Embassytown

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Average customer rating 4.9 (14 comments)

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Smart and strange and wonderful. A meditation on language and power, Embassytown approaches the "alien" in science fiction and in our lives. Also, it's fun.

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This book astonished me. It is my favorite read in a long while. It's SF at its best: a woman POV character, a fully realized reality, events and ideas that lap over into real life. How could I resist "Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned after years of deepspace adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language." How could I resist high adventure with Language and language thrown in? I cannot. A metaphor about metaphor. It's marvelous and I couldn't put it down!

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An incredibly quick and engrossing read, this novel is everything a China Mieville fan could dream for. Fans of science-fiction as well as those interested in sociology would also find it a gripping read.

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Mieville's pacing of this book is at once frenetic and intimate. The novel dances gracefully with Big Questions About Language without ever seeming trite or philosophical. Although I dearly with that Mieville would return to Bas-Lag, I find myself increasingly in awe of his ability to write anything he damn well pleases. An astonishing book.

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I absolutely loved this book. It is a very philosophical look at language, wrapped up in a great sci-fi human colonists on an alien world plot. very worth the read!

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Even with his grimmest books, I've always loved the way Mieville creates and artfully describes the worlds his characters inhabit. Embassytown is no exception, and it contains a profoundly interesting philosophical thread about the importance and deeper meanings of language.

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China Mieville has created an utterly unique book, one that works entirely as an intergalactic space adventure, but also alternately as a provocative meditation on the nature of language. A deeply philosophical work that rewards the reader with some unbelievably memorable creatures and raises some ideas that will continue to resonate long after you've finished it.

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A solid book that challenges and rewards the reader. Embassytown succeeds at creating a novel setting and an alien race that actually feels alien. Many authors would be satisfied with that, but Mieville uses that as a springboard for a wondrous exploration into the connection between language and thought. His characterization of the narrator produces mixed results. She maintains an emotional distance from the event of the story despite being in the middle of it. While I can understand the reason for this, it doesn't make her very likeable or engaging. Compare this the his book The Scar, where Mieville had great success with a similar type of narrator. Maybe I'll feel differently on my second read through.

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It starts off slow, but Mieville's Embassytown turns into a beautiful story of the interplay between linguistics and understanding, filled with very creative descriptions of colonies, politics and (of course) monsters. If you like sci-fi and language, this book is a must-read.

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Linguistic theory as sci-fi premise. Brilliant. Love everything by him. But this struck a chord with my poetic heart.

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A blazingly original story that demands the reader's complete attention from the very first page, Embassytown describes life among an alien species whose very concept of language is beyond human understanding. An engaging, vividly drawn narrator makes the strangeness of this reality comprehensible. This is another truly brilliant book from the author of The City and the City.

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A great thriller and science fiction pageturner for readers of literary fiction as well as SF. Pick it up! Rich with detail and ideas.

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A gem. Read it. Smart, fascinating...one of Mieville's best

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Fantastic. 'Embassytown' helps me revisit the same vein I so abused when reading Bas Lag books. This is in no way a criticism of the junk he dealt me with the last three works, but this one reminds me of what is was like the first time. The very first time. I was a little unprepared for this one after 'City & the City' and 'Kraken'. Good books, but this is something different. Yet again. I won't get comfortable with it all for the next time. I feel wonderfully foiled. In this book there are things that have brain parts and parts to fend off prey and there is language that can be interpreted but not understood and robots that decorate their homes. When reading it, I flipped back some pages to figure out what kilohours really meant. There are things here I'm still working out in my head and that's what makes me add stars to reviews or even write reviews. Addicting. I will take substance over the hollow exploits of space-marines any time. I am a fan of Science-Fiction: Books that challenge my ideas of particulars while allowing me a vivid trip to another place and time. China has always challenged my perceptions in regards to the subject matter at hand and has never failed to entertain me with his work. 'Embassytown' is certainly no exception.