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So, I've been reading the Hugo best novel shortlist, and I was working on China Mieville's entry, Embassytown. To paraphrase this post's title, it feels like I went to a great world-building seminar and a plot broke out.
Mieville spends the first hundred or so pages laying out his world, in both more and less detail than I needed. More in that he runs about 50 pages long, less in that, by picking a first-person narrator who grew up in the town, a lot of what is new to us is old hat to her. Then, finally, we get to a plot, in which the humans manage to bollocks up the local Language in such a way that it becomes a narcotic to the locals. From there, I imagine and am told it doesn't end well.
Which brings me to the second problem with Embassytown - I found it hard to give a damn. Partially I think this is because Avice, the POV character, narrates in a disassociated manner. It's like she's providing commentary to a not-very-exciting golf match. I found myself thinking about what what else was happening in Mieville's world, and how much fun it could be to read about that.
Apparently I am not China Mieville's target audience, and I suspect that, at least among Hugo voters, I'm a bit of a minority.
Mieville spends the first hundred or so pages laying out his world, in both more and less detail than I needed. More in that he runs about 50 pages long, less in that, by picking a first-person narrator who grew up in the town, a lot of what is new to us is old hat to her. Then, finally, we get to a plot, in which the humans manage to bollocks up the local Language in such a way that it becomes a narcotic to the locals. From there, I imagine and am told it doesn't end well.
Which brings me to the second problem with Embassytown - I found it hard to give a damn. Partially I think this is because Avice, the POV character, narrates in a disassociated manner. It's like she's providing commentary to a not-very-exciting golf match. I found myself thinking about what what else was happening in Mieville's world, and how much fun it could be to read about that.
Apparently I am not China Mieville's target audience, and I suspect that, at least among Hugo voters, I'm a bit of a minority.
