Review: Three Moments of an Explosion by China Miéville

Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories by China Miéville (Del Rey, 381 pages)


If you've been following Bookishly Witty on facebook or twitter, you'll know that I'm just a teeny tiny bit obsessed with China Miéville's books.

OKAY, A LOT OBSESSED WHO AM I KIDDING.

Embassytown blew my mind; Perdido Street Station left me stunned (in a good way); and now Three Moments has made me appreciate even more (if that could even be possible) the richness and diversity of Miéville's imagination. Here we have stories about evil burlap sacks and floating icebergs and walking oil rigs and "New Death" and I just can't even with this brilliance.

From the TBR Shelf #25: Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Perdido Street Station (2000) by China Miéville

How does one write about a novel so charged, so phantasmagorically creepy, so beautiful as Perdido Street Station? I have to say, now, that between this and Embassytown, I'm completely hooked on anything Miéville writes. His prose is so dense with complex images and complicated descriptions, and characters whose particular points of view broaden our understanding of the worlds that he creates.

Miéville has also encouraged my burgeoning love of steampunk, describing "crisis engines" and circuits and analogue self-creating AIs. This alternative technology, though, fits right in with the alternative world of Bas-Lag, where magic ("thaumaturgy") and Victorian-era tech mingle in an early industrial world controlled by the militia and corrupt government officials. It's grimy, it's violent, and it's a hotbed of new ideas about art and science.

My Month of Science Fiction: Embassytown by China Miéville

Embassytown (2011) by China Miéville

When I was asking around for recommendations for my Month of Science Fiction, the name "China Miéville" kept coming up. Now, I had heard the name before, but knew nothing about the author. Eventually, I chose Embassytown to read and BOY OH BOY am I glad I did (and all the other Miéville? Yeah, gonna read those too!).

Anyway, there are books that you read and you feel great afterwards- enlightened, almost buoyant. Other books leave you feeling confused and dizzy. Still others suck you in and make you work so hard that you come out on the other side saying "that wasn't a book, it was an EXPERIENCE."

Embassytown was an Experience.