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/lit/ - Literature

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[ERROR] No.2057262 [Reply] [Original]

What does /lit/ think about China Mieville, and more specifically, Embassytown?

Nearing the end now and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Haven't read anything else by him outside of his Bas-Lag trilogy, though.

Think I'm going to check out The City and The City next.

>> No.2058621

Other than Iron Council, which I couldn't finish, and Kraken, which I haven't gotten to, I've read and loved everything he's written, Embassytown included. The City and the City is great and totally worth it, OP. Not the best author of all time or anything, he just has a really cool ability to think of somethign awesome and then another awesome thing and then like a dozen other awesome things and smash them all together. He does that especially well in his Bas-Lag novels, and as much as I love Perdido Street Station and the Scar, I'm really happy with the direction he's going in - he still thinks of awesome shit, but he's getting much better at thinking through the consequences of said awesome shit.

>> No.2058640

>>2058621
This, Mieville rocks.

>> No.2058672

>>2058621

Yep, Mieville is a pretty damn good writer, definitely one of the best current writers that manages to finish a book every 2-3 years. Is he perfect? No. Is all of his stuff great? No. But he's damn good on average, and The City and The City is quite strong.

>> No.2059159

>>2058621
>>2058672
Thanks, this strengthens my resolve to pick up The City and The City next.

I agree he's very imaginative, and though none of it was probably particularly ground breaking, I really liked the ideas behind Language in Embassytown.

Is Un Lun Dun worth checking out eventually? Or is it more for a younger audience?

I've heard Kraken is one of his worst, so that's probably the last one I'll be looking into, if at all.

>> No.2059167

>>2059159

Un Lun Dun isn't for children, its aimed at teenagers. And its still classic Mieville, it just has easier to understand language. I really enjoyed it.

You really shouldn't skip Kraken. Kraken is for the people who love lots of awesome ideas in as few pages as possible. Its kind of a throw back to bas lag. You'd really be missing something if you didn't read it. If you want to skip anything of his, skip King Rat.

>> No.2059173

>>2059167
It's not that I want to skip any in particular, I just thought I'd read a couple of places that Kraken wasn't great. If it's everything you say though it definitely sounds like something I'll want to read.

I guess the best thing to do is just read all of them and judge for myself, instead of being a faggot.

Thanks!

>> No.2059198
File: 28 KB, 400x300, 1311548627927.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
[ERROR]

Haven't read any of his stuff, but I watched one or two of his interviews and he was potentially one of the most articulate people I have ever heard speak.

That's my two cents for what it's worth...

>> No.2059200
File: 19 KB, 448x311, 1284505574524.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
[ERROR]

>He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party.

>> No.2059246

>>2059200
breivik showed us how to deal with such characters.

>> No.2059248

oops, forgot to stealth sage.

>> No.2059311

>>2059248
but stealth sage no longer works

>> No.2059327

>>2059311
testing.

>> No.2059330

>>2059327
it works fine you liar, you stealth saged too.

>> No.2059334

>>2059330
but 4chan + is not showing any change only 3 sages... mine are not included

>> No.2059335

>>2059334
well the thread is not being bumped, so i'm saging and so are you.

>> No.2059337

>>2059335
well i guess it works it used to update the sage counter when i did it but it stopped so i thought moot took it off

>> No.2059340

>>2059337
sage only works once per person when doing that counter thing, doesn't it?

>> No.2059343

>>2059340
i do not know i have been stealth saging this whole thread and when i refresh the first page it didn't bump so maybe i can multiple sage

>> No.2059350

>>2059343
no what i mean is the thread autosages at some point.
However to reach that point which is what your sage counter counts, it only counts 1 per sage per ip

hence that sage does absolutely nothing.
that's what i figure anyways.

>> No.2059359

stealth bump?

>> No.2059374

>>2059359
you bumped the thread -_-

>>2059350
it still fills the thread faster even if it does nothing you are helping it reach page 15

>> No.2059555

Love his books, but dude uses the same things over and over again (someone from an invisible or unnoticed underclass rises, an evil or thoughtless academic, a failed strike, etc etc) that reading more than a couple of his books you can tell what's going to happen.

Of the not Bas-Lag ones I've read:
-Kraken is fun. Fucking balls to the wall fun.
-The City & The City is the one I started with, which resembles this world the most.
-King Rat is his first one and it's not quite so polished and good as the rest. Then again? His first book.