Embassytown will test your patience. China Mieville, always a subtle writer, gets a bit lost in the intricacies of his latest novel. Embassytown is an enclave of humans and other extraterrestrials on the planet of Ariekei. The original inhabitants of Ariekei are called Hosts whose language becomes one of the foci of Mieville’s novel. The story is narrated by Avice Benner Cho who once, as a child, played a cryptic role in one of the Hosts’ “similes.” There’s some political shenanigans, too. Truthfully, I enjoyed Mieville’s Perdido Street Station better. And, if you want to read a fascinating novel about alien languages, I highly recommend Jack Vance’s The Languages of Pao. The first 100 pages of Embassytown really drag unless you’re a linguist. GRADE: B
At last – a book I can skip!
I have that Orbison set coming from amazon, by the way. Can’t wait.
Yes, Jeff, you can safely skip EMBASSYTOWN. Although I admire Mieville’s attempt, the result wasn’t successful.
I tried an earlier book and couldn’t not penetrate it. I am not patient with unusual narratives styles.
While I admire Mieville’s tendency to try New Things, they don’t always work, Patti. I suspect the narration of EMBASSYTOWN would annoy you. I had to struggle to get through it.
I have this one on the shelves and it sounds perfect for me. Just have a lot of other stuff to read before it will bubble to the surface but it will eventually get there.
You’ll find EMBASSYTOWN challenging, Scott. I respect Mieville for not writing the same book over and over.
I’m with Patti and Jeff on this one: skip it. I didn’t like her previous work.
China Mieville isn’t afraid to experiment, Rick. It’s just that some of his experiments don’t succeed. EMBASSYTOWN didn’t work for me.
Uh, I mean his previous work.