I enjoyed a lot of
Perdido Street Station's parts -- particularly the first half of it. I
loved the atmospheric nature of the story. I thought Mieville did a
great job of immersing me into the world. I loved the early discussions
of chaos theory. I enjoyed finding out about Lin and Isaac's
relationship and their professional lives.
And then the story took a left turn. It went from a beautifully written character piece to a monster-hunting story. I don't mind thrillers at all, but I felt the change was too abrupt. Also, it took a far more uninteresting path. The set-up of the story I was interested in was the moral implications of helping a criminal regain what they lost due to punishment. What was delivered, while exciting, didn't have the same potential impact.
Also, I hated the fridging of Lin. It was unnecessary, and it deprived the reader from a really interesting story line. Instead of investigating the criminal side of New Crozuban from an outsider's perspective, her story line is dropped completely until the end of the book. At that point, she's not even given any further viewpoints.
I also find the implicit comparison between Yagharek and Lin unsettling. Yagharek's wings were removed for the crime of rape. Lin's headwings were removed as a way to threaten Isaac. I don't think it was intended, but it feels like the violator and the violated are thematically linked. There's almost a whiff of "Lin got what she deserved" from the association, which is totally not the case. It's a really sour note to end the book on.
All-in-all, I liked the writing and will look for other Mieville books to read in the future. However, I think Perdido Street Station suffers from being a second book. I fully expect that subsequent works will be better executed.
And then the story took a left turn. It went from a beautifully written character piece to a monster-hunting story. I don't mind thrillers at all, but I felt the change was too abrupt. Also, it took a far more uninteresting path. The set-up of the story I was interested in was the moral implications of helping a criminal regain what they lost due to punishment. What was delivered, while exciting, didn't have the same potential impact.
Also, I hated the fridging of Lin. It was unnecessary, and it deprived the reader from a really interesting story line. Instead of investigating the criminal side of New Crozuban from an outsider's perspective, her story line is dropped completely until the end of the book. At that point, she's not even given any further viewpoints.
I also find the implicit comparison between Yagharek and Lin unsettling. Yagharek's wings were removed for the crime of rape. Lin's headwings were removed as a way to threaten Isaac. I don't think it was intended, but it feels like the violator and the violated are thematically linked. There's almost a whiff of "Lin got what she deserved" from the association, which is totally not the case. It's a really sour note to end the book on.
All-in-all, I liked the writing and will look for other Mieville books to read in the future. However, I think Perdido Street Station suffers from being a second book. I fully expect that subsequent works will be better executed.
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