The Scar (Bas-Lag Book 2)

The Scar was recommended to me as the best Mieville to start with, especially since I found Perdido Street Station a bit.... inaccessible. And I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I havent read its predecessor and although this type of fantasy is outside my comfort zone. The originality and unpredictability of the plot is one of the books major assets, so I wont give much away here. Essentially, the book follows a middle-aged woman named Bellis Coldwine whos fleeing her home of New Crobuzon; her ship, headed for a far-flung colony, is captured by pirates, and the passengers and crew taken to the city of Armada, constructed of hundreds of ships tied together and floating about the worlds oceans. Armadas rulers have some mysterious plans, and international politics wind up playing a large role in the plot. As I said, this is one of those rare books thats so original I had absolutely no idea where it would go, and that made it a lot of fun. The pacing is also excellent: its a gripping book, things are always happening, but Mieville manages this without cheap tricks, and its anything but one of those books with lots of action and little substance. Speaking of substance, the worldbuilding is incredibly original and intriguing. You dont see a lot of fantasy books with more modern technology (there are guns, motors, etc.) but set in a secondary world, so that in itself sets the book apart. And this may just be because I havent read Perdido, but I enjoyed the fact that everything isnt just explained; theres a lot more to the world than we see here, and a lot of it readers have to figure out from context. And its all very imaginative; Armada is a bizarre, fascinating idea, and thats without the hominoid sea-creatures, mosquito-people, machine-people and so on. Books with these sorts of non-human races in them arent typically my cup of tea; they didnt hinder my enjoyment here since its thoughtfully done, but I imagine somebody who likes that stuff will appreciate this book even more. So, the characters. We only really get to know a few of them, but Mieville does an excellent job. Bellis is a well-rounded, realistic, unusual heroine and I loved reading about her; she just felt so much more human than your typical fantasy protagonist. I found her very relatable and am a bit surprised (but only a bit) to see other reviewers calling her unlikeable and guessing that she was intended to be. Maybe so, but I liked her. I liked that it takes her awhile to make friends, that shes written linguistic textbooks (thats just awesome) and that she doesnt need a man in her life even though she likes sex. Great character. I wasnt so thrilled by the secondary protagonist, Tanner Sack, but thats a testament to Mievilles skill at creating characters; Tanner seemed like a basically good guy, but his personality comes through clearly and we had sort of a personality conflict. Which sounds bizarre, but is the closest I can get to describing it. I give Mieville a lot of credit for giving his main characters strong, unique personalities--even at the risk that not everyone will like them--rather than creating your standard blandly inoffensive protagonists. Anyway, the supporting characters are intriguing, and while they dont leap off the page, theyre decently well-developed. So overall, this is a very good book and I dont have the problem with the ending that other reviewers did; it works well and is interesting thematically. (There are a lot of interesting things going on thematically in this book, many of which I didnt notice till seeing other people point them out.) I could just as easily have given it five stars. It does have some minor flaws: I wasnt entirely convinced by Armada (how on earth do they get enough food and fresh water to support all those people? remind me again how the ships dont run into one another in a storm?), and the profanity, while it added realism to the dialogue, jarred when it seeped into the narrative. But no book is perfect and those minor quibbles arent why I give four stars instead; ultimately its because while I enjoyed this book and was impressed by it, I didnt love it. Maybe it was the level of weirdness, or maybe I wasnt emotionally invested enough in the characters fates. But I would certainly recommend it, even if its not quite your thing; we should all get out of our literary comfort zones every once in awhile.

Fleeing from New Crobuzon for reasons she prefers to keep to herself, Bellis Coldwine is heading for Nova Esperium, a colony located thousands of miles away across the Swollen Ocean, to lay low. Unfortunately, her ship is intercepted by the enigmatic pirates of the floating city of Armada and she is pressganged into Armadas service...as a librarian. Armada is a city like no other, even on the baroque and weird world of Bas-Lag. Ruled over by the passion-fuelled Lovers, defended by Uther Doul and his unique sword, funded by piracy across half a dozen seas, Armada is a city of boats and decks and intrigue. But after centuries of wandering, Armada now has a mission and a purpose: to chain a creature of myth and to use it to find an ancient and great treasure. In the process Bellis will visit the island of the mosquito-women, will uncover a vast threat to New Crobuzon itself and be used and become an important chess-piece in the struggle for supremacy in the floating city. China Mieville has written many good novels over the years, books which combine fine prose with wonderfully strange ideas, but often the elements of his books are out of balance. Perdido Street Station, for example, features wonderful worldbuilding and powerfully effective prose, but the actual story is somewhat mundane and the book overlong. The City and the City has a clever story and efficient, stripped-back writing but the premise doesnt convince (or at least the reactions of the outside world to it). Un Lun Dun is brilliant fun but lacks the darkness that lies at the heart of much of Mievilles work. And so forth. The Scar, on the other hand, has all of Mievilles strengths working in tandem with one another. The world is vivid, the story engrossing, the writing intelligent but also compulsively page-turning, whilst the book has arguably Mievilles finest collection of characters. Breaking free from the metropolis of New Crobuzon (which was fairly well-explored in Perdido Street Station), The Scar takes us across the oceans and islands of Bas-Lag, showing more locations and hinting at grander vistas lying beyond the horizon. Its a dizzying travelogue of invention and weirdness and works excellently. The characters are an interesting bunch, from cold and remote Bellis Coldwine, our main protagonist, to Uther Doul, the citys resident badass warrior with a philosophical streak and a mighty sword (if The Scar had come out a bit later, Id have suspected Anomander Rake as an inspiration). Even the secondary cast is superb, such as Tanner Sack, a Remade slave in New Crobuzon who becomes a respected and worthy citizen of Armada, and Shekel the cabin boy, a potential cliche who becomes a compelling character in his own right. Even barely-seen characters like the Brucolac, Hedrigall the lookout and the steamborg Angevine hint at tantalising depths. Mieville also continues his tradition of giving good monster, with the mosquito-women in particular being memorably horrific. The Scar (*****) may be China Mievilles masterpiece, a rich and captivating weird novel of the fantastic. It is available now in the UK and USA.

In The Scar China Mieville has proven that Perdido Street Station was no fluke, he is a force to be reckoned with in the literary world. Once again he returns to the world of Bas Lag, although this time he journeys outside the confines of the city of New Crobuzon. In fact, his characters travel the length and breadth of Bas Lag, as they are the occupants (willing and unwilling) of the floating pirate city, Armada. It would be nearly impossible to recount the plot here, both because of its complexity, and the risk of spoiling it. However, there are a few general points that I think bear mentioning. First, while this is not a sequel to Perdido Street Station it does reference events in that book; there are no common characters, but the protagonist, Bellis Coldwine, is fleeing the city as a direct result of the happenings in the prior novel. While one could easily read The Scar without any knowledge of Perdido Street Station I would still recommend reading it first, as your appreciation of The Scar will be greatly enriched as a result. Second, The Scar is a darker, more ambiguous novel than its predecessor (which was by no means cheery to begin with). It is not an easy beach read for the summer; while it is immensely entertaining, it is also monstrously complex and intensely thoughtful. This is really a novel that needs to be read without distractions and with a great deal of thought as to what is going on. There are a lot of subtle themes and messages in this book, and it needs to be approached in a manner more befitting literature rather than your average sci-fi (I use quotes because SF can obviously be literature, Im just speaking in stereotypical terms). Which brings me to the writing; anyone who read Perdido Street Station would have to agree that Mieville is a master of his craft. There are few writers today who have the same grasp of the English language; Mieville absolutely revels in the descriptive abilities of the written word. I would read an atlas if Mieville wrote it just to see how he described the landforms contained therein. He is also intensely interested in exploring human nature across its entire spectrum. From compassion to cruelty, Mieville is fascinated by our motivations. If one reads an interview with him, it becomes obvious that Mieville wouldnt mind being cast as the anti-Tolkien. While giving a nod to Tolkiens creation of an entire world down to the smallest details, Mieville revels in his characters moral ambiguity and indecision, as opposed to Tolkiens characters who always know where they stand. Furthermore, while Tolkien used his races to highlight different ideals, Mieville uses his vast panoply of creatures to highlight the absurdities of racism and the nature of humanity. Finally, Mieville is a master of the metaphor. I can say, without, giving anything away, that the Scar, of the books title, is an actual place, but also a recurring theme throughout the novel. All of the characters (which are so diverse and beautifully realized it is nothing short of breathtaking) have scars, physical and mental. Some rise above them, some never come to grips with them, and some are brought low by them. In the end, the Scar is, at its most simple level, a double entendre. It is the heart of darkness of the world of Bas Lag, but it is also that heart of darkness within the primary characters that draws them to their destiny. In the end, some of the characters refuse to have their future dictated by the scars of their past, while others wallow in their pain and meet their end. I could go on indefinitely, and not even scratch the surface of the message in this book. However, I have covered the key elements I took away from the novel; Ill leave it for others better versed than I to continue the discussion. Ultimately, The Scar is a novel of immense emotional depth. The characters are brilliantly written and act upon a world stage that is breathtaking in its scope. It is a highly entertaining adventure in the finest nautical tradition, but it is so much more. It is an exploration of the depths of our ambition and the foundations of our humanity. Do yourself a favor and read this novel (and carefully), it will not disappoint and it will leave you thinking for a long time to come. Jake Mohlman

There’s no denying Miéville’s creative talents, and in THE SCAR he has produced an imaginative tour de force. Bas-Lag is a superbly crafted world (presumably much of this crafting took place while writing Perdido Street Station, but I haven’t read that yet) populated by a rich diversity of creatures, and imbued with a fascinating mythology and wonderfully arcane alchemical lore. This alone makes the book worth reading but it also has a compelling narrative to add to the enjoyment. Miéville’s prose is, as always, elegant and poised, although there are a few rather clumsy passages dotted throughout the 800 pages. There are also a few sections which feel a little like padding and which could have been omitted without the narrative suffering. That said THE SCAR is never tedious or a chore to read. I was, however, a tad disappointed with the ending, which struck me as somewhat anti-climactic given what had gone before. All the necessary material for a more revelatory and satisfying ending is present within the story but instead Miéville chooses to abruptly terminate the narrative, leaving many of the main plot threads hanging, and thus denying the reader a fulfilling conclusion. I wonder if the author dislikes big finishes, seeing them, perhaps, as something of a cheap trick. Whatever his reasons, I personally would have liked a flourish of some kind at the end of such an epic tale. This small annoyance aside, however, I wholeheartedly recommend THE SCAR.

So you want to read Mieville? If youre already familiar with his work you can skip first paragraph or two of this text. Ill be dealing with The scar later on. Anyway, few months ago my girlfriend expressed desire to read some fantasy. She came with me to a convention or two and she quite liked it so she decided to catch up on the genre. So I started feeding her books, starting with some classics, some popular authors, bit of this and that, just to see where her interests are. Everything is not for everyone as Im sure that you can imagine. At some point, Mieville came to mind. He is one of the best authors out there (inside and outside of the genre) but is quite challenging to read and requires a peculiar taste. I decided that I should give her The Scar, it being far better than Perdido Street Station and quite different, that is to say - more exemplary - than King rat. It was as good place to start with Mieville as any. Since she usually wants to know a bit about the book before she starts to read it, I said to her that its basically a pirate novel - everything else shell have to discover by herself. After thirty or so pages into the book, she was baffled. She couldnt make any sense of it; what and where is happening, who and what are all these characters, and what kind of a world this is. Language was difficult for her, Bas-Lag defied any visualization or attempt on a more rational reorganization etc. She still struggles with it, and Im not sure if shes gonna make it `till the end. Things that put her off balance confirmed my thoughts about Mieville. His Bas-Lag works present quite a challenge for new people. In a sense they are what hard-SF is to an average (especially new) reader - too difficult to follow without any apparent gain. Mieville requires a reader that is well versed into the intricacies of the genre, reader who enjoys genre itself, not just the stories written in it, reader who enjoys language and its usage for a world-building. If youre that kind of a reader, Mieville will be the author youre looking for. The Scar itself is brilliant. It is brilliant on many levels but Ill just state a few that worked for me. Bellis Coldwine (main character) is appalling. Shes a person I would gladly and repeatedly kick in the head. Basically shes a spoiled brat, snobbish, whiny and irritating person whose downfall and sort of growing-up were one of the main themes of this book. Yet, despite the fact that I loathed her, she worked perfectly as a main character because I couldnt quite figure out what Mieville intended to do with her. Anything could happen with her and that sense of unknown kept me going...didnt happen to me for quite a long time. What else did work? In The Scar Mieville explores boundaries of an autocratic society and its change from a society that indulges masses to a society that follows a higher-purpose. This is shown as a struggle between real-politics (Armada before Lovers) and visionary politics (Lovers). It accurately represents our society which tends to choose every-day survival instead of a leap of faith. There are no leaders in a modern world, nor are there grand-scale visionary policies. Again, this worked here because Mieville didnt cheer for any option. He managed to show the essence of this struggle in a rather consistent and interesting way (although his resolution was somewhat anti-climactic and meek). World-building worked. Usually, fantasy novel comes with map somewhere inside. This one didnt which kept my mind in a constant effort to visualize grandiosity of Bas-Lag, its weird inhabitants, its places and territories, its bustling cultures and reality-bending experiences. Other characters worked (though Brucolac, Uther Doul and Shekel are bit stretched) and interacted with each other in a sensible, nuanced manner and I couldnt quite see how it all connected before it actually did. To summarize, reading The Scar was fascinating experience for me. I cant quite remember when was the last time I stayed awake for a whole night reading a book just to see what happens next and how this or that is going to be solved. For this one I did. And I would gladly do it again.

I like tough female characters that dont throw everything away for romance, and I think thats what drew me into this book. But, even though the premise was very interesting, and the suspense was tied blithely into the premises weirdness, I dont think the novel reached its full potential. Maybe the whole couldve been this, couldve been that sort of climax reminded me too much of bad books where you think the protags gonna die, and then he wakes up from his dream.

I really wanted to love this book. However, I did not. The process of reading it was one of frustration and irritation, because the author is so obviously capable of writing better than this. At least, I hope so, for he is a wordsmith of fantastic ability, whose sentences thrum with surreal vision and passion. The descriptive passages were thrillingly vivid and entrancing. The setting of Bas-lag is minutely rendered in sense-stirring detail, though the marriage of science fiction and fantasy elements was a bit heavy-handed and less than deftly done. (I had to keep telling myself, in the case of the mosquito women that this was -not- science fiction, so that I could quiet my mind which kept screaming: But they shouldnt be able to fly! Exsanguinated pigs do not look like that! ARGH!) The main reason I give this book only three stars, (and considered giving it two stars) was because I found the characters to be dull and one-dimensional and the plot to be ludicrous, trite and ponderously slow-moving. Bellis Coldwater has to be the least likeable protagonist I have been faced with recently, and her entire story is one of incapability, manipulation and quite frankly, stupidity. She had absolutely no likeable qualities, so I never could connect with her in the slightest. The most likeable character was killed, for no good purpose, except to torture the second most likeable character a bit more; I felt that was a cheap shot for an author whose description leads me to believe that he is more emotionally sensitive than that. Finally, the plot, which is full of senseless violence and gore, is one where, in the end, nothing really happens. No one really changes or is changed by this plot, no epiphanies are made, no life lessons learned. Just a quick jaunt to the end of the universe to turn around and go home again, and return to the status quo. What in the name of Theodore Sturgeon was that about? Basically, this book is not about people, it is about themes, and a beautifully rendered setting. Which, as far as I am concerned, does not a fine novel make. The masters of science fiction, such as Asimov, Bradbury, leGuin and Sturgeon, all stated (in one way or another) that the purpose of science fiction and fantasy literature isnt to tell stories about fantastical worlds, robots and crazy adventures. The purpose of this literature is to tell stories about people, real people, and to ask questions that cannot be asked in a historical or modern setting. Unfortunately, The Scar tells no story, has no interesting people, and asks few fascinating questions. I really hope the author keeps writing, though. Because when his prose is that gorgeous, I know that eventually he is going to tell me a magnificent story one day.

In our review of Perdido, we mentioned some kinship with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. It is actually more appropriate here, for Bellis Coldwine is the sort of anti-hero first envisioned by Donaldson though here even more brilliantly written. We feel this work will have similar impact making it a force in the genre for at least a generation or two and possibly more. Miéville has opened the floodgates of his imagination and his scientific speculations about remade, about possible futures, and about even the undead, will have influence over many future writers. WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS This book is a must read for any devotee of speculative fiction-it is one of its very best examples. For any one who has been awed by the finale of Conrads Heart of Darkness, The Scar will reverberate for a lifetime. WHY YOU SHOULD PASS For Perdido, we said this is not an easy read and not for the squeamish. The same ugliness exists here. This book is not for children and only for serious readers. If youre looking to pass some time with the sci-fi equivalent of a soap opera, youll be served better by the inferior works of Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, and Terry Goodkind. READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT INCHOATUS.COM

China Mievilles PERDIDO STREET STATION was one of my five favorite books of 2001, so its only natural that THE SCAR got shunted to the top of the stack when I bought it. Its an excellent book, but my reaction to it was slightly more ambivalent than with the earlier novel. In many respects, Mievilles writing is a vast improvement over the earlier novel. Though the descriptions of horror and grotesquerie are as plentiful as in PERDIDO, the overall effect is more rarefied, possibly because the prose is somewhat more ornate and remote - less out-and-out pulpy. No one setting in the book is as compelling as PERDIDOs instantly iconic New Crobuzon, but THE SCAR delivers such a wide range of indelible sights and wonders that we dont really miss Crobuzon as much as we might at first think. The ending is far less deus-ex-machina than PERDIDO, as well - a definite plus. However, all of this goodness has an obverse side. The prose is more polished and less pulpy, yes, but also a bit colder, a bit more like an edifice. The ending is satisfying - not happy, certainly, but satisfying - but the plot leading up to it is full of little frustrations. Mieville consciously set out with THE SCAR to confound what he sees as the annoying contrivances of most heroic fantasy, such as the likeable, activist hero who inevitably saves the day (which still figured in PERDIDO, although the day was not fully saved); but some of his workarounds are not particularly endearing, such as a heroine who is not only not likeable (I can live with that - I read Ellroy, after all) but is not particularly interesting. And in Uther Doul, Mieville creates a supporting character who is more interesting than the lead, but who seems to have stepped in from another story altogether. The novels overarching theme, that of painful change and growth, is a worthy one, and handled very intelligently in terms of characterization and plot movement, but the central metaphor - embodied in the mental and physical scars that every character carries, and the global Scar of the title - feels a bit obvious and a bit overdone. Nonetheless, Im not about to fault Mieville for having genuine literary ambition in a field where most writers are seemingly content with telling anaesthetizing stories primarily intended to start or maintain a franchise. The plot here is strong, the characterization believable, the prose muscular, and the descriptions vivid. As fantasy or as literature, THE SCAR is eminently worth your time and money.

This is the first of Mievilles books for me. In retrospect, I would highly recommend reading the New Crobuzon series in order. I am just starting no. 1 Perdido Street Station and it defines a lot of things that you have to guess about if you jump in with the Scar, as I did. The series of 3 books take place on a different world, with early 19th century level of technology, sailing ships, some steam engines, no wireless or wired communications. But they do have airships and submarines. Thee are many kinds of creatures, Cactus people and Mosquito people to name two. Lots of fantasies about weird science etc. The central character of The Scar is Bellis Coldwine, a woman who had studied and written a book on an ancient extinct language. She teaches one character to read, another to speak the common language. She loves books and gets a job as a librarian, and hunts for a rare lost book. You might say that she is a Speech Therapist who loves books (any resemblance to persons ... is purely coincidental). She has an amazing epic adventure. Many reviewers criticize Mieville for his lengthy descriptions. Enough!, on with the story! I admit it was slow for me to get into the swing of the story, but once I did, I did not find the descriptions laborious at all. I enjoyed the book a lot.