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Rated The Scar 10/10

This is the first time in a long while that I felt such a pang of sadness after finishing a book.



But why is that? As often with Miéville (especially the New Crobuzon series), all of the characters are flawed in some way, sometimes relatable, often despicable and disgusting. The same can be said for the setting where great deeds are darkened by horrific crimes.



Maybe I am so captivated by the deep, detailed universe that Miéville painstakingly built for us... The little facts, the history, the science, the species, the geography even! It just makes me want more, always more, I want maps, timelines and more books to uncover all of those. In a way, I am saddened that after Iron Council, there will be no more to learn and discover about Bas-Lag, and, that, is a sad thought.



I don't have much to say about the book itself apart that it's rich (universe-wise), captivating (story-wise), has similar characters to Perdido Street Station (but more attaching and relatable ones) and while its ending is fairly open, it also resolves a lot of questions and keeping just the right ones open. <spoiler>Is Doul actually the mastermind manipulator that Bellis thinks? What happens to Silas or The Lover!F? What was New Crobuzon's reaction to the loss of part of their navy? Can Armada find cohesion again as pirate haven? What were the Lovers' actual plan once they could tap the Scar?</spoiler>



As the name of the book hints (and I have to say that the French name of the book, "Les Scarifiés", gives a totally different feeling to the book), there are a lot of scars in this book: physical, mental, supernatural, philosophical, self-inflected, given as punishment, as reward, against money, it doesn't matter they are all there. On a similar lyrical level, the story sometimes abandons the POV format for a single chapter interlude, telling us their story through twisted perspective, through strange literature formats but always in an unsettling way. After all, Miéville is not the king of weird fiction for nothing.



Basically this book is amazing in every way possibe, also, Doul and Johannes are both aces, don't @ me, bye

#book

Published 2019-12-02 21:57 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere