Embassytown

by China Miéville

345 pages

English language

Published April 16, 2011 by Ballantine Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-52449-2
OCLC Number:: 659766009

(11 reviews)

In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak.

Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.

When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.

3 editions

Jorgen@bookrastinating.com reviewed Embassytown by China Miéville

i dont think i got it 10/10

5 stars

you heard me

Alyanorne reviewed Embassytown by China Miéville

Review of 'Embassytown' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Once things got going, I couldn't put it down! I have a keen interest in language and how it relates to the mind and consciousness, so I found this book fascinating. The book revolves around the method humans have cobbled together to speak to a group of aliens who are drastically different from humans in the way they think and communicate. Their speech goes beyond sound, and in fact, simply creating the same sound artificially will not make words understandable to them. Highly recommended!

(safety rating: flexible thinking about what is appropriate sexual behavior, but nothing graphic, some language)

Keith Stevenson reviewed Embassytown by China Miéville

Review of 'Embassytown' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Solid science fiction imagining. A truly alien race and a riff on how language constrains thought, and what happens when the walls of language come tumbling down.