Sharpe
09-30-2002, 10:35 PM
This is a new fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk kinda novel and I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended - I'd kinda sorta call it a cross between Arcanum (but with no elves) and a William Gibson or Bruce Sterling steampunk novel. If you are sick of the standard fantasy, then this is a pretty cool change.
For those who give a rat's ass about my opinion, here is an excerpt from the review that I wrote for rec.arts.written.sf:
The Scar is set in Mieville's fantasy / steam-punk / pseudo-sci-fi world of
Bas Lag. The story begins with Bellis Coldwine, a linguist from the
London-esque steam-punk metropolis of New Cobruzon, leaving the city on a steamer for the far colony of Nova Esperian (think Australia). However, this is much more than a steam-fantasy novel. Bas-Lag is an amazing mixture of fantasy and science-fiction tropes, with plentiful thaumaturgy, fierce pirates, a variety of mutant and metamorphic quasi-human species (no prancy elves in sight), and a hefty dollop of Victorian intrigue. Our fiercely anti-social protaganist ends going on a very long journey which takes her to essentially no where she wants to go. Along the way we meet a varied and extremely colorful cast of characters, from a Remade (ie thaumaturgically mutated) engineer, to a pair of twisted pirate Lovers, to an enigmatic mercenary-champion with a very special kind of "magic" sword, to a mute scholar who is a humanoid mosquito, and on and on.
Dan (aka Sharpe)
For those who give a rat's ass about my opinion, here is an excerpt from the review that I wrote for rec.arts.written.sf:
The Scar is set in Mieville's fantasy / steam-punk / pseudo-sci-fi world of
Bas Lag. The story begins with Bellis Coldwine, a linguist from the
London-esque steam-punk metropolis of New Cobruzon, leaving the city on a steamer for the far colony of Nova Esperian (think Australia). However, this is much more than a steam-fantasy novel. Bas-Lag is an amazing mixture of fantasy and science-fiction tropes, with plentiful thaumaturgy, fierce pirates, a variety of mutant and metamorphic quasi-human species (no prancy elves in sight), and a hefty dollop of Victorian intrigue. Our fiercely anti-social protaganist ends going on a very long journey which takes her to essentially no where she wants to go. Along the way we meet a varied and extremely colorful cast of characters, from a Remade (ie thaumaturgically mutated) engineer, to a pair of twisted pirate Lovers, to an enigmatic mercenary-champion with a very special kind of "magic" sword, to a mute scholar who is a humanoid mosquito, and on and on.
Dan (aka Sharpe)