China Mieville

 The next book on the booklist is 'Perdido Street Station' by China Mieville. What should we know about it? 

Mieville is a very good writer. He writes in a somewhat literary style, often using a somewhat ornate level of adjectives. This book is set in a city that is a mix of steam punk technology and magic. There are at least three major non-human races that live there, as well as dozens of others. 

What is the book about?

Well, not to give too much away, but it involves a scientist that accidentally unleashes something on the city. The bones of the book are that of a thriller, with a big problem that needs to be solved quickly before it results in disaster.

Is it good?

It is. It took me a bit to get into. I'd say give it 100 pages or so. If you're not interested after that, set it down.

100 pages? How long is it?

My Kindle edition is 710 pages. It's the longest book on our list this year.

Have you read other books by Mieville?

One of his other books, 'The City & The City' won the Hugo award. I read all of the noms that year, so I read that one. That book was written in a detective noir style. I respected it, but wouldn't have voted for it because it simply wasn't science fiction. Obviously others disagreed.

Winning a Hugo is very nice. Has Mieville done well with book awards? 

Yes, very well. He only has the one Hugo win, but four other books of his were nominated, including Perdido St Station. It won an Arthur C Clarke award. Mieville also won Clarke awards for the City &the City and Iron Council.  He has also won seven Locus awards.

Anything else we should know?

According to Wikipedia, Mieville was heavily influenced by D&D. He was born in 1972, so that's not unusual. What is interesting though, is that Perdido Street Station was an influence for the editors of D&D's fifth edition. That's quite a feather for his cap!