Quote from: Fiasco;453531I'm a big fan of Miéville's works.  I think he has been a breath of fresh air in the genre.  I don't mind that he mixes in a healthy dose fo politics, even though I don't necessarily share his point of view.

I'm going to give Miéville another go. Do you or anyone else have some suggestions? Anything but Perdido Street Station, the sting of not liking it is still too fresh in my mind.

Quote from: GMSkarka;453517Not quite yet.    It will be released in late Fall (a holiday release), and as we get closer to the release date, we'll have more news and info available.

Another question, where can we Pre-order?

Quote from: hanszurcher;453532I'm going to give Miéville another go. Do you or anyone else have some suggestions? Anything but Perdido Street Station, the sting of not liking it is still too fresh in my mind.

The Scar should be a little more accessible.  But I get that he might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Quote from: hanszurcher;453516Is there a lot of political subtext in his books?

Only slightly more than the typical fantasy novel does. What mainly gets people is that it's left wing politics instead of the typical ideology of feudalism.

Quote from: Benoist;453509My problem with Miéville is his politics.

In what sense? The sense that he's personally a Socialist, that this influences and is apparent in his writing (and therefore rubs you the wrong way ideologically?), or both? Just curious if it's simply a fact you'd never buy anything from someone who was a known Socialist (or other far leftie), or that you simply can't abide that kind of clear political influence in anything you read? Do you simply eschew anything (and anyone) that's extreme in the political spectrum (left or right) for similar reasons?

This isn't a confrontational post, by the way; I'm genuinely curious.

Colin

Quote from: Pseudoephedrine;453551Only slightly more than the typical fantasy novel does. What mainly gets people is that it's left wing politics instead of the typical ideology of feudalism.

Yea, I find that aspect refreshing. In terms of political maneuvering and cynicism, it's very modern. Though, real feudalism (as opposed to Arhturian romances) wasn't always pretty either. You're also right in that it's only slightly; if his writings were hardcore socialist, he'd have the leftists win.  People used to fantasy might also get thrown by the lack of tidy happy endings.
 
His writing style is often tangled though, which throws people off. Perdido Street Station is toughest in that regard. But it's worth it for the deeper weird - he has really good monsters and strange things going on. That, and I love the obsessive characters.
 
The BRP aspect is somewhat promising but I'll wait for the details. At least it appears that it's being worked on over a long period instead of being dashed off.

Quote from: Nicephorus;453566His writing style is often tangled though, which throws people off. Perdido Street Station is toughest in that regard. But it's worth it for the deeper weird - he has really good monsters and strange things going on. That, and I love the obsessive characters.

Which of the series is the most straightforward, or failing that, the shortest?

Quote from: Cole;453569Which of the series is the most straightforward, or failing that, the shortest?

I'd say The Scar. His detective novel The City and The City is more readable but not set in his fantasy world.

The Scar is perhaps the most successful of the three novels, in that it offers a sympathetic protagonist, a more traditional story arc, and some incredible worldbuilding.

Perdido Street Station is wonderful for worldbuilding but suffers from a perhaps too-cynical ending.

Iron Council was my least favorite of the three, in that it lacked an incredibly passive protagonist and was perhaps the most overtly political (and less successful) of the books.

For me it goes the Scar, Iron Council, Perdido Street Station, though I don't find the long intro of PSS too galling - it's at least partially an intentional throw-back to Dumas and his rambling tours through Paris (see: the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo, a book I have never managed to finish), and it sets you up with tons of information that the other two books more or less assume you're already familiar with.

Iron Council is a great socialist novel that also happens to be a great fantasy novel. It's about the eternal incipience of the revolution.

Quote from: jdurall;453584Perdido Street Station is wonderful for worldbuilding but suffers from a perhaps too-cynical ending.

I'm not sure if I believe an ending can be too cynical.

Mostly I am wary of very high page count and potential impenetrability.

Quote from: Cole;453594I'm not sure if I believe an ending can be too cynical.

Mostly I am wary of very high page count and potential impenetrability.

Then you're in luck. His works are in the middle-range of page count (no doorstops) and the settings are unique but not impenetrable.

I put Perdido Street Station at the top, because of the world-building.  I'm a sucker for evocative setting, and that book NAILS it.   Also, it was the first -- I was lucky enough to have China send me a galley proof before it was published, and I devoured it while on my subway commutes in NYC, so it's very tied in to sense memory of a specific place and time for me.

Of the other two Bas-lag novels, I'm torn.   Iron Council returns to the city of New Crobuzon, which I love, and also is a wonderful allegory for the failings of Socialism (coming from within the Left, rather than "herp derp its commie" BS from the right).    I think I may like the plot of The Scar just a hair better, though -- and absolutely love the way it expands the setting from just the city to the wider world.

The world is so wide, in fact, that's a big part of the reason why we're limiting the setting of the game to just New Crobuzon.  Keeping within the walls of the city (initially, at least.).

Quote from: Benoist;453525This would require from you to start by admitting you act like a douchebag...

He's already done it. In this very thread, even.

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;453608He's already done it. In this very thread, even.

Seanchai

I was going to point that out, but realized that it most likely "doesn't count" for Benoist.   He's only interested in full-on kow-towing debasement, so that I "learn my place" or something.

Life is waaay too short to get that hung up on somebody who annoyed you on the internet.