I loved the concept of creating a habitable place in the midst of unwelcoming ocean. I loved the harmony, the creation of a whole out of so many varying bits, pieces, cultures, races, nations. I loved its tolerance, its camaraderie, its stubbornness, its unbelievable spirit and tenacity. Now, where do I apply for its citizenship?īefore I say anything else in my review, I want to confess - I absolutely, wholeheartedly loved Armada.

Scars make us who we are.Ģ012: Say goodbye to the festering filth of New Crobuzon! Welcome to a floating pirate city chock-full of mysteries, lies, betrayals, photophobic haemophages, and merciless manipulation. The pain and the healing, the past and the future, the memories and records of being broken and being made whole again. I still love Armada, the odd pirate floating city, and with the years understand some of the characters a bit more, even those whom I judged a bit more harshly in my younger days. Something about this book pulled on just the right strings and made it my favorite novel by His Chinaness, a feat that eventually was surpassed only by Embassytown.Ī decade later the magic still holds, even if with a bit less intensity. I first read The Scar a decade ago, new to the weird magic of Miéville’s writing, entranced by the bizarreness of his imagination and the love of thesaurus-heavy vocabulary. I want time to set me ugly and knotted with loss of you, marking me. The answer lies in the dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters-terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission.Ģ022: “In time, in time they tell me, I’ll not feel so bad. Instead, she must furtively seek information about Armada’s agenda. Lonely and embittered in her captivity, Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence.

On Armada, everyone is given work, and even Remade live as equals to humans, Cactacae, and Cray. The surviving passengers are brought to Armada, a city constructed from the hulls of pirated ships, a floating, landless mass ruled by the bizarre duality called the Lovers. But when the ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are summarily executed.

For she is linked to Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, the brilliant renegade scientist who has unwittingly unleashed a nightmare upon New Crobuzon.įor Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. Among them is Bellis Coldwine, a linguist whose services as an interpreter grant her passage-and escape from horrific punishment. They are joined by a handful of travelers, each with a reason for fleeing the city. Aboard a vast seafaring vessel, a band of prisoners and slaves, their bodies remade into grotesque biological oddities, is being transported to the fledgling colony of Nova Esperium.

The Scar by China Miéville