Ooh, ooh, I bought this book a few months ago out of curiosity but haven't gotten around to starting it yet. Now it's definitely the next on my list after the semester ends.
I was never as impressed with Tolkien as everybody else, though. I think it's because I didn't read Lord of the Rings until I'd spend years and years reading sci-fi/fantasy so it seems rather cliched by that point, even if it was the original that inspired all the rest. Also, I'd read enough by that point that I had trouble really getting into worlds composed of black and white morality - you know, clearly evil races and clearly good ones, etc. It takes the most basic fact of ambiguity out of reality. Hahah, I still liked the movies, though. They were beautiful.
I felt that way after reading A Wizard of Earthsea, because I'd seen everything everywhere else before. So it always helps to know who started something and read it through that kind of lens.
Tolkien isn't on my top-ten list of books (I only read the book because I fell in love with the movies), but I definitely have to credit him for what he did.
You definitely have to read this. You will LOVE the Weaver.
I don't re-read books as a rule, cause there's so many NEW ones that I want to get to that I feel (stupid as it sounds) like I'm wasting my time. But owning it? Totally. If I ever read any of the other books set in this world, I know I'd want PSS around to refer back to. And the idea of reading it again to really soak everything up? Makes sense. :)
Wow. I have to read this book now. Wild Seed also went to the top of the list for summer reading - this is probably the fourth loud hint I've gotten on that one in the last week or two.
For an extraordinary balance of worldbuilding and characterization, check out Always Coming Home by Ursula LeGuin. I read it when I was in the middle of studying ethnography, and immediately reccomended it to one of my profs as "ethnography without the ethnos" - a rich, vivid, sensitive portrait of a people, told through a mix of "oral histories" and "folklore" and "field notes," but without all of the baggage and pre-conceptions around a culture that actually exists and that we might have been slightly exposed to before reading the book.
Do you think you'll go on to read The Scar? I thought it was a better, tighter book, but I also read it first before Perdido. What's weird is when you stumble upon one of Mieville's sources, like the Garuda are from Hindu mythology, and Khepri, as a name, has links to Egypt where beetles were sacred. Mieville does a great job taking modern day traits and re-crafting them in his setting.
I don't recommend Iron Council. He sort of lost it there.
I might. Between you and a couple other people who've commented, I think it might be worth checking out when I'm not reading for particularly focuses. :) I had a feeling all the words he used for his creatures came from some sort of linking background, so I'm glad to see I was right. :)
And thanks for the warning on Iron Council. The title alone didn't appeal to me anyway, so good to know I should trust my gut and avoid it. :)
I popped over here from your post in sfandf_writers, and just wanted to agree with your book comments.
I loved Perdido Street Station. It is not a book I have gone back to since reading it the year it came out in paperback, but it definitely made an impression and I gave it as a gift to one friend.
Wild Seed is definitely somewhere among my favorite books. That one has a prized place on the shelf!
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I was never as impressed with Tolkien as everybody else, though. I think it's because I didn't read Lord of the Rings until I'd spend years and years reading sci-fi/fantasy so it seems rather cliched by that point, even if it was the original that inspired all the rest. Also, I'd read enough by that point that I had trouble really getting into worlds composed of black and white morality - you know, clearly evil races and clearly good ones, etc. It takes the most basic fact of ambiguity out of reality. Hahah, I still liked the movies, though. They were beautiful.
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Tolkien isn't on my top-ten list of books (I only read the book because I fell in love with the movies), but I definitely have to credit him for what he did.
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I don't re-read books as a rule, cause there's so many NEW ones that I want to get to that I feel (stupid as it sounds) like I'm wasting my time. But owning it? Totally. If I ever read any of the other books set in this world, I know I'd want PSS around to refer back to. And the idea of reading it again to really soak everything up? Makes sense. :)
So check it out, and let me know when you do. :)
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For an extraordinary balance of worldbuilding and characterization, check out Always Coming Home by Ursula LeGuin. I read it when I was in the middle of studying ethnography, and immediately reccomended it to one of my profs as "ethnography without the ethnos" - a rich, vivid, sensitive portrait of a people, told through a mix of "oral histories" and "folklore" and "field notes," but without all of the baggage and pre-conceptions around a culture that actually exists and that we might have been slightly exposed to before reading the book.
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I have a review up of Wild Seed, if you're interested. It's right here: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.com/5066.html
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I don't recommend Iron Council. He sort of lost it there.
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And thanks for the warning on Iron Council. The title alone didn't appeal to me anyway, so good to know I should trust my gut and avoid it. :)
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I loved Perdido Street Station. It is not a book I have gone back to since reading it the year it came out in paperback, but it definitely made an impression and I gave it as a gift to one friend.
Wild Seed is definitely somewhere among my favorite books. That one has a prized place on the shelf!
Reply
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