming so at least. Either way, if you read and liked Perdido Street Station and want to read another by Mieville, then definitely read this one. And, if you havent read Perdido, I would recommend reading this one. The events take place after Perdido, but you dont need to know what happened in Perdido to understand The Scar. If anything, Perdido Street Station would be a good place to start because it gives more detail into the types of races and structure of society that you dont receive as much of in The Scar. Either way, a fun and exciting read. A recommend for everyone, regardless of their genre preference.

before you read the rest of this, do yourself a favor and read this book. in fact, i heartily suggest reading all the bas-lag stories by mieville. everyone one of them is like a little window, a window to a world that is beautiful and ugly tantalizing us with everything else there is to see, to know with what weve experienced so far. this story carries on shortly after perdido street station. if you havent read that you wont be completely in the dark. youll meet amazing people, see incredible places, witness utterly terrifying events and learn some of the expanded history of the world of bas-lag. through the eyes of the most useless and transparent main character, possibly ever. shes there, and is alive. and all these things happen around her. but shes there telling us the events, not taking part in them. while this is fitting considering her character and personality if you came into this book thinking her first person perspective would be that of the world saving hero, youd be wrong. oh, so very wrong. but in the end, thats ok. shes not a hero. she, like most of us, is just a person. a rather cardboardish person. but everything else makes it so worth it.

Excellent read. I loved exploring the far reaches of the wonderfully weird world of Bas-Lag. Chinas prose is sophisticated and the characters have real depth. The ending was slightly disappointing but hey I very much enjoyed the ride.

As a new novelist, I find this book to be astonishing from beginning to end. I truly enjoyed it and it was a great read!!!! Anthony D. Woods c/o Velvet Tears: Breaking the Silence

China Mievilles PERDIDO STREET STATION was one of my five favorite books of 2001, so its only natural that THE SCAR got shunted to the top of the stack when I bought it. Its an excellent book, but my reaction to it was slightly more ambivalent than with the earlier novel. In many respects, Mievilles writing is a vast improvement over the earlier novel. Though the descriptions of horror and grotesquerie are as plentiful as in PERDIDO, the overall effect is more rarefied, possibly because the prose is somewhat more ornate and remote - less out-and-out pulpy. No one setting in the book is as compelling as PERDIDOs instantly iconic New Crobuzon, but THE SCAR delivers such a wide range of indelible sights and wonders that we dont really miss Crobuzon as much as we might at first think. The ending is far less deus-ex-machina than PERDIDO, as well - a definite plus. However, all of this goodness has an obverse side. The prose is more polished and less pulpy, yes, but also a bit colder, a bit more like an edifice. The ending is satisfying - not happy, certainly, but satisfying - but the plot leading up to it is full of little frustrations. Mieville consciously set out with THE SCAR to confound what he sees as the annoying contrivances of most heroic fantasy, such as the likeable, activist hero who inevitably saves the day (which still figured in PERDIDO, although the day was not fully saved); but some of his workarounds are not particularly endearing, such as a heroine who is not only not likeable (I can live with that - I read Ellroy, after all) but is not particularly interesting. And in Uther Doul, Mieville creates a supporting character who is more interesting than the lead, but who seems to have stepped in from another story altogether. The novels overarching theme, that of painful change and growth, is a worthy one, and handled very intelligently in terms of characterization and plot movement, but the central metaphor - embodied in the mental and physical scars that every character carries, and the global Scar of the title - feels a bit obvious and a bit overdone. Nonetheless, Im not about to fault Mieville for having genuine literary ambition in a field where most writers are seemingly content with telling anaesthetizing stories primarily intended to start or maintain a franchise. The plot here is strong, the characterization believable, the prose muscular, and the descriptions vivid. As fantasy or as literature, THE SCAR is eminently worth your time and money.

Not too many years from now, there will be college kids studying the books of China Mieville, and The Scar will likely be included in the syllabus. It is, perhaps, not quite on the level of Moby Dick, say, but thats the kind of comparison that comes to mind. Its giant and epic and the characters are real and, for the most part, complex. To describe the book in any kind of detail would be difficult; Im sure other reviewers have done so below. But its interesting to point out that The Scar exists in a sort of nether-world: It MIGHT take place in the deep future, long enough after humans had populated the world of The Scar for so long that theyve apparently forgotten about Earth (at least, our world is never mentioned). But their world is a weird mixture of steampunk along with decaying technologies that sometime exceed our own. Just as likely, however, the book may exist in a universe where The Earth never existed and, if thats the case, one might call this a fantasy novel instead. IN terms of stars Ive given The Scar 4 stars, because it is not in my mind quite up to the level of The City and The City or some of the others, but were still talking some real substantial writing here. Oh dont get me wrong: Its fun, too. Its got a plot that unravels slowly and that just keeps getting more and more far out as time goes on, but nothing is revealed to readers in advance. So do not miss this important work, or any of the other Mieville books.

It did not take long for me to fall in love with mievilles gorgeous descriptions, characterizations , and characters; but the narrative thread at times feels forced when reaching extremes or climaxes that move over the top of the expected maniscus of narrative climax. even so, i have fallen in love with the new Crobuzon and Armada world and the language is superlative but relatable. Well done!