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I was pitched on this series as having interesting politics, and when I started reading it, that was an honest pitch. On the whole, however, it's a rugpull on that front. What do you expect from Disney, i guess. It redirects toward metaphysics reasonably skilfully, so the turn doesn't hurt as much as you might think, but there definitely comes a moment of "well, let's not get too carried away" after which the story firmly steers away from being as transparently radical as it promises to be earlier on.

picked this up on a recommendation a good while back, and I don't know how i let myself think that this story might engage with politics for real. Maybe I missed something, but even if they snuck in politics disguised as metaphysics behind disney's back, they hid them a bit too well. It's a proper conclusion, kinda, i guess? It's not like the turn away from politics was poorly telegraphed at least.

stopped partway through, appalled by the plot being insanely comic-y, gotta pick it back up and see if it turns it into a good thing or not

Gotta do a re-read of this at some point; genuinely have no idea if it actually makes sense or if it just ends via comic bullshit

It's pretty good; but I think it could benefit from a consistent redraw

This is nothing like Perdido Street Station; the story meaners and never entirely comes together. He half explores a lot of ideas here but leans a bit too much on the mysterious side with a lot of it to actually have them come through? I don't know if the disagreements being fought out with the genre here are holding the story back because miéville hasn't finished his thoughts enough to articulate them into a persuasive narrative formulation, or whether he has finished them and is a bit too ready to move on. It is, of course, more bas lag, if the story not entirely coming together doesn't put you off.

Its still interesting, fun, high concept, and if you want more bas lag go for it but I think Miéville fails to find harmony between the ideas he wants to explore here and the story he wants to tell.

It's a marvelously inventive fantasy setting here. Be warned though; it's at least 200 pages before you get a proper sense of the plot if memory serves. That said, this is by far my favourite in the series. It's a great self contained story, relentlessly inventive in its world and relentlessly curious in its myriad themes.

A strong case for funding social sciences and humanities

The book about how we let it get this bad. In a strange way, this book feels shallow because of its ambitious scope, but if you want a proper overview of horrific shit that you need to understand to get the current moment, this is probably the place to start unearthing the contents of the memory hole.

This book is brave (derogatory) in that it is relentlessly unashamed to date itself. Then again, how else do you write about the ongoing end of the world as we know it? look up some CWs about the opening, it's not for the faint of heart, maybe the most harrowing section of literature I have ever read?