The Scar (Bas-Lag Book 2)

China Mieville, The Scar (Ballantine, 2002) Comparing any fantasy novel to Mievilles mighty Perdido Street Station invites a bad review. But it cant be helped, in the case of The Scar. After all, its the sequel to Perdido Street Station. Its not surprising that it doesnt measure up; what is surprising is how close it comes to doing so. Not long after the events of Perdido Street Station, Grimnebulins sometime-girlfriend, Bellis Coldwine, flees New Crobuzon when she feels the militia closing in. Boarding the Terpsichoria, she heads off for the colonies on the other side of the world, stopping at Salkrikaltor Cray on the way for some negotiations. Not long after they leave Cray, however, they are ambushed by pirates from a nation who are completely unconcerned with New Crobuzons might, and taken prisoner. Things go, to put it mildly, downhill from there. It seemed to me throughout that much of Mievilles impetus for writing The Scar was to explore and flesh out some of the places that were just mentioned in Perdido Street Station. All well and good, as much of what was praised about the former novel was Mievilles ability to build a world with an awe-inspiring amount of descriptive realism. So its no surprise that the same happens here, as Mieville takes us thousands of miles north and west of New Crobuzon, jumping around the map and filling in pieces of it we didnt get to see before. Mievilles descriptive talents are as strong as ever. The plots got a good deal going for it, as well. The pirates are not your normal brand of pirate, and Bellis spends much of her time trying to figure out whats really going on as a possible means of somehow winning her freedom from her captors. She, and her various co-conspirators, are just as expertly drawn as the batch in Perdido Street Station. Where the book sometimes flags is pace. Perdido Street Station is compelling reading, the kind of book for which foregoing food and sleep often seems like a good idea. Not so in parts of The Scar. Only parts, mind you, but there are passages here and there where the pace flags. That Mieville previously achieved a perfectly-paced novel in the midst of the vast amounts of thick description therein is the only reason for criticism here; with most authors, wed be amazed it moves as swiftly as it does. A worthy, if (very slightly) inferior, successor to Perdido Street Station. **** ½

(more accurately 2 and a half) The second book in the Bas-Lag series, “The Scar”, is a steampunk fantasy weird fiction novel. While it is a sequel, there are not much strict ties to the original Perdido street station, except for lore and the mentioning of a few characters. This is utilized as a benefit as it removes any restrictions that the old setting (New Crobuzon) had, and allows Miéville keep the locations fresh in interesting. He succeeds in this by placing most of the book in the city of Armada, made completely of ships tied and build together at sea. It is here where most of the characters interact and the story unfolds. This, however, is possibly the only most interesting thing the book has to offer, as it only goes downhill in terms of originality from there. Once again the characters are weakest part of the story, and unlike the first book, the set up is more focus on one character named Bellis Coldwine (while it does still switch perspectives, it mostly stays on her). Unfortunately she is by far the least interesting major character in the entire book. This is because of her extremely lifeless personality of submissiveness and ignorance. This is not to say that it is bad writing to have characters with such traits, but it is a poor choice to make such characters the center stage. Quite literally she does 3-4 actions of important consequence throughout the whole book, all of which was either following the orders of another character directly or being manipulated by another character. Everything else she does is local and either does not, or very indirectly effects the main plot. This is because the main plot is focused on the city reaching an illusive and legendary destination called the Scar, and the characters like Uther doul, The lovers, and the Brucolac are all very experienced and knowledgeable in the matter, while Bellis simply happened to be unlucky enough to be on the ship that the city took over in hopes of finding an important person (Johanas). so she has no information of the major factors at play here, and no means to achieve said information, as she is written as weak in physical and mental capabilities (relative to the other major characters). At points it seems almost comedic how useless she is, as 2 of the few major actions she takes (which was being hyped up as major) turns out to be completely nullified in the next second when a character says “oh, we already knew that” (paraphrasing). The other characters even acknowledged this as they either ignore her existence since she’s so minor, or they easily manipulate her into doing what they want her to. Its baffling why she was chosen as the protagonist when she’s so clearly a side, static character. At times the book describes Uther doul much like it would an actual conventional protagonist, hinting at his far more interesting background and his extreme skill in fighting, and most importantly, an actual meaningful place in the plot. While making him the main character the main one would improve the book, it wouldnt do so by much, as he too is banal in practice (just not as much as Bellis). This is because he’s far too conventional, thousands of characters exist just like him, the “skill swordsman that serves as the royalty’s guard, only he has a secretive upbringing”. While the secretive upbringing part is alluring, it is not suffice to block how he is in the present, which is just another cliché overpowered swordsman. He never loses a single fight ever in the story, which might sound compelling at first glance, in reality it means there’s never any risk or chance of failure in a battle, so you stop caring about said battle at all. This could be possible solved had the book been told through his prospective, creating the possibility of a more 3 dimensionally deeper character, as it is conceivable that the reason for his apparent mundanity is because the reader only sees him through Bellis’s eyes, which are unrefined and incapable of picking up minor details due to her lacking any major place of importance. This fault is repeated several times over by any character who’s remotely exotic at first glance as well In the previous book, the lack of quality characters was at least partially made up by the creative and skillful world building/lore, which for whatever reason is lacking in this installment. Several new beings and aspects of life are introduced, the major of which being (minor spoiler alert) the Anvic. It any many other things like it fall back on the already used by the weaver and Moths in Perdido Street Stations ability to shift between realities. While new and intriguing previously, now it is stale and evidence of a lack on creativity. Not only does the Anvic posses it, but so does the Gringis and even Uther doul’s sword (though in that case its through another technique, but pragmatically its the same end product), meaning its effect of awe is severely lessened. That is not the only reason why the Anvic is a disappointment, no, its greatest offence is the fact that is was being build up as legendary, massive, and literally beyond this world, and the ready never even sees it besides descriptions of it being massive upfront (too much so to see its shape) and indescribable later on. The intended effect was to let the reader’s mind go wild with speculation, but because its only used by the city is to move slightly faster than before, and they were able to harness its power by essentially putting a carrot on a line on a stick, doesn’t help the reader imagine anything that impressive. By the end of the book (which will not be told in detail here due to major spoilers) nothing of major consequence has happened, for the “thing” that the whole book was leading to, never occurs, and everyone just goes home (essentially). Characters claimed that they’ve changed, but this is at the end of the book so the reader has no evidence of this. Though not so horrible as to warrant not finishing the book, it certainly wasnt something to remember

I really debated between 1 and 2 stars. However, if you read this book, youll probably give it a 4 or 5 star. So pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I think my biggest problem with this novel is my age. (Im too old and lack the imagination of a 12 year old.) If my main form of entertainment still came in the form of Saturday morning cartoons, I think I would have liked this book. However, when I discovered that one of the characters (actually several of them) had tank treads in the place of legs and feet, I gave up. If you can imagine a world (somewhat industrial and post-apocalyptic) where people have machine parts assembled into their natural corps, well, this may be the best book you ever read. Dont listen to me. Im just one person. I love fantasy. And I love world building. I just couldnt make this work. Ciao.

In a strange world of beetle heads and cactus people, a floating city made of square miles of stolen ships commits acts of piracy and kidnapping. Puissance ensues. Puissance, puissance, puissance. OK, Im going to get this off my chest right away. It seems 300 pages into the writing of this book, the word puissance came up in the authors Word-of-the-Day calendar, and boy did it strike a chord. All of a sudden, across the last half of the novel, every 5-10 pages, he used this word (once, 3 times in 2 pages). Distracting? Nah... However, after a while, it became a game with me: Based on the narratives context, try to guess when puissance would next appear. Yeah, OK, it was distracting. Its an interesting story when you get a couple hundred pages into it and still have no idea what the plot is about. Eventually, it becomes clear, but its a long journey. Part of the problem is that the main character, Bellis, is powerless, uninformed, and ineffectual. Being irrelevant to the events going on around her, it takes her a while to catch on. Once she does, she plays the pawn and congratulates herself on her small victories. Also, part of her problem is that what she first THINKS is going on in the city turns out to be just a gigantic red herring. Ha ha ha! (If you read the book, youll realize just how funny I was right there.) A big problem I had is that I wasnt made to care about what happens. Armada is an awful pirate city, so I didnt care if it survived or sank. New Crobuzon is awful, cold, and heartless, so I didnt care if it survived or was conquered. The leaders of Armada were variously awful, psychopatic, sadomasochistic, distant, or undead, so I didnt care about their schemes. The spy was duplicitous, manipulative, and awful, so didnt care about him. The eel/lizard monsters were creepy, Lovecraftian horrors, but too shallow to be effective villains (and appearing too briefly in the story). And the main character, Bellis was a pouting, self-centered amalgamation of Morticia Addams and April Ludgate from Parks and Rec but lacking the charisma or intellect of either. Everyones awful (except for a guy named Tanner, but he doesnt show up often enough to count as the hero). I admit, not having anyone or anything to root for was somewhat liberating, and I read this book with a certain detachment. I kept wondering, Am I supposed to care here? Is it bad that these people are dying? Heres a big battle, who am I supposed to root for? Mievilles strength is his world building. Such creativity, so much strangeness. It creates more questions than it answers, which I think is great (although, some answers sometimes would be appreciated). All the time, every time, he swings for the bleachers. When he connects, oh yeah, he hits it out of the park. Unfortunately, that also means he wiffs as often as he hits. And when he wiffs, he wiffs big. There were times when I just pretended certain sections didnt exist, because they made no sense (even according to Bas-Lags strange rules) and added nothing to the story. Illogical anachronisms, impossibilities, gaps in logic, and the like. I began calling this Strangeness for strangenesss sake, and it too drew me away from the story. This is the third book by Mieville that Ive read. And the third time that Ive had the same reaction. The worlds he creates are amazing, and Id like to see more of them. But the stories he chooses to populate them with are dull and underwhelming. Very disappointed.

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.

Great book. Dark and grity. I found Perdido Street Station to be faster paced. Could be me. Anyone who likes Bas-Lag I hope you will or have read Railsea.

It seemed like a straightforward enough plan. To flee a criminal/magical investigation in New Crobuzon, Bellis Coldwine takes a job as a translator on a ship destined toward the colony continent. In a few years, when the heat dies down, shell return and get on with her life. Bellis doesnt count on being captured by a floating pirate city--Armada. But being on Armada, cut off from her own land, is not the worst of Belliss problems. The rulers of Armada have set themselves a mission--to trap a huge underwater creature large enough to pull the entire city--and to explore the torn parts of the world--where probabilities and possibilities can be mined, tuned, and used. Second only to the two lovers who rule most of Armada, Uther Doul dominates the pirate city and the entire novel. Doul has trained himself as a martial artist, but is armed with a sword that he calls a possibility blade--it is simultaneously capable of exploring all of the possibilities open to a sword, and killing with each of these possibilities. Yet Douls own motivations remain unclear, unknowable. Between Doul and New Crobuzon spy Simon Fench, Bellis is manipulated, fooled into actions she never would have taken on her own, and nearly destroyed. Yet Bellis continus to strive for her hopeless eventual return to New Crobuzon. Author China Meiville excells at world building. The magical system, the rich history of this world, and the city of Armada itself dominate the story and keep the reader involved, anxious for more. Meivilles writing style is strong, descriptive and intellectual. Although the plot itself is flawed--we never really understand the basic motivations that drive Doul, the critical actor in the entire novel--I found myself nevertheless entranced by the novel.

Wow. This ranks up there with Perdido Street Station. Vivid, imaginative, amazing. A little depressing, mind you, but great read. Just be warned that not all of China Mievilles writing is up to this standard.

Amazing read, I loved everything. So worth reading. I really liked Bellis as a character and the quite Uther Doul.

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.