Reading Pathways: China Miéville

I’ll admit it up front — I didn’t know China Miéville’s work before it was cool. He was on my radar, people I knew were reading and loving his books, but no one ever sat me down and said, “Listen, Jenn. You, of all people, need to read these books.” (More is the pity!) And when I did finally read one of his novels, it was because my boss pulled a copy of The City and the City from a priority stack of galleys and said, “Here, read this one, someone should take a look.” Not the most auspicious of reading beginnings for an author who is now in my Top Ten — but whatever works, am I right?

Miéville’s work has a reputation for being awesome, but also for being difficult. If you’re not already a visitor to the weirder reaches of sci-fi and fantasy, you’re going to need a guide. My attempt at a map is below — you can begin at any of these points and find your way from there, but I’ve suggested follow-ups for each, just in case. I assure you that, while you may occasionally get turned around and find yourself in places you did not intend to go, it’s well worth the trip. And if you have already visited the area (by way of, say, Nick Harkaway, Catherynne Valente, Samuel Delaney, or granddaddies Borges or Lovecraft) but haven’t gotten to this particular locale, I say to you: “Listen. You, of all people, need to read these books.”

Perdido Street Station: With award after award piled on top of it, and some of the most comprehensive world-building I’ve ever experienced, it’s impossible not to recommend this book. You’ll discover Bas-Lag, a gleefully riotous world inhabited by humans and metahumans and definitely-not-humans that runs on both steam and thaumaturgy. Hefty doses of horror and governmental politics build on the urban fantasy elements, and Miéville’s prose is dense, playful, and provocative (yes, all at once). Further along the urban road: The other Bas-Lag books (The Scar, Iron Council) and Kraken.