The Scar (Bas-Lag)

The Scar has been my introduction to Mieville's work - a tour-de-force of an introduction, with much to be said both for and against it. Volumes to be said, actually, for this work is massive.

First off, I could spend all day praising Mieville's inventiveness. His sub-creation is very nearly Tolkien-level (though as another reviewer pointed out, there is little further a comparison could go), and this makes a fantasy for me - many a writer can provide sensational action scenes, but it takes a phenomenal amount of dedication to create such complexity of setting, somewhere so easy to think of as real for the sake of the story. Although Mieville's fantastic does seem a little absurd in places, with such things as cactus-men, he does a fine job realizing them in his world.

And his world, it must be said, is rather bleak. There seems to be little to color the existence of his characters beyond sensation - and a few obsessive objectives that can be called dreams, but have not the hopefulness we like to dwell on with such things, having their ends set in the aquisition of pleasure, power or preservation. Happiness is a concept little touched-upon in The Scar, and while this is grittily realistic, with parallels to be found in many big cities of our plane, it does not make for uplifting reading. While I will look for Mieville's writing again, and enjoy it greatly, I will be setting my teeth against the bleakness of his outlook.

The heart of this book is found in its metaphor, which is carried through with the skill of a poet. Seldom do we find opportunity to read a work so tied together in its images, and this is something I appreciate mightily. At the same time, however, the narrative wrap-up of this story leaves much to be desired. I enjoy coming to some kind of realization through the unwrapping of an epic, some epiphany which validates the trials through which I have accompanied the character. Here, though, I wondered upon concluding whether I had in truth been brought anywhere at all. There are lessons, perhaps, but they are buried deep, as they so often are in life itself, and just as they depend on the experience of life to unravel.

On the whole Mieville's linguistic skill is excellent, strong and capable of both subtlety and blunt force. However, he does have a habit of over-using certain choice words, and I found myself correctly predicting their inclusion in certain passages. The strength of a verb like "cosset" lies in its unfamiliarity, but it lies throughout the language of this book, and grows monotonous.

All in all, this is a master's work, but it shows the truth of humanity's imperfection, and fault shows up all the more glaring when set against surpassing quality and originality. But isn't that always the way of it?

The Scar is another massive work of contemporary urban baroque fantasy by the extraorinarily talented if rather undisciplined China Mieville.
Set in the same world as Perdido Street Station, the protagonist, Bella Coldwine, is captured whilst fleeing the great city of New Crobuzon by sea, and made an unwilling citizen of the legendary floating pirate city of Armada. This extraordinary place is made up of the remains of captured ships lashed together into a fantastically varied marine metropolis, each district built around a particular large vessel, which seems to lend its character to the government and culture of the district. And what variations they are! From democracies through dictatorships to an area that voluntarily pays for its security in blood to its vampire master, the variety of political systems is both crucial to the plot and provides rich and complex lessons for our own societies.
The whole ungainly melange is given some sense of unity through the ultimate leadership of the enigmatic 'Lovers' - whose strange hold on the city is combined with a publically visible sado-masochistic scaring. The mysterious plans of the Lovers for Armada involving the harnessing of a mythical transdimensional Leviathan form the basis for the plot, along with Bellis' own attempts to escape the flottila. In this she becomes involved with the machinations of underground politics and espionage and inevitably strays way beyond her depth.
As in Perdido Street Station, the sheer inventivenes of Mieville is crazed and marvellous: an island of mosquito people whose mindless thirst for human nourishment sometimes outweighs their rationality; humans 'remade' to work underwater; terrifying leech-like beings from other dimensions who can 'swim' through air... and above all the great ramshackle mass of Armada itself, a city even more edgy and dangerous than New Crobuzon.
Mieville's writing is rich and luscious, and the breadth of his invention is matched by the depth of his intelligence. As previous reviewers have pointed out, this book is saturated in metaphors of scars, and the characters are diverse, dangerous and flawed with wonderfully evocative names that echo the melodrama of Dickens and the eccentricity of Mervyn Peake.
So what's wrong with it?
The ending. The same thing that marred Perdido Street Station. It is almost as if Mieville charges headlong through his plot with invention scattering in his path and then... he just stops. This could be conceived of as subverting traditional fantasty plot structures, but I think he just can't think of satisfactory ways to resolve a narrative yet. Still, a brave and magnificent book.

In "The Scar," Mieville has created another society on his planet of Bas-Lag, featuring an entirely different cast of characters. (Those readers who haven't read "Perdido Street Station" will want to know that this "sequel" is a completely standalone book; I haven't read the earlier work yet and, although there are a very few scattered references to characters and events from the first novel, they are in no way crucial to the plot. Not once did I feel like I didn't understand precisely what was going on.)

The action here is set on Armada, a floating city of pirates. The concept of a floating city formed by boats lashed together is not a new one in fantasy; most recently David Drake set a large part of "Lord of the Isles" among the Floating Folk, scavenger tribes who lived entirely on houseboats lashed together traversing the wide oceans and sending out "catcher boats" for supplies. But the resemblance of Mieville's world to previous efforts is only superficial: never has anyone created a maritime society to such vivid effect.

In Armada, usually incompatible creatures and societies exist peacefully (if uneasily), both because they are outcasts from the larger world and simply because they must in order to survive in the hostile ocean environment. There are the Remade (biologically engineered mutants), scabmettler (whose blood coagulates upon slashing), Cactacae (cactus-people), and even vampir. Armada adds to its inhabitants by "press-ganging" new members--capturing imperial ships, detaining their inhabitants, and indoctrinating them into its societies. The new inhabitants are pretty much free to do whatever they want in their new home--except they can never leave.

In addition to its fully realized atmosphere, "The Scar" boasts an extraordinarily convoluted (yet credible) plot and several of the most memorable characters to be found in science fiction or fantasy. To its inhabitants, Armada is alternately a prison or a paradise. The heroine, the newly press-ganged Bellis Coldwine, is both defiant and well-meaning, but she inadvertently unleashes a chain of events with unexpected consequences for both her old residence of New Crobuzon and her new city of Armada. As the man who controls the goings-on of Armadan society behind the scenes, Uther Doul scorns power for himself but doesn't hesitate to use it when necessary. A castigated exile and slave from New Crobuzon, the grotesquely "Remade" Tanner Sack realizes that Armada means freedom for him and his kind, and he willingly takes his mutant engineering to the next level. Only the young and kindhearted Shekel never seems to fully realize his potential as a heartwarming counterpoint in this harsh world; it's a minor quibble, but I wish we'd seen more of him in this book.

The story takes several unusual (and satisfying) turns and moves along at a lively pace while pausing to embellish the idiosyncrasies of Armada and its inhabitants. It's a fascinating world, a majestic story, and a powerful incentive for me to finally read "Perdido Street Station."

Bellis Coldwine has decided to abscond from New Crobuzon after she gets into a spot of bother. Since she is adept at learning languages, Bellis has decided to hire herself out as a translator on a New Crobuzon ship headed for the colony of Nova Esperium. But Bellis has resolutely decided not to get her hopes too high, and regards her destination with something more akin to Nova Tedium. She is determined that her escape will only last for a little time, since like Dorothy, she still believes that there is no place like home. Unlike Dorothy, Bellis is determined that she will not pick up any stragglers along the way. But she is headed for a storm, whether she likes it or not.
Like a character in a Robert Louis Stevenson novel, Bellis finds herself kidnapped by pirates. Not just any pirates though, these are the denizens of Armada: not one ship, but a multitude, comprising an entire city. Bellis's fellow passengers were looking for life in a new place, and although land is a bit more difficult to claim here, those who are willing to accept their fate are allotted their own berth. The Remade (the human/slave cargo of the New Crobuzon ship Bellis was travelling on), are positively welcomed and liberated. Punished for unknown crimes, labelled as criminals by genetic and mechanical brandings, the Remade are released into the community. However, even some of these find that their shackles to New Crobuzon are not quite so easily shattered. Bellis, as her name would suggest, is quite hostile to her abductors, and yet, unlike so many other unwilling passengers, she is left to roam the streets of Armada freely. Some parts of Armada are perplexingly like home: there is still bureaucracy and red tape, nightclubs, and trendy wine bars. However, these pirates are like Robert Louis Stevenson pirates in other ways: for they are after a huge treasure - almost an 'X' marks the spot... And there is a character as immortal as Long John Silver (although not quite as jolly): Uther Doul. Though he is called 'Uther', the sword he wields is not Excalibur: it Might be so much more.
Like a scar, this novel criss-crosses many genres. I suppose it could be labelled 'Steam Punk': there are certainly quite a few steam engines in the novel, some redundant, others endlessly famished. In some respects, this is a good example of the British post-colonial science fiction novel. No other nation ever really quite ruled the waves as good old Britannia, and there is something quite eighteenth century about the New Crobuzon navy, with its officers and press ganged crew. Mieville does a Melville, although the motives for hunting the whale are not exactly the same as Ahab's (but there are a fair few cannibals/bloodsuckers on board). China Mieville skilfully bends space to even let some popular science in. Treasure Island itself proves to be a bit more bloody than usual, and Captain Nemo cannot be swayed from his dangerous quest. Mieville does not quote from other texts or even covertly allude to them, but such archetypes do spring to mind nonetheless. Armada is fashioned from the coupling of many different boats, after all, and I am sure that Mieville would agree that no writer can be truly original. Having said that, there is vibrancy in the text, a beating pulse, that China Mieville has fashioned all himself with clinical skill. This may be a science fiction novel, but it is very much a work of its times. An old naval nation that's unsure of its future direction, whose leaders are those who can spin the best lie, and whose taxes are really goring... This novel surveys the rise and fall of Communism - hidden spies abound, all kinds are people are embraced behind the Iron Curtains of the ships, but if you dare cross the wall, you may well be shot. More than just Armada revolves in The Scar (one of the main protagonists has a truly apt name). In his depiction of the Lovers, the rulers of Armada, China Mieville scratches at the pus of modern love in a most discomforting way. The nuclear family has been blown away; Romance is truly doomed in this dystopia.
It would have been nice if Mieville had presented more of what it was like for Uther to live in High Cromlech's caste society, but then Uther is meant to be inscrutable, and I am not sure that Mieville completely believes that we are the products of our environment. The Lovers and The Hanged Man seem to be Tarot symbols of fate, but Bellis strongly believes in the exertion of her free will (although perhaps she should have listened to Captain Myzovic more attentively). When you're mining for possibilities, anything can happen... The resolution of this novel will no doubt have some reader's baying for China Mieville's blood. Yet Margaret Atwood won the Booker Prize recently using similar thaumaturgy, and China Mieville's new novel is the more convincing and ship tight of the two vessels in question. If you go back over the novel, you'll see just how expertly China Mieville has laid the foundations for The Scar. Mieville is no cheat - there are no hidden cards up his sleeve - he is an expert player and only his poker face is hard to read. After he has gently settled you into the narrative in the first fifty pages, the rest of the novel makes for compulsive, addictive reading. The pages are certainly easier to turn than Armada, and nothing can stop the prose. Something akin to G-force will compel you to sit tight and see this journey through.

China Mieville, The Scar (Ballantine, 2002)
Comparing any fantasy novel to Mieville's mighty Perdido Street Station invites a bad review. But it can't be helped, in the case of The Scar. After all, it's the sequel to Perdido Street Station. It's not surprising that it doesn't measure up; what is surprising is how close it comes to doing so.
Not long after the events of Perdido Street Station, Grimnebulin's sometime-girlfriend, Bellis Coldwine, flees New Crobuzon when she feels the militia closing in. Boarding the Terpsichoria, she heads off for the colonies on the other side of the world, stopping at Salkrikaltor Cray on the way for some negotiations. Not long after they leave Cray, however, they are ambushed by pirates from a nation who are completely unconcerned with New Crobuzon's might, and taken prisoner. Things go, to put it mildly, downhill from there.
It seemed to me throughout that much of Mieville's impetus for writing The Scar was to explore and flesh out some of the places that were just mentioned in Perdido Street Station. All well and good, as much of what was praised about the former novel was Mieville's ability to build a world with an awe-inspiring amount of descriptive realism. So it's no surprise that the same happens here, as Mieville takes us thousands of miles north and west of New Crobuzon, jumping around the map and filling in pieces of it we didn't get to see before. Mieville's descriptive talents are as strong as ever.
The plot's got a good deal going for it, as well. The pirates are not your normal brand of pirate, and Bellis spends much of her time trying to figure out what's really going on as a possible means of somehow winning her freedom from her captors. She, and her various co-conspirators, are just as expertly drawn as the batch in Perdido Street Station.
Where the book sometimes flags is pace. Perdido Street Station is compelling reading, the kind of book for which foregoing food and sleep often seems like a good idea. Not so in parts of The Scar. Only parts, mind you, but there are passages here and there where the pace flags. That Mieville previously achieved a perfectly-paced novel in the midst of the vast amounts of thick description therein is the only reason for criticism here; with most authors, we'd be amazed it moves as swiftly as it does.
A worthy, if (very slightly) inferior, successor to Perdido Street Station. **** ½

Back in December, 2001, I wrote a review of, "Perdido Street Station," and gave it 3 stars. I felt the author, though enormously talented, had some problems with characterization, science, and plotting. I'm pleased that with "The Scar" China Mieville has taken some real leaps as a writer.

This volume of what appears to be an ongoing alternate world saga takes place in the city of Armada, and Mr. Mieville's ability to give life to locations is one of his greatest strengths. Armada is as fully realized a locale as the New Crobuzon of "Perdido Street Station." Armada is a floating pirate-city made up of a coalition of willing and unwilling vessels, and linked through an architecture that's mind boggling.

Mr. Mieville also has a stupendous ability to imagine and give life to a motley, malign, and magnificent collection of characters from vampires, to cactus-people, to "Remades," to truly frightening mosquito people who can suck you dry in the blink of an eye; and, this time around his humans are much stronger than the somewhat stock characters of "Perdido..."

As to the science: fantasy does require us to suspend disbelief, and Mr. Mieville uses the device of "thaumaturgy" to get through the patches where science won't work which gives him the tendency and ability to stretch scientific ideas about to the snapping point; and, in at least once instance (an episode with a bathyscaphe) he falls short of believability. The more scientifically inclined reader may take more exception - I'm willing to let science slide in favor interesting (if not necessarily explicable) devices. His explanation of "possibilities" is wonderful - and borderline.

Again, unlike his first novel, Mr. Mieville wraps his tale up believably and provides a motivated, logical, and satisfactory conclusion.

My only point of contention with Mr. Mieville's oeuvre is that with the exception of Bellis Coldwine (who I don't remember) his characters are not reoccurring from book to book. I understand his latest, "Iron Bay," also gives us a new cast. I would like to hear more about Garuda from "Perdido...," and there are a few characters in "The Scar," notably Bellis, and Uther Doul, who I'd like to see again. The up-side of not reintroducing characters is Mr. Mieville doesn't fall into the sequel trap of having to create more and more fantastic aspects to any one character, so I'll not fault him too much for creating a certain nostalgia for characters past. In truth, it's a plus whenever a writer gives you a character evolved enough to stay in your mind.

I'm going to vote 5 stars for "The Scar." 4 ½ would be accurate, but with a talent this big why nitpick.

China Mieville's PERDIDO STREET STATION was one of my five favorite books of 2001, so it's only natural that THE SCAR got shunted to the top of the stack when I bought it. It's an excellent book, but my reaction to it was slightly more ambivalent than with the earlier novel.
In many respects, Mieville's 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 PERDIDO's instantly iconic New Crobuzon, but THE SCAR delivers such a wide range of indelible sights and wonders that we don't 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 novel's 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, I'm 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.

China Mieville, the author who astonished me with his vision with Perdido Street Station has wowed me again with this equally unforgettable masterpiece:The Scar. The author who could had taken the easy route and just write a sequel to his first instead takes us back to his world of Bas-lag but in a different place. Bellis Coldwine, a linguist is escaping her city of New Crobuzon because of her brief relationship with a certain scientist named Isaac Dan der Grimmnebulin.If you want to know why read Perdido Street station. Bellis's ship that she is traveling on is attacked by pirates and she and the survivors are taken to Armanda, a city constructed from the hull of pirates ships. While Bellis is there she finds out that rulers of this strange shipcity: a S&M couple called Lovers are planning on a epic project that will change the face of this world forever! Mievielle's epic masterpiece is filled with scenes of terror and wonder as his obvious love of the sea shows on every page. This novel can be described as combination of Herman Mieville and H.P. Lovecraft in design. The characters of this epic novel come alive in these pages. Bellis Coldwine, the unlikely heroine who is manipulated by the various forces upon Armanda. Silas Fennac-the spy and Bellis sometime lover who's agenda no one can fanthom and who holds a deadly secret that will threaten everyone on the Armada. Uther Doul-the Lover's powerful warrior henchman with a incredible weapon at his command.Tanner Sacks-the sailor who becomes less than human and who's loyality to the Armada is set in stone. Brucolac, the sinister vampire who rebels against the power of the Lovers. I mentioned earlier that this book is combination of Herman Mieville and Lovecraft. Like Mieville's moby dick the Lovers obsession with their endeavor it will threaten the lives of all of the inhabitants of this city and the menace of a group of terrifying aquatic demons called grindylow who seek something stolen from them by one of the inhabitants of the city chilled the blood.Mieville's skills as a world-builder are more evident in this book than in perdido street station as he creates alien beings like a race of mosquito people who feast upon blood and
raising of giant ancient creature called Avanc from it's resting place under the ocean.This novel is the one to beat as best fantasy novel of 2002 and further cements China Mieville place as one of the premier fantacist of this generation and century!

The militia is rounding up everyone in NewCrobuzon that might know more about the the nightmares that recently plagued the city. They disappear and are never heard of again. Bellis, a minor character in Perdido Street Station, understands that she is on the list, and will be caught soon. She tries to escape to one of New Cobuzon's new colonies. However, she is again trapped by events. Here, New Crobuzon is but one player in the Great Game of international intrigue, and not even the strongest, or most bizarre, one.

The story is as complex and esoteric as anything Frank Herbert could produce, and the colour reminds us of Vance when he is at his best. We also have some touches of sixties satirical SF writing. The characters are better described than in his previous book, and they develop as the book progresses. Mieville is one of the few author's I know that dare make plot and characters 'realisitc.' Our perception of the main players change as the story progresses, some characters we thought were unimportant become important, others we thought were good turns out to be baddies, and vice versa. Most just are, and they enter and disappear, but still leave an impression on the reader, since Mieville lets us see that they are also people, with their own stories, and have as much right to be heard as the main characters.

The plot twists and turns, other subplots are brought in, surprises are sprung on the reader, but, it works. The book works. It is much stronger than Perdido Street Station. The Scar is, to mee, a more mature, a tighter, book. Plot and setting work better together here.

I think that we will hear more from this author, and from other that will be inspired by his writing. We need something new and fresh.

It seemed like a straightforward enough plan. To flee a criminal/magical investigation in New Crobuzon, Bellis Coldwine takes a job as a translator on a ship destined toward the colony continent. In a few years, when the heat dies down, she'll return and get on with her life. Bellis doesn't count on being captured by a floating pirate city--Armada. But being on Armada, cut off from her own land, is not the worst of Bellis's problems. The rulers of Armada have set themselves a mission--to trap a huge underwater creature large enough to pull the entire city--and to explore the torn parts of the world--where probabilities and possibilities can be mined, tuned, and used.
Second only to the two lovers who rule most of Armada, Uther Doul dominates the pirate city and the entire novel. Doul has trained himself as a martial artist, but is armed with a sword that he calls a possibility blade--it is simultaneously capable of exploring all of the possibilities open to a sword, and killing with each of these possibilities. Yet Doul's own motivations remain unclear, unknowable. Between Doul and New Crobuzon spy Simon Fench, Bellis is manipulated, fooled into actions she never would have taken on her own, and nearly destroyed. Yet Bellis continus to strive for her hopeless eventual return to New Crobuzon.
Author China Meiville excells at world building. The magical system, the rich history of this world, and the city of Armada itself dominate the story and keep the reader involved, anxious for more. Meiville's writing style is strong, descriptive and intellectual. Although the plot itself is flawed--we never really understand the basic motivations that drive Doul, the critical actor in the entire novel--I found myself nevertheless entranced by the novel.

The biggest question surrounding China Mievelle's The Scar, is not whether or not it's good, the question is whether or not it's better than its awesome predecessor, Perdido Street Station.

For me the answer is no but for many the answer is yes. Regardless there are a couple of truths that need to be stated. 1) Don't read this until after you read Perdido Street Station and 2) Fans of PSS will not be disappointed!!

There is so much going on in this book and a synopsis is unnecessary since it advantageous to know nothing going in. The book does take place in Mievelle's Bas Lag universe and most or the races and imagery we experienced in Perdido Street Station reappears.

This book further establishes Mievelle as a master of the fantastical but he is so much than that. One aspect of the Scar is the legendary cast of characters Mievelle creates. Uther Doul will transgress the physical constraints of the page and permanently take residence on the BAD ASS pedestal of your mind. Just like Perdido Street Station, the book never takes the easy way out. Also like PSS, The Scar will send goose bumps down your spine as it your travel through it narcissistic and dirty world. The experience is violent, visceral and memorable. The plot is well thought out and the ending will stay with you long after you have lent this book to everyone who hasn't read it...

Bottom Line: Another must read for fans of sci fi, fantasy and lovers of imagination and creativity. Mievelle is my favorite author of this decade hands down.

China Mieville's third novel, "The Scar," is an excellent book on many counts. I devoured it in a few nights of reading and found myself enthralled by Mieville's writing.

The plot of The Scar follows the misadventures of one Bellis Coldwine, whom observant readers will remember from Perdido Street Station, Mieville's previous novel, as The Scar is set in the same world as PSS. Bellis, fleeing the events of PSS, is shanghaied by pirates of the floating city-state of Armada very soon into her exile, and The Scar chronicles her attempts to live in Armada without becoming a citizen of it, as well as her attempts to escape the city (which no one has done) and return to her beloved New Crobuzon. Along the way, Mieville goes through enough plots and subplots for an entire series, were he a lesser writer.

No one is better than Mieville at developing a wierd and wonderful, distinctive world, and The Scar is even better than Perdido Street Station on this account: New Crobuzon owes rather a lot to Dickens' London, while Armada is a city entirely Mieville's own. Having read both books, I was particularly interested in reading Armada as a critique and a reaction to New Crobuzon, that proto-fascist democracy. Among other things, it soon becomes clear that Armada's democracy is in reality a tyranny governed by the Lovers, a pair of twisted humans who symbol their passions by carving identical marks in each other's flesh.

It's fascinating to read Mieville's books as much for the concepts he develops as for those he lets fall by the wayside, which some readers may very well find annoying; this book is not the most tightly plotted opus on the shelf, but in Mieville's hands this is a bonus and not a fault. Another thing that may pique people is Mieville's love of obscure words, neologisms and outright coinages. A dictionary or a good classical background always helps, though confusion may slow some people down.

Mieville's characters are fascinating as well: from human to xenian their humanity is not in question, though their motivations and morals always are. Again, The Scar improves over PSS by having far more engrossing characters. In particular, Bellis, the main character, is perfectly realistic in that she is infuriating. Though she considers herself informed, smart, and cultured, Bellis blunders through the events of her life and finds herself used, abused and misinformed, and she seems only a little wiser at the end than she was at the beginning. Although the title of the book refers to a place, it also refers to the geographies of the mind and the soul, of the body and of the heart, and despite the fact that Bellis fares no worse than most, and somewhat better than many, of the characters in navigating her own personal journey, the most disturbing facet of Mieville's novel may be his suggestion that some people are unable to chart their own courses based on anything but their pasts.

All in all, The Scar improves on Perdido Street Station in many ways (Mieville even manages to tone down the socio-anthropological cant in this tome), leaving me eagerly anticipating Iron Council, his newest novel.

Frankly, I was a little skeptical in trying to read this book. Afterall, how can a story that takes place on a bunch of boats tied together be interesting? Leaving my skepticism aside, because, of course, for Mieville's resounding success with Perdido, I bought the book. I could not have been any more happy. I thought Perdido was great, but The Scar is much better.

Taking place shortly after the events of Perdido, the plot quickly moves forward with enough suspense and emotion to want to continue to read, regardless of the time. Again, as with my review for Perdido, the strangeness of the characters brings so much flavor to this book, breathing life into an arena of literature that could be seen as lackluster, or becoming so at least.

Either way, if you read and liked Perdido Street Station and want to read another by Mieville, then definitely read this one. And, if you haven't read Perdido, I would recommend reading this one. The events take place after Perdido, but you don't need to know what happened in Perdido to understand The Scar. If anything, Perdido Street Station would be a good place to start because it gives more detail into the types of races and structure of society that you don't receive as much of in The Scar.

Either way, a fun and exciting read. A recommend for everyone, regardless of their genre preference.

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 Conrad's 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 you're looking to pass some time with the sci-fi equivalent of a soap opera, you'll be served better by the inferior works of Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, and Terry Goodkind.

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW AT INCHOATUS.COM

After reading China Miéville's novel Perdido Street Station last June, The Scar was quickly added to my Must Read list. Like the former, The Scar takes place on Miéville's intriguing and bizarre world of Bas-Lag. It's a world of vast oceans, many strange races, and a smattering of magic (or "thaumaturgy" in Miéville's prose). The protagonist this time around is Bellis Coldwine, a woman on the run from the New Crobuzon authorities. She boards a ship leaving New Crobuzon which is heading for a new colony. The ship hasn't traveled too far before it is captured by pirates from the floating city of Armada. There are some fascinating characters living on Armada and Bellis becomes embroiled in the strange plans of Armada's hideously scarred rulers known only as The Lovers. Miéville kept me continually in awe of the weird happenings and travels of the Armadans. His world of Bas-Lag is dense with peculiar people, landscapes, and customs. He's quickly become my new favorite science fiction writer. I was pleased to discover that his next novel, Iron Council, will also be set in Bas-Lag and is due out in July 2004. His novels are just wildly entertaining.

In a strange world of beetle heads and cactus people, a floating city made of square miles of stolen ships commits acts of piracy and kidnapping. Puissance ensues.

Puissance, puissance, puissance. OK, I'm going to get this off my chest right away. It seems 300 pages into the writing of this book, the word "puissance" came up in the author's Word-of-the-Day calendar, and boy did it strike a chord. All of a sudden, across the last half of the novel, every 5-10 pages, he used this word (once, 3 times in 2 pages). Distracting? Nah... However, after a while, it became a game with me: Based on the narrative's context, try to guess when "puissance" would next appear. Yeah, OK, it was distracting.

It's an interesting story when you get a couple hundred pages into it and still have no idea what the plot is about. Eventually, it becomes clear, but it's a long journey. Part of the problem is that the main character, Bellis, is powerless, uninformed, and ineffectual. Being irrelevant to the events going on around her, it takes her a while to catch on. Once she does, she plays the pawn and congratulates herself on her small victories. Also, part of her problem is that what she first THINKS is going on in the city turns out to be just a gigantic red herring. Ha ha ha! (If you read the book, you'll realize just how funny I was right there.)

A big problem I had is that I wasn't made to care about what happens. Armada is an awful pirate city, so I didn't care if it survived or sank. New Crobuzon is awful, cold, and heartless, so I didn't care if it survived or was conquered. The leaders of Armada were variously awful, psychopatic, sadomasochistic, distant, or undead, so I didn't care about their schemes. The spy was duplicitous, manipulative, and awful, so didn't care about him. The eel/lizard monsters were creepy, Lovecraftian horrors, but too shallow to be effective villains (and appearing too briefly in the story). And the main character, Bellis was a pouting, self-centered amalgamation of Morticia Addams and April Ludgate from "Parks and Rec" but lacking the charisma or intellect of either. Everyone's awful (except for a guy named Tanner, but he doesn't show up often enough to count as the hero).

I admit, not having anyone or anything to root for was somewhat liberating, and I read this book with a certain detachment. I kept wondering, "Am I supposed to care here? Is it bad that these people are dying? Here's a big battle, who am I supposed to root for?"

Mieville's strength is his world building. Such creativity, so much strangeness. It creates more questions than it answers, which I think is great (although, some answers sometimes would be appreciated). All the time, every time, he swings for the bleachers. When he connects, oh yeah, he hits it out of the park. Unfortunately, that also means he wiffs as often as he hits. And when he wiffs, he wiffs big. There were times when I just pretended certain sections didn't exist, because they made no sense (even according to Bas-Lag's strange rules) and added nothing to the story. Illogical anachronisms, impossibilities, gaps in logic, and the like. I began calling this "Strangeness for strangeness's sake", and it too drew me away from the story.

This is the third book by Mieville that I've read. And the third time that I've had the same reaction. The worlds he creates are amazing, and I'd like to see more of them. But the stories he chooses to populate them with are dull and underwhelming. Very disappointed.

When I first read China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, I proclaimed it a five-star novel, the landmark arrival of a new genius. Within weeks, though, my assessment came down a bit as I looked back on what I had read. These days, it's a 3.5. Oh, it's wonderful, make no mistake, but it has flaws many are too willing to overlook. In Perdido Street Station, Mieville creates an amazingly rich, detailed and compelling world built on Victorian horror, steampunk stylings, Lovecraftian terror, and fantasy. Highly engaging ... however, the book's awful deus ex machina, Mieville's propensity to use big words for their own sake, and a lot of pages wasted on atmosphere building after the atmosphere had already been built tempered what was otherwise a breath of fresh air for fantasy.

But when you have talent like this, such flaws are minor roadblocks to great work. And so we have The Scar, the fantastic follow-up to Perdido Street Station.

We're taken to a floating city, an urban landscape made from the shells and carcases of stolen boats and vessels, and are pulled along as the strange leadership of the city seek out powers almost too great to comprehend. Along the way we meet a vast array of engaging and interesting characters, and experience otherworldy sights and sounds that will remain etched in your brain for days to come.

With The Scar, Mieville addresses most of the problems I saw with the previous book, and in turn crafts a much better reading experience. A great story that keeps the pages turning, a fuller look into his amazing world, characters that are richer and painted with more depth, and far less overly descriptive filler. Mieville's prose remains a joy to read, full of texture and description. While The Scar meanders from time to time, the story was much tighter than Perdido Street Station, remaining largely focused and coming off as better for it.

I loved the constant turns of the narrative, was very taken by the further glimpses into this world, and found the prose to be largely (though not always) quite lovely indeed. The ending may be slightly anti-climactic, but it also rings true - not to mention that it doesn't hinge on a clumsy deus ex machina.

The Scar is a finely-honed work that pretty much seals the deal: Mieville is darn near a visionary. This guy is the real deal. Get it, read it, and love it.

Although not quite as extravagantly outrageous as his previous novel, "Perido Street Station", Mieville's "The Scar" has even more substance, plot, and characterization. While it can be argued that the main character of "Perido" was, in fact, the city of New Crubuzon itself, this tale has a human, yet just as complex protagonist in Bellis Coldwine. While escaping the authorities in New Crubuzon, she is kidnapped by pirates with a flare towards the obsessive. As she is twisted and turned by forces that she cannot control - making poor alliances and even worse decisions and actions along the way - Mieville reveals a depth and complexity of characterization that is rare in this genre (if indeed you can really categorize this book into a set genre... the Victorian science fiction pirate genre?)
The plot itself is not as meandering as "Perido" either - nor is the introduction of countless new sentient races quite as taxing. In "The Scar", Mieville captures the essence of Bas Lag and it's odd assortment of species without reducing the story to a typical "continuing adventures of (name the hero)" sequel. Highly recommended!

Much has been written about the narrative and writing skills inherent in The Scar. This review focuses on the ending (without any spoilers). Essentially, those who read "traditional" fantasy will struggle with the ambiguities that present themselves. We never find out the answers to some very pertinent questions (although we do find out some). What Mieville has done is transformed the story structure of fantasy. For some, this "new structure" is not new. It is a common theme in the traditional stories of many Indigenous Peoples. It is, however, something quite daring (although I am sure some detractors will say it is pretentious), for the target audience of the aforementioned traditional fantasy.
The only author who has made a career defying expectations with brilliant writing is Gene Wolfe. Wolfe, however, stayed true to the essence of his mythic source material. Although the Scar is a better book then the excellent Perdido Street Station, I do believe that Mieville has not yet reached his full potential. One interesting plot thread running through both of the Bas Lag books involves a key scientific principle. What is interesting is that it is presented in two diametrically opposed theories in the books. One is true and one is not. We don't know which one prevails. Goodness knows what will come next, but I'm hoping that Bas Lag will be revisited.

I did enjoy Perdido Street Station a lot, but the quality of its sequel surpasses it by so much that it a more than pleasant surprise for me when I read it. This is possibly because the world Mieville has created is so bizzare that it takes one book to fully get used to it, but I also found the way that the plot unfolded especially gripping. Bellis Coldwine is a very sour character, but is still very easy to sympathize with and very believable. What impresses me the most about China Mieville is his ability to make the strangest creatures or customs in his world completely believable. While reading his books, it never really occured to me that mosquito people, goblin-sharks, or creatures that created sculptures from their spit were especially bizzare. However, when I began explaining the plot of his books to people, they were turned off by these minor details. I realized that he can lead you through his incredibly lush and fantastical world without even beginning to question its existence.
Like I said before, the plot also twists and turns in ways that you would never expect, with a cast of vivid and memorable characters. Looking back at myself when I first began reading this book, I almost feel like a less experienced individual with my foolish predictions of what I though was going to happen. Even though my reading of this novel was fragmented by a harsh trimester of high-school homework, it did not cease to reel me into the story every chance I was able to pick it up again.
If you have not discovered him already, China Mieville is an author who would appeal to fans of authors such as Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin, some of the few fantasy authors who I think are able to completely escape the shadow of J.R.R. Tolkien.

China Mieville's third book, The Scar, is cursed to be overshadowed by his first, Perdido Street Station. The Scar, however, is a classic in its own right. A entertaining, absorbing and complex book, The Scarshould serve to further seal Mieville's name amongst the greats of this (and any) genre.

Although The Scar takes place in the same world as Perdido Street Station (and has a few oblique references to some of the events of that book), it leaves New Crubozon behind and explores a vastly different city, Armada. Mieville is a practiced tease - rather than succumb to overtly masturbatory world-building, he gracefully dances around his exotic locations, leaving the reader desperately praying for another scene in the library. Or under the ocean. Or by the rift in the world...

Mieville has created one of the most compelling worlds in fantasy, and he's such a great writer that he knows not to give in to wallowing in it.

The primary protagonist of The Scar is Bellis Coldwine. A talented linguist, Coldwine is fleeing New Crubozon for mysterious reasons that don't become clear until late in the book. Although an ostensibly chilly and unapproachable character, Mieville gives us access to her thoughts (and her diary). Empathy is unavoidable, as Coldwine's past - and her present loneliness and homesickness - quickly become apparent.

Without getting too far over my head, the main theme seems to be one of authorship. Coldwine's dismal world-view is exacerbated by her sense that her fate is completely out of her control. Her life is out of her hands, and, more importantly, she struggles with the awareness that even her own choices may have been prompted or influenced by others. Throughout The Scar, Coldwine is little more than a pawn - generally self-aware and only occasionally sanguine.

Bellis Coldwine is also surrounded by a cast of unusual characters - a well-meaning academic, a Remade engineer striving to find a new home and many more - including mosquito-people scholars, a displaced vampire-lord and one of the nastiest swordsmen in modern fantasy. As The Scar journeys forward, the reader discovers that these characters are struggling with the same problem - how can they take control of their own lives and destinies? Even the city itself struggles with this issue - drifting (metaphorically and literally) under the control of outside powers, and eagerly trying to achieve the ownership of its own actions.

The most valuable lesson is simply that China Mieville does not start and end with Perdido Street Station. If anything, The Scar is slightly more 'conventional' fantasy, making it more immediately accessible (not to knock Perdido, which is probably the best fantasy published in the past twenty years). Whereas Perdido Street Station is more thoughtful (and Iron Council more openly political), The Scar is still an absorbing and complex take on the traditional fantasy novel. -- PORNOKITSCH

This is fantastic book. It contains the striking originality of Perdido Street Station, the multitude of races, the unique setting, complex plot & themes, and great writing. While Perdido was about New Crobuzon, The Scar is about Armada but it is also about the world of Bas-Lag. Rather than keeping you within the confines of a city, The Scar takes you across the ocean to strange islands and to fantastic places like nothing I've ever come across. Therein lies Mieville's unparalelled strength. He has the ability to take the reader to new realms to look at overwrought thing like vampires, wizards, monsters, and even epic fantasy in new ways.
I said that it was a lesser book than Perdido Street Station. I can only qualify that by saying that Bellis Coldwine isn't the hero that Isaac was, the plot wasn't as gripping as the slake-moths, and ultimately that I was already familiar with Bas-Lag.

Very good, showing an author that succeeds at basically everything they're aiming for, and is aiming for the right things. He's one of the truly great worldbuildings, on the level of Vance or Le Guin. Casual little details are thrown in that make for an very compelling and believable setting. Economy, politics and daily life appear clearly, this isn't just a background with a convincing set of dynasties but one that feels inhabited by a whole order of classes. Mieville is the other type of urban fantasy writer--rather than take the existing world and put a slice of the fantastic over it he weaves a fictional city in great detail. Moreover, in the Scar this city is Armada, multiple levels of pirate ships on the water, the whole structure slowly drifting across the globe. Multiple species, a giant mythological beast to pull it, yet the structures of internal trade and partisan politics are comprehensible.

This book has as well wonderful moral complexity, a rich cast with a range of attitudes and desires. As a revealing incident, at one point major plot emerges from the vampire overlord of part of Armada launching an attempted coup of the city, aligned with Eldritch sea monsters. He's an antagonist, but rendered sympathetically, along with much of the cast. The one faction in this novel shown as monstrous is also the one with the most banal focus, the city aiming at strategic transit and commerce.

A very effective and unique work.

Similar to and better than: Jack Vance's Blue World
Similar to and worse than: David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. Not particularly similar, mind you, but the ocean-centered segments are broadly comparable.

This is a wonderful book, richly imagined and even more engrossing than "Perdido Street Station." The concept is fascinating and the story builds towards a stunning and very satisfying ending. Along the way there are mutinies, naval battles, lost islands, giant sea monsters, vampires, and ... well, you name it, he's got it in here.

So why "almost" perfect? The characters are totally flat, especially the protaganist, Bellis. She seems to exist as little more than a vessel for moving the plot forward, with very little depth or clear motivation. She spends most of the book pining for her home, yet we never really get much of a sense of what her life was like there or why she wants to go back so badly. I kept waiting for there to be some hook, some way for me to really care about her, but it just never came.

That said, this is still a brilliant, fascinating story that I would recommend to any fantasy/sci-fi fan.

This book really struck me. At first, I just sort of rolled my eyes at Mieville's proliferation of twenty-five cent words--words that only Webster has ever heard of. Okay. That didn't impress me as much as it annoyed me...at first. But then the story began to unfold, and somehow all those words began swirling into these vivid and awe-inspiring scenes. This book is wrought with vision. It's moody and compelling, and pretty damned cool. Mieville's got neat ideas around every corner; he kicks them around like seashells on the beach. He's got God-whales and possibility swords and bloodsucking creatures. There's just so much going on here. And the story--when it gets going--is really, really interesting. I say this is probably an advanced read. But if you've got the patience, and the imagination to match, you will probably enjoy this novel as much as I did.

I read "Perdido Street Station" and fell instantly in love with Mr. Mieville's style of writing and story telling. So, naturally, I found and begin reading "The Scar." All I can say is "The Scar" must certainly have been written by someone other than China Mieville. The tone, style of writing/story telling, character development . . . everything about this book is oddly NOT like "Perdido Street Station." I was more befuddled than disappointed in the book (still attempting to work my way through it). I'll give it a few more chapters, but I doubt I'll finish it.

No, no, no! I appreciate the ending reflects quite well the title of the book but the ending loses this book a star.

Here we are on this journey, a fantastical adventure and then... Oh let's all just go home. It opens you up, eats at you: Mieville's world is a wonderful place to lose yourself in, the story a marvellous melange of incredible worlds and flights of stellar imagination. And then... Oh look how smart China is: everyone in the book is scarred and now the reader is too.

Bah! Humbug, say I!

For some, the journey is the greater part of storytelling. An ending can be very like a death. But, dammit, I want an ending. Godspit! This novel feels almost like one of those freemium games: Turn now and go home, or unlock the final chapter for only $xxx. You get the dull ending because you haven't coughed up for the extras. Boo!

I'm not going to say this is lazy writing or smart, or that Mieville got 700 pages into his story and thought "oh drek... have to wrap this up!" I'll just say, it's a great journey: floating city, mosquito-men, cacti, New Crobouzon at war, that Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean: freaks and fantasy galore. It builds excitingly, plot layered over plot, action and variety and interesting characters... All ruined by the ending.

Hey! Fellow Seattlian, let's drive to Miami for an adventure in the sun. YAY! Where are we now? Orlando. Oh, let's just go home then...

Perdido was an excellent book in its own right, yet I was impressed by how much better The Scar was. Mieville has an excellent ability to make you want more by throwing out snippets of descriptions of people and places and civilizations inhabitaing bas-Lag that invariably made me want to learn more. One of the creepiest and most striking images from the book was Doul's description of his home city of High Chromlech, with its quiet streets full of shuffling high-caste dead, with their lips sewn together. Only a fine writer could pack so much imagination and imagery into a few short pages, and The Scar is full of this, It's part Dickensian (though less so than Perdido), part Lovecraftian, part Moorock, but transcends all those sources. As others have mentioned, the main character is a bit of a dud (the supporting characters are far more interesting), and the ending fizzles just a little, but the ride getting there justifies the trip. You'll enjoy the characters and places you visit on the way.

This book really struck me. At first, I just sort of rolled my eyes at Mieville's proliferation of twenty-five cent words--words that only Webster has ever heard of. Okay. That didn't impress me as much as it annoyed me...at first. But then the story began to unfold, and somehow all those words began swirling into these vivid and awe-inspiring scenes. This book is wrought with vision. It's moody and compelling, and pretty damned cool. Mieville's got neat ideas around every corner; he kicks them around like seashells on the beach. He's got God-whales and possibility swords and bloodsucking creatures. There's just so much going on here. And the story--when it gets going--is really, really interesting. I say this is probably an advanced read. But if you've got the patience, and the imagination to match, you will probably enjoy this novel as much as I did.

I read "Perdido Street Station" and fell instantly in love with Mr. Mieville's style of writing and story telling. So, naturally, I found and begin reading "The Scar." All I can say is "The Scar" must certainly have been written by someone other than China Mieville. The tone, style of writing/story telling, character development . . . everything about this book is oddly NOT like "Perdido Street Station." I was more befuddled than disappointed in the book (still attempting to work my way through it). I'll give it a few more chapters, but I doubt I'll finish it.

No, no, no! I appreciate the ending reflects quite well the title of the book but the ending loses this book a star.

Here we are on this journey, a fantastical adventure and then... Oh let's all just go home. It opens you up, eats at you: Mieville's world is a wonderful place to lose yourself in, the story a marvellous melange of incredible worlds and flights of stellar imagination. And then... Oh look how smart China is: everyone in the book is scarred and now the reader is too.

Bah! Humbug, say I!

For some, the journey is the greater part of storytelling. An ending can be very like a death. But, dammit, I want an ending. Godspit! This novel feels almost like one of those freemium games: Turn now and go home, or unlock the final chapter for only $xxx. You get the dull ending because you haven't coughed up for the extras. Boo!

I'm not going to say this is lazy writing or smart, or that Mieville got 700 pages into his story and thought "oh drek... have to wrap this up!" I'll just say, it's a great journey: floating city, mosquito-men, cacti, New Crobouzon at war, that Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean: freaks and fantasy galore. It builds excitingly, plot layered over plot, action and variety and interesting characters... All ruined by the ending.

Hey! Fellow Seattlian, let's drive to Miami for an adventure in the sun. YAY! Where are we now? Orlando. Oh, let's just go home then...

Perdido was an excellent book in its own right, yet I was impressed by how much better The Scar was. Mieville has an excellent ability to make you want more by throwing out snippets of descriptions of people and places and civilizations inhabitaing bas-Lag that invariably made me want to learn more. One of the creepiest and most striking images from the book was Doul's description of his home city of High Chromlech, with its quiet streets full of shuffling high-caste dead, with their lips sewn together. Only a fine writer could pack so much imagination and imagery into a few short pages, and The Scar is full of this, It's part Dickensian (though less so than Perdido), part Lovecraftian, part Moorock, but transcends all those sources. As others have mentioned, the main character is a bit of a dud (the supporting characters are far more interesting), and the ending fizzles just a little, but the ride getting there justifies the trip. You'll enjoy the characters and places you visit on the way.

It was clear when reading China Miéville's 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 Miéville's extraordinary worldcraft. There can now be no doubt that there's 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 city's 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 Terpsichoria's 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 Armada's ersatz freedom only exists within its watery borders; it's 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 Armada's society. Her discovery that the missing third rig is now in Armada's 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 book's 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 novel's 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 story's pace. His dark imagination hasn't 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 Miéville's world!) It may be true that there are parts of the novel that go into exotic overkill, but I think most readers won't 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 Miéville's 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 that's a testament to China Miéville's 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 don't fall into the sort of dreary routine that almost inevitably befalls long series. I want to stay hungry for China Miéville's books, and I always want to come away feeling just as well-fed as I have from this one.

"The Scar" is no "Perdido Street" -- but that doesn't mean it's not one of the best books you'll read this year in any genre. China Mieville is much more disciplined in this second novel set on the world of Bas-Lag, focusing on only a few characters and plotlines. But this maturity seems to come at the expense of the macabre brilliance that sparked the Slake Moth and Hellkin episodes in "Perdido," and no new creature in the book even comes close to the originality of the Weaver. Although the setting of "Scar"--a floating pirate city--is skillfully drawn, the main character's nostalgia for the city of New Crobuzon is catching--I can't wait to return to the scene of "Perdido" in Mieville's next work!

Armada is a fascinating finely dithered setting that sticks deep under your skull and begs to come out in fan fiction. Personally i was fascinated with uther doul, the lovers, and the brucolac. I wish i got the backstory on the lovers, or the brucolac. Especially the brucolac. Oh, and did I say the brucolac? Ahem. In fact, I would LOVE a prequel about him and HIGH CROMLECH and the Urok and how his a$s got to armada in the first place.

Nevertheless for all the accolades Mieville's world-building gets, sometimes he gets too arrogant. A floating pirate city made of ships? Awesome! A beach filled with gears and clockwork instead of sand? Give me more! People whose blood coagulates into armor?? Shroedinger's sword?? Sweet! A gargantuan whale that is summoned from the depths of an interdimensional sea? Yeaah!

Beings with anuses instead of mouths, mosquito women, and cactus-people? Uhmmm slow down cowboy.....steven king territory, complete with lamp-monsters, straight ahead! A similar thing happens with vocabulary. You get four gorgeous descriptions followed by some awkward verbal gymnastics that just read like a thesaurus that make you want to scream COME ON, we know you looked that one up, ARGH!

Nevertheless, the HD rendering of steampunk worlds, shroedinger's sword, and the brucolac make up for things when all is done. Ah Mieville... you are so good....but if you grow some humility you could truly become the gibson of steampunk.

Mieville is a spellcaster. I've found (and heard from others) that walking a distance with measured footsteps creates a meditative state. Niewenhuis said that eventually it feels as though each footfall is moving the earth on its way. That's the fugue state Mieville's work conjures. I could feel the wave motion, shivered at the cold depths, sweated the increasing heat of the move south. The characters are so artfully realized, I could see the motion of Uther Doul's fighting, like trails from a sports setting on a good camera. Bellis Coldwine is a hero/not hero; I had to fight the need to coax her into better behavior. She's flawed, but she's flawed like we all are. Would I act any differently if faced with the choices and challenges thrown at her? Unwishing doesn't work for humans, even humans in fictional parallel realities. And there are lessons to learn from the Lovers and the Brucolac, and Tanner Sack, and Shekel. Rich, loamy, impossible ground tilled by Mieville's skill, this book is like a walk in Croom Park, like the illusion of moving the earth.

Simply incredible, the book is about science and fantasy and other stuff, but think of that as the stage. Its about lovers, about relationships, about what defines a community as well as an individual. Its about how large dreams affect litle people, about loving societies and what engenders that love and it slips into us, our hearts and minds being imprinted like baby ducks toward an ideal of one sort or another.

What struck me is characters unlikable become realistically bearable, that those who so easily can be dismissed as pitiable scum become compelling heroes. It strikes against the prejudices of the characters as well as the reader.

and writes about a truely dislikable protagonist. Seriously. This is not some 'dark heart' who has changed their ways, or some heartless thief with a quick tongue and a way with words. She is simply a genuinely dislikable person. She really doesn't care about anyone except herself, and acts constantly from a sense of self-interest. Great events happen around her, and she is unmoved, except to care about the possible danger to herself.

The net effect, of course, is to isolate the reader from these great events. It's only with consideration that you realize that if the point of view was shifted slightly, you'd be reading an epic, a book about an adventure - maybe not one with a worldshifting plot, but quite a bit would happen.

It's an interesting idea, and one Mievelle managed to turn into a book. If you want something a little more fun to read, the Iron Council or Perdido Street Station is your book, but the core of this book is so fundimentally fascinating I find myself coming back to it with more interest then the Iron Council or Perdido Street Station held.

China Miéville's The Scar is another incredible work of fiction by this little-known, but award-winning author of speculative fiction.

Although, not as haunting as his breakthrough work Perdido Street Station, The Scar is equally inventive and enthralling.

Again set on the planet of Bas-Lag, where his signature creation, the city of New Crobuzon, is situated, this time, most of the action takes place far far away from the city, but again the central characters are (displaced) residents of that intriguing, terrifying metropolis.

The Scar is clearly Miéville's homage to Melville's Moby Dick. One of the central plot threads in the book is a search for a long-rumored mythical beast, a gigantic sea creature large enough to dwarf, and tow, a floating city. This is just one of the many intriguing story lines in the book, which also features pirates, vampires, humans genetically modified to breathe underwater and stigmatized inter-species sexual liaisons.

In The Scar, the main character of the book is female, Bellis Coldwine, a translator of languages who finds herself on a boat destined for a port halfway on the other side of the world, fleeing from her beloved New Crobuzon because of her actions (and reactions) to the horrific events chronicled in Perdido Street Station. Bellis is an interesting, somewhat detached and not altogether sympathetic protagonist. Miéville makes the common mistake of having his protagonist a witness to a few too many pivotal moments in the plot, but this reader is appreciative of the use of this common writer's device.

There is nothing common about The Scar or the imagination of China Miéville--read this book and you will be uncommonly entertained.

Length: 656 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Date: June 25, 2002.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A+.
PLOT: A+.
IMAGERY: A+.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.

After reading this book, a new scar appeared on the deepness of my skull; marking forever one of the best books I've ever read, taking this wonderful and macabre world of BasLag and its characters, into the place where the unforgettable is stored. Armada, an evolving ever-changing city, is a place where renegades find a place to live, an order to anarchy, but as any big city, it doesn't escape to the corruption of decadence.

This is an enthralling book, way better than Perdido Street Station, and that, is to say a lot. The characterization is superb. The geography of the place, the intricate politics, the magic of the vast ocean, the cacophony of its diverse ecology, takes you to a place that you have never seen before. Literary richness, The Scar is gold among the dirt of the superfluous market-oriented fiction available; worth of mining and deep study. This is not a fast paced book and as any good wine, it will need time in your mouth before you feel the satisfaction of a delicious and unique experience.

For those readers wanting something to read on the airplane, another soft cover to exchange on a hotel, this book is NOT for you. This novel will build, and build, and build, for the first couple of hundreds pages, and is your duty to pay attention to the details, because when the end is coming, you won't be able to stop reading, things will start happening FAST, and you will be spell bounded until the end of the book, its final momentum reaching with a strenuous explosion of revelation that will steal your breath.

Mi?ville's novel _Perdido Street Station_ introduced us to the world of Bas Lag, atop which the metropolis of New Crobuzon squats in all its malevolent indolence. New Crobuzon is home to humans, khepri, vodyanoi, garuda, cactacae and all manner of other strange races. Whilst seen by its masters in Parliament as the epitome of advancement, it is seen by many of its inhabitants as little more than a filthy, oppressive prison.

After scientist Isaac dan der Grimnebulin unwittingly precipitated a disaster in New Crobuzon (an adventure recounted in _Perdido Street Station_), a former lover of his by the name of Bellis Coldwine finds herself being hunted down by Parliament's militia, as those in power seek to exact their revenge on Grimnebulin and those associated with him.

Bellis--posing as an interpreter--escapes on the _Terpsichoria_, a ship bound for the New Crobuzon colony of Nova Esperium. Unfortunately for Bellis and the ship's other passengers, they are waylaid by a ship belonging to the infamous pirate city of Armada. What happens after that changes both Bellis and Armada forever, and even sends tendrils of cause and effect across the miles of open ocean back to New Crobuzon.

I was originally drawn to Mi?ville on the recommendations of friends who praised him for breathing new life into the fantasy genre. I was ill-prepared for his seemingly voluminous knowledge of the English language, and throughout _Perdido Street Station_ I kept a dictionary handy to ensure I missed nothing.

_The Scar_ both uses a more accessible vocabulary and provides a deeper insight into the world of Bas Lag than its predecessor. We begin to understand *some* of the mechanics of Bas Lag's "magic"--known as thaumaturgy--and gain a comprehension of just how vast Mi?ville's imagination must be to have dredged so much up into the light of day--and make it coherent as well.

I found the most enjoyable thing about _The Scar_ to be Mi?ville's deft use of symbolism. I won?t get into it for fear of lessening your enjoyment (I got a little kick out of reading each new reference) but I have a lot of admiration for a man who can take one little thing and then sculpt it into so many different meanings for so many different characters.

If you can cope with the somewhat intricate language and lengthy narrative, and enjoy reading cutting edge fantasy, you'll love this book.

I read Perdido Street Station a few months ago, and was blown away, to say the least. Considering the astonishing inventiveness of that book, I was sure that the "sequel" would recycle a fair amount of the background material. Since that background was so extensive and so compelling, I figured Mieville could produce quite a few more amazing books just about New Crobuzon. But I was wrong. Working within the basic confines of the reality he created last time, Mieville creates an entirely new world for his readers to explore, just as incredible as last time. I have not yet finished the book, since this time I'm trying to take my time and really appreciate the wonders and horrors that Mieville conjures up so convincingly, but I can already tell that this book is a very worthy companion to Perdido Street Station. Mieville is a master of world-creation, but he combines this with an astounding ability to pull the reader into that world and make it real. Think books are boring? Read this one. I dare you.

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 mind's eye. i've read his other books and they've all been excellent and i can tell that he's just going to keep getting better and better. this is a must read for anyone, including people that aren't normally into fantasy.

THE SCAR is even more original and twice as artful as Mieville's previous PERDIDO STREET STATION. If you like great writing, get it. If you like wondrous, original, vivid imaginary worlds, get it. I haven't seen such a marvelous imaginary world in years.
However, if you like characters who set out to make a positive difference in their world and succeed, don't get this book. Mieville likes to write about good guys who aren't really good and who lose even when they win. If he had to do a Churchill biography he'd write about everything except World War II. If he had to do a Presidential biography he'd choose Clinton over Lincoln or Washington every time.
I think he prefers to close his eyes to heroes.
But the world he creates in THE SCAR is gorgeous. It's wonderful. A floating city, a whale as a steed, two different kinds of underwater civilizations, battles with magic and ironclads and airships, an isle of mosquito people, catcus pirates, a magic based on probability theory and oil drilling as a means of magical power--there's just so much stuff in this book. If you want a world you haven't seen before, one wonderfully written, full of life, completely different and completely believable--this is for you.
It's got drama, too, plenty of it, even if Mieville likes to put lots of depressing bits in alongside the successes. There's heroism and war and titan-scale engineering and mysterious magic.
Did I mention that this book is packed full of stuff? And that the world is wonderfully original?
THE SCAR is set in the same universe as PERDIDO STREET STATION, but it goes leagues beyond that in quality. It's the tale, more or less, of a woman who gets hijacked to a fantastic city whose rulers are embarked on an even more fantastic quest, a quest she gets caught up in and that puts half the rest of the world at war with the city -- not to mention the battles within the city itself...
If you want a book that'll leave you smiling, go find some other book. Mieville's too in love with misfortune. His main characters are pretty ordinary people, and even if he lets the good guys more or less win, he leaves you feeling that the characters you were reading about have been left used and broken and mostly defeated. He can't stand to imagine triumph as a good thing. But if you want a world that will absolutely blow your mind and plenty of scenes to leave you breathless, get THE SCAR.

Let me start by saying that this novel is beautifully written and it has unique and interesting characters. Before reading it I was concerned that the author would just rehash some of the same weirdness from "Perdido Street Station" but gratefully, he didn't. He invented new creatures and situations that were just as imaginative as the ones from "Perdido Street Station" yet still completely original. The descriptions of Armada, the mosquito people, the avanc, and the vampir--all great stuff. However, I had several problems with this novel.

Starting with the characters: it seemed like the author took great pains to describe Uther Doul and his mysteriousness but then gave no ultimate explanation for his behavior. As an earlier reviewer said, he is the one who originally motivates the Lovers to seek out the Scar but then at the last minute he indicates that Bellis should stop the mission--why? We really get no insight into his character, yet earlier on in the novel he promises to be complex and interesting. There's the same problem with the Lovers themselves, they're built up to be so fascinating when we first meet them but we never really know anything more about them after their original introduction. They just turn out to be regular people with weird ways of expressing their feelings for each other. There was also a huge build up about the grindylow but when they finally appear it's for a very brief time and then you find out that their actions are all based on the threat of New Crobuzon building a canal--blah.

Finally, the ending was completely anti-climactic. To begin with this novel was impossible to resolve in a satisfactory way because there were too many plot lines going on simultaneously and I felt confused about what was the main issue/goal here. Having one plot and then adding layers and twists to it is one thing (like in "Perdido Street Station") but "The Scar" just seemed messy. The last chapter was like a summing up of everything we still don't know. If the ultimate plot line is about getting to the Scar, then all we're left with is Hedrigall's hallucination but no confirmation, is he crazy or is the Scar really nightmarish?--we don't get to find out. I realize that every novel isn't going to be neatly wrapped up but this just seemed particularly unsatisfying.

I think "Perdido Street Station" was a much tighter novel in terms of character, plot and resolution. I know some complained about it's deus ex machina ending but I'd rather have that than nothing at all.

So - you've been hearing all these praises about this Mieville guy. Genre-redefining. Enthralling. Mythic. You check out the cover of his books and see a litany of blurbs proclaiming him as the next Tolkien or Bradbury. An author beyond description.
You roll you eyes - remembering countless other mammoth novels littered with accolades you've slogged through - only to be underwhelmed.
Well - this time - for me, at least - the blurbs were not fluff. This is cool stuff. This is genre-redefining. This is a world you can immerse yourself in and totally believe is real. It lives, breathes, smells, thrills, terrifies, disgusts and even makes you philosophize.
I loved this book. It wasn't perfect (what's the deal with the love affair with the word "puissant?") but as a reader who has been disappointed with new SF/F lately - Meilville has renewed my faith that great things can still be found in the modern world's most exciting genre - and that alone is enought to give it five stars.

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. That's why I give this book 3 stars, and not 5, which it would (imho) otherwise have deserved.

Maybe you'll 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 cliche'd 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 it's steam-age fantasy: they have steamships, they have rail, they have dirigibles. These mysterious forbidden places on the boarders of the known don't 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 can't 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 Mieville's 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

The Scar is as inventive and rich with unconventional ideas as any other books penned by the author. We have all the elements here for a proper fantasy experience: the vast ocean-world is brimming with awesome creatures, legends, societies and history - and all this rendered in an original way that makes us wonder why so few authors dare to step out of the cliche-circle of Tolkien-inspired high fantasy.

The first 400-500 pages will keep us chained to the book: the prose is fluid and elegant, the story rolls on with a carefully balanced speed and there are so many amazing characters, ideas we want to know more about. After that, however, the narrative gradually loses its momentum and similarly to the legendary beast towing the pirate-city, Armada in the book, it all but stops in the end. The most original concept in the novel is the so-called 'possibility-mining': a fascinating injection of quantum-physics into a fantasy-setting. Although the author clearly intends to use this idea as a focal point for the story, it never gets explored deeply enough. The same superficial approach applies to a bunch of interesting characters (Tanner Sack, Uther Doul, the Lovers, the Brucolac) who are really the key engines and highlights of the story, but whose background and motivations is not unveiled at all. It seems that the author stubbornly insists on limiting in-depth characterisation to the rather irritating protagonist, the cynical Ms Coldwine (what a telling surname), whose inability to get liked by the reader becomes quite frustrating by the end of a very long journey.

Reading the last 200 hundred pages or so left me with an impression that the author might have been overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of his own ambition and resorted to using a rather lazy short cut to finish off the story. In a novel closing on 800 pages, however, you cannot build up tension and promise, and then get away by not delivering some climactic experience. The shockingly mundane and simple twist in the end leaves a bitter taste in the reader's mouth: the Scar is scarred by unexploited potential.

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.

Wow. This ranks up there with Perdido Street Station. Vivid, imaginative, amazing. A little depressing, mind you, but great read. Just be warned that not all of China Mieville's writing is up to this standard.

On the plus side, the world building in this novel is wonderful. On the negative side, the characters were all unlikable, and main point of view character, Bellis, was actively unpleasant, being self-involved to a remarkable degree.
The plot only seems to exist as an excuse to show off different parts of the world. In a way it is like a road movie, where the journey is the point, except that in this case the characters are also incidental, and showing off the world is the point.
A friend recommended to me that I regard the actual characters in the book as the cities, not as the people living in them. Keeping that in mind I was able to finish the book, otherwise I would have given up. All in all I am glad that I read it, because the imagination in the world building is great, but I was only able to read in short bursts (normally I read books cover to cover in one go).

Where Perdido Street Station slipped up, The Scar delivered. China Mieville's particular universe is totally cogent in this second novel. Bellis Coldwine is a likeable yet utterly human protagonist, and her problems, though quite imaginary, ring with truth. I love how Mieville is able to immerse you in his world without the fallback descriptions of other SciFi/Fantasy authors. He creates small moments that act as a doorway to Bas-Lag without pushing. A rare five-star read.

The Terpsichoria leaves New Crobuzon bound for a colony with convicts, slaves, and a few paying customers needing to leave the city by any means possible on board. Among the passengers is desolate Bellis Coldwine. The astringent woman has been exiled from the great city.

The seafaring voyage turns nasty when pirates board the ship. Most of those sailing on the Terpsichoria are worthless to the pirates and killed. However, some including Bellis are taken prisoner to the corsair's haven, the floating island of ships, Armada. There they will either die or help the evil leadership with magic that could destroy all humanity. However, Bellis finds allies and tries to develop a third option.

THE SCAR may be the fantasy tale of the year as the dark story line makes the reader feel as if he or she has entered Armada, so graphically described that the weird civilization seems real. The plot consists of plenty of action, but it is the leagues and depths of the water world and its strange yet authentic feeling populous that makes the novel so entertaining. Award winning China Mieville (see Perdido Street Station) is bound to more than just receive nominations; she is going to win many trophies for this strong story.

Harriet Klausner

From the very beginning, this book grabbed me by the throat and did not let go. The people, the places, the whole world conjoured by the author was compelling and enticing.

While definitely alien in culture, Mieville still had strong things to say about human nature and where it fits in, even if the people being created in the pages do not fit in anywhere in our usual world.

It's best to start with Perdido Street Station so you have a good foundation for the world Mieville has so masterfully created. This turned out to be my favorite of the Bas Lag books. Exciting and really gets helps you stretch your imagination.