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Question about Perdido Street Station (minor spoiler) (self.sciencefiction)

submitted 8 months ago by AFKBRBChocolate to c/sciencefiction

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I recently finished Perdido Street Station, and one minor thing that bothered me is how many of the other races were either a humanoid version of earth life (cactus person, bird person) or a literal combination of a human and something (head of a bug, body of a person). That just seems so fantastically unlikely that I wonder if any of the other books in that setting explain it. Like, is it a future earth and the races are results of generic modification in some prior era?

I liked the book pretty well, through it's not exactly uplifting. Thought provoking though.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That just seems so fantastically unlikely that I wonder if any of the other books in that setting explain it.

Not in any depth/at all and it is the fantastically unlikely nature of it that is one of the attractions of the series. As the setting is possibly an infinite plane, one of many, it helps get you straight into the idea that this is a strange and almost dream-like place. After all it has to be pretty odd to spawn it's only literary genre, even if very little has been able to achieve similar heights of weirdness.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I'm a fan of weird, but I'll be honest that it bugged me. On the other hand, I sat down with it knowing very little about it, but thinking it was SF. Though it has SF elements, it also has magic, so more of a fantasy novel and, for some reason, that makes the thing about the races easier to swallow. There doesn't have to be a valid explanation for fantasy, it just has to be internally consistent.

Okay, thanks for the response.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you read The Scar it goes into how strange the setting is and how broken reality is in places. Some of the things in there may or may not explain some of the races, lime the cactus people. However, it is all kept very vague.

You should probably take it as a reaction against Tolkeinesque fantasy that draws on northern European myths. There's a wide range of influences as well as Mieville just making up oddities just for the sake of it. So, for example, Kephri is an Egyptian scarab-headed god and then everything is built around that. It doesn't have to be plausible it just has to contribute to the strangeness.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 3 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Okay, thanks.

Do you recommend The Scar?

Meiville wrote The City and The City, right? I think that's the only other one currently on my reading list.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I really enjoyed The City and The City, it was a really novel and interesting concept about how far socially constructed concepts can go.

Perdido Street Station I couldn't get into though.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 1 points 8 months ago

I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone.

One weird thing about reading ebook versions is in not always aware of how long they are, at least at the start. With PSS, I was thinking it strange that so little happened, then I realized that, even though I was a couple hundred pages in, I was less than a third of the way through.

An IRL friend who's very into SF also recently recommended The City And The City, so I'll probably read it soon.

[–] tyrant 3 points 8 months ago

I read all three of new crobo books and I feel like Perdido was the best, scar second, iron council I don't Even remember. It's been a while though so forgive my memory

[–] statler_waldorf 2 points 8 months ago

I bounced off Perdido twice, then tore through The Scar then went on to read his whole back catalog. It's my favorite of the Bas Lag "trilogy".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you want to read something slightly closer to “normal” SF by him, The Embassy is good. Although my absolute favorite is still The City and The City, which is all about social mores and to a degree, castes.

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I read a lot, and it got expensive, so now I use a library app connected to three library cards I'm entitled to. I have The City and The City on hold, but it's apparently pretty popular because the app is estimating seven weeks until it's available. But I'll read it when it comes up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Hahaha, yeah I only buy books that I know I will be rereading down the line, because otherwise the foundations of my house would crumble under the weight.

My library allows requesting new books 3 months before they come out, so I usually try and be the guy requesting it and getting the first hold on it that way…

[–] AFKBRBChocolate 2 points 8 months ago

Amusingly, it popped up yesterday as available on one of the smaller libraries, so I've started reading it. Interesting.