The Scar (Bas-Lag Book 2)

The world building contained in this novel is awe inspiring. Pages and pages explore all of the nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, the balance between world description and action is not quite where it needs to be. As the book meanders through setting descriptions and histories, the characters and what they are doing get lost occasionally. Also, the overuse of the word puissant becomes a bit tedious.

Probably the best science fiction book I have read in decades. Innovative. Detalied. Wide reaching. Definately the best of his books. I can guarantee you will feel refreshed reading such a new and innovative book. A SF London Fields if you like .

It was clear when reading China Miévilles mesmerizing Perdido Street Station that its setting, the dreamlike metropolis New Crobuzon and the world of Bas-Lag, possessed a nearly inexhaustible potential for future stories. In The Scar, Miéville proves the hype right by fulfilling that promise. The Scar, which takes a much more direct approach to structuring its plot than Perdido, is related to but not a sequel to that book; it stands alone as a story and can just as sufficiently serve as an introduction to Miévilles extraordinary worldcraft. There can now be no doubt that theres no one in contemporary fantasy writing quite like Miéville (the good but overrated Neil Gaiman pales most in comparison), and we should all be delighted that a talent like his has come along at the turn of the century to inject life into a genre stuck for so long in a creative cul-de-sac. The Scar takes us far from the teeming streets and slums of New Crobuzon, out into the rolling waves of the Swollen Ocean to the citys east. Bellis Coldwine is fleeing New Crobuzon for a distant colony. A linguist, she wangles passage as an interpreter on the Terpsichoria, a cargo vessel whose manifest happens to include, grimly, a shipment of Remades--those physically altered, criminal unfortunates--to work as slave labor in the colony. On its way east, the Terpsichoria stops by an amazing undersea city inhabited by the quasi-human cray species. New Crobuzon has an agreement with the cray that allows three massive rigs to operate in their waters, but one of the rigs is inexplicably gone, and the cray plead ignorance. The mystery deepens with the appearance of Silas Fennic, a shadowy individual who holds some unrevealed official post in the New Crobuzon government. He takes command of the Terpsichoria, which begins to head back to New Crobuzon to the outrage of its paying passengers. But shortly into their voyage home, the seafarers are set upon by a gang of ruthless pirates, who kill the Terpsichorias officers and shanghai the passengers and prisoners. They are taken to Armada, an immense oceangoing pirate city comprised of thousands of ships lashed together and built up to resemble nothing so much as a floating New Crobuzon! Armada has its different districts, its slums, its cultural centers, its economy. One vast difference is that it treats all its inhabitants as equals, even the loathed Remades. Naturally this sets very well with them, particularly Tanner Sack, a prisoner aboard the Terpsichoria who comes to love his new life in Armada, and even finds his horrible Remade appendages--a pair of tentacles grafted onto his torso--starting to heal and work for him. In fact, Tanner is so happy he has himself Remade even further to become a fully amphibious being. But Armadas ersatz freedom only exists within its watery borders; its really a prison city. And Bellis is determined to resist the allure that it seems to hold over some of her former shipmates, all of whom have been offered jobs and a place in Armadas society. Her discovery that the missing third rig is now in Armadas possession deepens her concern; what the hell is up with this place anyway, particularly its leaders, strange scarred beings known only as the Lovers? (The Lovers are but one of many referents to the books title, by the way. A theme of severing and healing runs subtextually throughout, in regards to both the emotional and physical trauma suffered by the cast, and the fractured and tragic history of Bas-Lag itself.) Through Silas, Bellis learns of a terrible invasion heading towards the unsuspecting New Crobuzon. Though it seems as if escape from Armada is indeed impossible, could there still be a way to get word to the enormous city, that grows more distant every day? There is also the little matter of the Lovers bold plan to harness some terrifying power from the ocean depths, a project in which Bellis finds herself playing a key role. Any more detailed a synopsis would run the risk of spoilers, which would simply be a crime given just how exciting this novel becomes as its numerous revelations and surprises unfold. Is Silas an ally or a villian? Will the undercurrent of rebellion against the Lovers mysterious plans break out into open revolt? And just where is Armada going? Though the plot of The Scar follows a much more linear progression than that of Perdido Street Station (which should make those folks who found Perdido too meandering happy), it shares that novels feeling of inexorability, its sense that events are plunging pell-mell out of control, and any attempt at resolution only seems to deepen the crisis. Miéville keeps tight control of his storys pace. His dark imagination hasnt mellowed either. Disturbing, macabre creatures like the vampiric ab-dead and the bloodsucking anophilii share the multifarious stage with the familiar cast of humans, insect-headed khepri, and plantlike cactacae. (How I would love to see Wayne Douglas Barlowe illustrate Miévilles world!) It may be true that there are parts of the novel that go into exotic overkill, but I think most readers wont have a problem with it, especially when the book starts delivering its payoffs. The final third of The Scar features one of the most intense battles this side of George R. R. Martin, and yet Miévilles characters and their personal interactions have just as much intensity, only of a subtler sort. The Scar is on a par with Perdido Street Station, and in its best moments it surpasses that novel. In its weakest, it seems too burdened with talk, and it is true that the mythic backstory of Bas-Lag is an awful lot to keep up with. But in the end thats a testament to China Miévilles energetic creativity and freshness. I would only suggest that perhaps, in his next novel, he turn away from Bas-Lag and New Crobuzon, so that the concept and setting dont fall into the sort of dreary routine that almost inevitably befalls long series. I want to stay hungry for China Miévilles books, and I always want to come away feeling just as well-fed as I have from this one.

Sorry, it did. Big time. After an almost 600 page leadup, with the drama and the characters and rich detail and the adventure of it all carrying me along and immersing me in this wonderfully drawn universe, it was a huge anti-climax, flat, it ruined everything. Thats why I give this book 3 stars, and not 5, which it would (imho) otherwise have deserved. Maybe youll feel differently. This is only my feeling, although I notice a few other reviewers have also mentioned being disappointed with the ending. Apart from that, here are the good and bad points pros o excellent worldbuilding. Bas-Lag is described in such detail as to seem as real as our world. And Armada is just cool! o fascinating characters. Too often in books characters are 1 dimensional cardboard cutouts. Not so here. o some wonderfully bizarre images and concepts o good exciting pace o making a very unsympathetic character the main protagonist, no cliched hero (or antihero for that matter) cons o the ending (need i say it again...?) o the Grindylow seem to be wayyyy too powerful, if even three of them can do what they do in the book, they have nothing to fear from New Crobuzon (which makes a whole big element of the plot irrelevant or absurd) o The downside of limiting worldbuilding to a single planet. Bas-Lag is too crowded with too many things. Were this a medieval fantasy I could understand, but its steam-age fantasy: they have steamships, they have rail, they have dirigibles. These mysterious forbidden places on the boarders of the known dont make sense, they would have been explored long ago. o Gratuitous use of the f-word. If it was only the coarse sailer types who speak like that, sure, definitely. But - especially later in the book - it is everyone, no matter how refined or educated. So rather than enhancing the colourful nature of certain characters, it just became an ugly peppering of the narrative. Try reading the dialogue without the numerous f**k(ing), it reads more quickly, and better. o with so many giant sea monsters referred to the marine ecology is absurd (you cant have so many top preditors in any foodchain). Okay granted it is fantasy (thaumaturgy, vampires, re-made, etc ...), and it is just my interest in marine biology that makes me think in this way, but in other regards Mieville seems to be trying to write about this in a more realistic manner. Will I read any of Mievilles other books? Perhaps. I love the way he paints his surreal universe. But the failure of nerve that constitutes the ending of this book does not endear me to his manner of writing a story

Its been a while since Ive read Perdido Street Station but Im comfortable saying I enjoyed The Scar a little bit more. really fun , inventive & creepy.

i have just one adjective to bestow on this book: incredible. i am in awe of china mieville. the way he describes settings and characters are so imaginative and well-written that i can just see the people and places in my minds eye. ive read his other books and theyve all been excellent and i can tell that hes just going to keep getting better and better. this is a must read for anyone, including people that arent normally into fantasy.

Book 2 of the New Crobuzon series wasnt nearly as gripping as the first. Other than references to the place itself there was only one small tie in to book one. I was hoping for more. China Mievilles writing can be quite laborious at times and there were points where I wanted to stop completely. However, after putting forth so much effort and time to get that far I trudged through. Im not sure if its worth finishing the trilogy unless theres massive linking of the first two storylines. Books one and two could have been completely different novels.

I really debated between 1 and 2 stars. However, if you read this book, youll probably give it a 4 or 5 star. So pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I think my biggest problem with this novel is my age. (Im too old and lack the imagination of a 12 year old.) If my main form of entertainment still came in the form of Saturday morning cartoons, I think I would have liked this book. However, when I discovered that one of the characters (actually several of them) had tank treads in the place of legs and feet, I gave up. If you can imagine a world (somewhat industrial and post-apocalyptic) where people have machine parts assembled into their natural corps, well, this may be the best book you ever read. Dont listen to me. Im just one person. I love fantasy. And I love world building. I just couldnt make this work. Ciao.

I discovered Mieville while back, and routinely come back to this book as one of my favourites of his. Staggeringly inventive, terribly interesting, and just a great rousing piece of scif/fantasy from an author who is reliably awesome. For those with kids, it might be a bit aggressive or intense for younger readers, so Id put this up in teen or above.

if you are reading his New Crobuzon series, start at the beginning, and he is a very descriptive writer,. this is an entire new world he has created. with the oldness of centuries gone by and new as flying machines and thought police, but i will not go further than that. If you like science fiction, he is very good at bringing you there, and keeping you there;. i have read three now and dig his world.