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Jaida, January 5, 2013 (view all comments by Jaida)
China Mieville realizes all his potential in this brilliant book that tackles the intersections of language, mind, sentience, social structure, and brain function. This is one of the few really alien species any writer has developed (not just humans in different skins). It is one of the most riveting explorations of what it would be like to be in intimate contact with a truly alien way of thinking (in this case, without the human ability to think metaphorically) I have ever read. Earlier more dystopic books by Mieville tended to leave me cold, but this one has a protagonist I could empathize with. Altogether, it was a joy to engage as a reader with this very intelligent writer in this book. It is the single book I have most insisted everyone I know read this year.
kaithedeadguy, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by kaithedeadguy)
Widdershins! An alien race incapable of lying, of truly understanding the concept, speaking simultaneously with two separate vocal organs controlled by a single intellect that does not recognize the utterances of a single vocal organ as language. A very satisfying story of humankind's interaction with this alien culture and the possible impact that it might have on both.
Product details
368 pages
Del Rey Books -
English9780345524508
Reviews:
"Review"
by Io9.com,
"I cannot emphasize enough how terrific this novel is. It's definitely one of the best books I've read in the past year, perfectly balanced between escapism and otherworldly philosophizing."
"Review"
by Ursula K. Le Guin,
"Embassytown is a fully achieved work of art....Works on every level, providing compulsive narrative, splendid intellectual rigour and risk, moral sophistication, fine verbal fireworks and sideshows, and even the old-fashioned satisfaction of watching a protagonist become more of a person than she gave promise of being."
"Review"
by io9,
"A breakneck tale of suspense...disturbing and beautiful by turns. And yes — China Mieville's new novel is one of his best...I cannot emphasize enough how terrific this novel is."
"Review"
by Entertainment Weekly,
"The Kafkaesque writer journeys to the distant edges of the universe in his latest sci-fi thriller."
"Review"
by Kirkus Reviews,
"Utterly astonishing....A major intellectual achievement."
"Review"
by Publishers Weekly (starred review),
"Brilliant storytelling....The result is a world masterfully wrecked and rebuilt."
"Review"
by Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
"The most engrossing book I've read this year, and the latest evidence that brilliant, challenging, rewarding writing of the highest order is just as likely to be found in the section labeled Science Fiction as the one marked Literature."
"Review"
by The Christian Science Monitor,
"Original, sophisticated, bristling with subversive ideas, and filled with unforgettably alien images...an amazing, sometimes brutal rhapsody on the uses of language."
"Review"
by The New York Times Book Review,
"Richly conceived...Embassytown has the feel of a word-puzzle, and much of the pleasure of figuring out the logic of the world and the story comes from gradually catching the full resonance of its invented and imported words."
"Review"
by Los Angeles Times,
"Miéville [is] one of today's most exciting fabulist writers."
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