Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2012.
Shortlisted for the BSFA Best Novel Award 2011.
China Mieville is not just a galaxy in the science fiction firmament, he is a whole universe!
Following THE CITY AND THE CITY'S gripping crime investigation in parallel cities that owed a lot to Escher and twisted the brain with relish and the extravagant London caper of KRAKEN where gods, monsters, demons and mummies joyfully ran havoc through the capital's streets, his breakthrough new novel EMBASSYTOWN moves much further afield and takes the reader to the deep reaches of space. But the visions he deploys are not like anything you've ever read before and convey both a sense of dread and what the nature of alienness might actually be. Space and time is an impenetrable sea through which only specially-trained and gifted navigators swim, survivors of ancient races overlook the chaos with both benevolence and quiet menace, and all familiarity with the world as we know it proves totally illusory. Once you wrap your mind through the imaginative and weird concepts Mieville juggles with bravura, you are transported into an invigorating if unsettling version of reality. Truly science fiction for the 22nd century. Fascinating stuff.
Ursula K Le Guin has written a wonderful review of Embassytown for the Guardian. Click here to view it.
| Genres: |
Science Fiction Modern and Contemporary Fiction |