Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe. Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts - who cannot lie. Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes. Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts. And that is impossible.
Embassytown
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
PRAISE FOR CHINA MIeVILLE
Kraken
"The stakes [are] driven high and almost anything can happen. The reader is primed for a memorable payoff, and Mieville more than delivers."--"San Francisco Chronicle"
The City & The City
"If Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler's love child were raised by Franz Kafka, the writing that emerged might resemble . . . "The City & The City.""--"Los Angeles Times
"
Perdido Street Station
"Compulsively readable . . . impossible to expunge from memory."--"The Washington Post Book World"
The Scar
"A fantastic setting for an unforgettable tale . . . memorable because of Mieville's vivid language [and] rich imagination."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer
"
Iron Council
"A masterwork . . . a story that pops with creativity."--"Wired "
Un Lun Dun
"Endlessly inventive . . . [a] hybrid of "Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz "and "The Phantom Tollbooth.""--Salonk." -"New Y --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Kraken
"The stakes [are] driven high and almost anything can happen. The reader is primed for a memorable payoff, and Mieville more than delivers."--"San Francisco Chronicle"
The City & The City
"If Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler's love child were raised by Franz Kafka, the writing that emerged might resemble . . . "The City & The City.""--"Los Angeles Times
"
Perdido Street Station
"Compulsively readable . . . impossible to expunge from memory."--"The Washington Post Book World"
The Scar
"A fantastic setting for an unforgettable tale . . . memorable because of Mieville's vivid language [and] rich imagination."--"The Philadelphia Inquirer
"
Iron Council
"A masterwork . . . a story that pops with creativity."--"Wired "
Un Lun Dun
"Endlessly inventive . . . [a] hybrid of "Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz "and "The Phantom Tollbooth.""--Salonk." -"New Y --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
China Mieville lives and works in London. He is three-time winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award (Perdido Street Station, Iron Council and The City & The City) and has also won the British Fantasy Award twice (Perdido Street Station and The Scar). The City & The City, an existential thriller, was published in 2009 to dazzling critical acclaim and drew comparison with the works of Kafka and Orwell (The Times) and Philip K. Dick (Guardian). His most recent novel, Kraken, was published in 2010.
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More About the Author
China Miéville is the author of King Rat; Perdido Street Station, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Fantasy Award; The Scar, winner of the Locus Award and the British Fantasy Award; Iron Council, winner of the Locus Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award; Looking for Jake, a collection of short stories; and Un Lun Dun, his New York Times bestselling book for younger readers. He lives and works in London.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
165 of 178 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I'm not actually a China Mieville fan. The entire "New Weird" genre just sort of confuses me, and I'm rarely impressed (to be fair, he's a fantastic writer). "Un Lun Dun" and "Kraken", particularly, didn't really leave favorable impressions. Still, I did love "King Rat" and "Perdido Street Station", and his other books were enjoyable. Also, it's stupid to not read anything else by a prolific author simply because two books weren't your thing. Add to that the fact that "Embassytown" is, at least superficially, hard-core science fiction...well, it was enough for me to take the plunge.
"Embassytown" is told through the eyes of Immerser Avice Benner Cho. She first chronicles her childhood on the planet Ariekei, giving us glimpses of Mieville's multi-layered world: most children don't grow up with their birth parents. They live in communal homes with multiple parents (much like counselors.) Humans share their world with "exots"--aliens (exoterres). But this isn't some two-dimensional Star Wars or silly Futurama-type melting pot. Exots are screened. With one important exception, exots can only settle on Ariekei if their sociologic and, to an extent, genetic makeup (they must have language, move comfortably in a human-run world, have similar thought processes, et cetera) is similar enough to allow integration with humans.
Humans do not own Ariekei, however. We are settlers, only living on the planet because beings known only as Hosts permit us to.
The Hosts protect themselves. While benevolent, especially toward children, they have a part of the planet only they can enter; humans can't breathe in their area. They circumvent the human similarity, as well (it's their planet, after all.) They speak a language only genetically engineered linguists can comprehend (these people are called Ambassadors.) They are not at all humanoid in appearance; they do not communicate like humans; and their sociologic match-up is questionable at the very best.
However, the human and exot population of Ariekei long struck a balance. They are always problems, but Embassytown is an almost disturbingly cordial society. The Hosts do their best for Ariekei, and the Ambassadors keep the peace and essentially run the society.
But when a new Ambassador arrives, the entire balance is thrown into jeopardy.
Now, the writing in "Embassytown" is fantastic. It does start slowly. There are pages and pages of childhood memories, but that serves two purposes: extensive, and subtle, world-building; and an understanding of a narrator who often takes a back seat to the story to follow.
The writing is lyrical and descriptive. During its leaner moments, Mieville recalls Ray Bradbury (which is only a plus as far as I'm concerned.) Some readers will probably describe it as "long-winded", but I think it matches the story perfectly. The narrative doesn't stop or bog itself down. There is simply a lot to tell, and Mieville tells it all.
The characters weren't as deep as I prefer. But again, this matches the story. While a rather bleak, hard-core science fiction novel, the crux of "Embassytown" is the beauty and power of language. It wasn't a parable, but the theme overtook the plot. At the same time, it doesn't wham you over the head. You're not having "language is a beautiful thing" screamed at you from every page. It is subtle. The story doesn't have a weak spot, and it doesn't stop. I think one of Mieville's greatest achievements is this flawless weaving of a theme and moral into the fabric of a novel.
This novel is, I thought, bleak, if far, far from hopeless. While it starts off comfortably as Avice describes her childhood, "Embassytown" swiftly darkens.
I'll be honest. This is my favorite of China Mieville's books. It is traditional science fiction infused with enough originality to make it unqiue. It carries a theme that is actually very dear to my heart. The writing is Mieville at his best, and the story itself is very different. I can already tell it isn't to everyone's taste, but I adored it, and eagerly suggest you give it a try.
"Embassytown" is told through the eyes of Immerser Avice Benner Cho. She first chronicles her childhood on the planet Ariekei, giving us glimpses of Mieville's multi-layered world: most children don't grow up with their birth parents. They live in communal homes with multiple parents (much like counselors.) Humans share their world with "exots"--aliens (exoterres). But this isn't some two-dimensional Star Wars or silly Futurama-type melting pot. Exots are screened. With one important exception, exots can only settle on Ariekei if their sociologic and, to an extent, genetic makeup (they must have language, move comfortably in a human-run world, have similar thought processes, et cetera) is similar enough to allow integration with humans.
Humans do not own Ariekei, however. We are settlers, only living on the planet because beings known only as Hosts permit us to.
The Hosts protect themselves. While benevolent, especially toward children, they have a part of the planet only they can enter; humans can't breathe in their area. They circumvent the human similarity, as well (it's their planet, after all.) They speak a language only genetically engineered linguists can comprehend (these people are called Ambassadors.) They are not at all humanoid in appearance; they do not communicate like humans; and their sociologic match-up is questionable at the very best.
However, the human and exot population of Ariekei long struck a balance. They are always problems, but Embassytown is an almost disturbingly cordial society. The Hosts do their best for Ariekei, and the Ambassadors keep the peace and essentially run the society.
But when a new Ambassador arrives, the entire balance is thrown into jeopardy.
Now, the writing in "Embassytown" is fantastic. It does start slowly. There are pages and pages of childhood memories, but that serves two purposes: extensive, and subtle, world-building; and an understanding of a narrator who often takes a back seat to the story to follow.
The writing is lyrical and descriptive. During its leaner moments, Mieville recalls Ray Bradbury (which is only a plus as far as I'm concerned.) Some readers will probably describe it as "long-winded", but I think it matches the story perfectly. The narrative doesn't stop or bog itself down. There is simply a lot to tell, and Mieville tells it all.
The characters weren't as deep as I prefer. But again, this matches the story. While a rather bleak, hard-core science fiction novel, the crux of "Embassytown" is the beauty and power of language. It wasn't a parable, but the theme overtook the plot. At the same time, it doesn't wham you over the head. You're not having "language is a beautiful thing" screamed at you from every page. It is subtle. The story doesn't have a weak spot, and it doesn't stop. I think one of Mieville's greatest achievements is this flawless weaving of a theme and moral into the fabric of a novel.
This novel is, I thought, bleak, if far, far from hopeless. While it starts off comfortably as Avice describes her childhood, "Embassytown" swiftly darkens.
I'll be honest. This is my favorite of China Mieville's books. It is traditional science fiction infused with enough originality to make it unqiue. It carries a theme that is actually very dear to my heart. The writing is Mieville at his best, and the story itself is very different. I can already tell it isn't to everyone's taste, but I adored it, and eagerly suggest you give it a try.
39 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
China Miéville's fertile imagination has always explored the interstices of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but this, his eighth novel, is more strongly tilted toward science fiction than its predecessors. On a planet dominated by aliens whose unique language demands a uniquely specialized form of communication, the isolated human community of Embassytown lives a life of benign neglect, having only occasional contact with the society of which it's a nominal colony and the natives on whom its livelihood depends. When that harmony is shattered by an impossible arrival and an unexpected discovery, Avice Benner Cho, positioned by fate at the nexus of several conflicting agendas, finds herself caught up in the tragic, violent birth of a new order.
Miéville uses theoretical questions about the nature of language as a jumping-off point, but doesn't explore them in any rigorous way; this is not so much a novel of ideas as of images. As ever, the author excels at portraying an urban existence that's alien and yet based in universal aspects of city life. Embassytown is first seen through a child's eyes, as flashbacks detail Avice's early years, the games and myths that spring up in the lives of children surrounded by strangers, whether those strangers belong to a different ethnic group or a different species. No awkward exposition blunts the mystery of Avice's city, and readers not familiar with the immersive quality of novels like this one may find themselves lost. But before too much time passes, Miéville weaves seemingly-disparate threads together into a deeply satisfying moment of revelation. At that point, the novel truly takes off.
In its first half, chapters detailing Avice's complicated history with the different powers of Embassytown alternate with ones set on the evening when everything changes. These overlapping sections are perfectly paced, revealing narrative secrets at a rate that prevents the reader from becoming bored with either plotline or losing sight of the big picture. The science fiction notions that emerge are not particularly novel, but there are enough of them that the combination remains distinctive, and Miéville describes these familiar ideas with flair, finding the awe and terror in what might otherwise be clinical concepts, especially in the later sections, where the flashbacks end and the particular nature of the novel's aliens leads to a truly horrific outbreak of chaos.
The characters of Embassytown often lack individual depth; their histories are unexplored and their motivations treated as unknown and possibly unknowable, while Avice's laconic voice conceals personality rather than revealing it. Frustrating though it can be, this distance lends them a certain strange grandeur, the counter-intuitive dignity of minimalist fiction, and its shortcomings are offset by Miéville's rich rendering of the different factions at work in the life of any city. It's not as simple as humans vs. aliens, colonists vs. homeworlders, or any such binary. Feuds and clashing ideologies of which even the well-connected Avice can have only the dimmest idea drive competing factions, creating an impression of greater complexity than a three hundred fifty-page novel can offer, and there are no easy answers about which groups and actions are morally justified. Likewise, Miéville's robust world-building makes Embassytown feel like a real place, one whose dark nooks and crannies can only be glimpsed on a single visit.
Wars are fought not to preserve the past but to define the future. Miéville understands this, and his novel captures the compromised, compromising life of a city in transition. In spite of the cruelty, fear, loss, and destruction that it describes, Embassytown is first and foremost a portrait of strength and survival, of the adaptations demanded by hardship and the price they bring with them. And, for all its futuristic wonders, it is ultimately a novel about how communication between different cultures produces changes on all sides, and therefore remarkably contemporary. Embassytown excels both as gripping, imaginative science fiction and as a carefully thought out meditation on the nature of cities.
Miéville uses theoretical questions about the nature of language as a jumping-off point, but doesn't explore them in any rigorous way; this is not so much a novel of ideas as of images. As ever, the author excels at portraying an urban existence that's alien and yet based in universal aspects of city life. Embassytown is first seen through a child's eyes, as flashbacks detail Avice's early years, the games and myths that spring up in the lives of children surrounded by strangers, whether those strangers belong to a different ethnic group or a different species. No awkward exposition blunts the mystery of Avice's city, and readers not familiar with the immersive quality of novels like this one may find themselves lost. But before too much time passes, Miéville weaves seemingly-disparate threads together into a deeply satisfying moment of revelation. At that point, the novel truly takes off.
In its first half, chapters detailing Avice's complicated history with the different powers of Embassytown alternate with ones set on the evening when everything changes. These overlapping sections are perfectly paced, revealing narrative secrets at a rate that prevents the reader from becoming bored with either plotline or losing sight of the big picture. The science fiction notions that emerge are not particularly novel, but there are enough of them that the combination remains distinctive, and Miéville describes these familiar ideas with flair, finding the awe and terror in what might otherwise be clinical concepts, especially in the later sections, where the flashbacks end and the particular nature of the novel's aliens leads to a truly horrific outbreak of chaos.
The characters of Embassytown often lack individual depth; their histories are unexplored and their motivations treated as unknown and possibly unknowable, while Avice's laconic voice conceals personality rather than revealing it. Frustrating though it can be, this distance lends them a certain strange grandeur, the counter-intuitive dignity of minimalist fiction, and its shortcomings are offset by Miéville's rich rendering of the different factions at work in the life of any city. It's not as simple as humans vs. aliens, colonists vs. homeworlders, or any such binary. Feuds and clashing ideologies of which even the well-connected Avice can have only the dimmest idea drive competing factions, creating an impression of greater complexity than a three hundred fifty-page novel can offer, and there are no easy answers about which groups and actions are morally justified. Likewise, Miéville's robust world-building makes Embassytown feel like a real place, one whose dark nooks and crannies can only be glimpsed on a single visit.
Wars are fought not to preserve the past but to define the future. Miéville understands this, and his novel captures the compromised, compromising life of a city in transition. In spite of the cruelty, fear, loss, and destruction that it describes, Embassytown is first and foremost a portrait of strength and survival, of the adaptations demanded by hardship and the price they bring with them. And, for all its futuristic wonders, it is ultimately a novel about how communication between different cultures produces changes on all sides, and therefore remarkably contemporary. Embassytown excels both as gripping, imaginative science fiction and as a carefully thought out meditation on the nature of cities.
32 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I read science fiction to be entertained and to stretch my understanding of ideas I might never otherwise consider. Embassytown gave me a huge dose of both. China Mieville wrote a stimulating, entertaining story of the importance of language. He did that by introducing an alien culture totally out of sync with the way in which human beings communicate - even though both species communicate through sound.
The protagonist, Avice, grew up in the one human town - Embassytown - on the alien's planet. The town was an outpost of a human-dominated world and not a large place to live. Mieville does a good job of grounding the reader in the culture of the synergy between humans and aliens by allowing Avice to tell certain important parts of her childhood.
The story begins in a time of rapid and traumatic change that threatens to destroy the aliens' world and Embassytown. The snowballing events pressure breakthroughs that offer changes as devastating as the ones at the beginning of the story.
I had two problems with the advanced proofs that I received for review. (The book is due to be released in May.) First, about 50-to-75 pages near the center of the book slowed down to the point of slogging through mud. (Mieville spends too many pages getting through the times when any action is taking place out of Avice's sight.) Second, one of the subplots that seemed to be important several times in the book - Avice's relationship with Ehrsul - ended strangely, even for sci-fi. Those are the only reasons that I rated the book with four stars instead of five.
With all truly well written science fiction stories, the first reading is for orientation to a new world and to make the paradigm shifts necessary to understanding the plot. The second reading brings out the nuances and the delights of finding all the subtleties the author includes in the book. Embassytown passed the first-reading test with high marks. I anticipate that Embassytown will carry me through the second reading with equal aplomb.
I highly recommend Embassytown.
The protagonist, Avice, grew up in the one human town - Embassytown - on the alien's planet. The town was an outpost of a human-dominated world and not a large place to live. Mieville does a good job of grounding the reader in the culture of the synergy between humans and aliens by allowing Avice to tell certain important parts of her childhood.
The story begins in a time of rapid and traumatic change that threatens to destroy the aliens' world and Embassytown. The snowballing events pressure breakthroughs that offer changes as devastating as the ones at the beginning of the story.
I had two problems with the advanced proofs that I received for review. (The book is due to be released in May.) First, about 50-to-75 pages near the center of the book slowed down to the point of slogging through mud. (Mieville spends too many pages getting through the times when any action is taking place out of Avice's sight.) Second, one of the subplots that seemed to be important several times in the book - Avice's relationship with Ehrsul - ended strangely, even for sci-fi. Those are the only reasons that I rated the book with four stars instead of five.
With all truly well written science fiction stories, the first reading is for orientation to a new world and to make the paradigm shifts necessary to understanding the plot. The second reading brings out the nuances and the delights of finding all the subtleties the author includes in the book. Embassytown passed the first-reading test with high marks. I anticipate that Embassytown will carry me through the second reading with equal aplomb.
I highly recommend Embassytown.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
an author trying to impress himself
the last thing i generally want to be thinking about when reading a book is how brilliant the author is. Read more
Published 8 days ago by schnoidl
Interesting, with some lag in the middle
This is speculative sci-fi focusing on cross-cultural language and societal evolution. The ideas he's playing with are really interesting and quite innovative, world creation is... Read more
Published 10 days ago by Tara Innes
Thought-provoking and highly creative
Having read so much about Embassytown as a "sci-fi novel of ideas," I was skeptical about this book at first, and feared it would be pretentious. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Walker
Totally Brilliant Philosopher
This book is incredible. This deeply insightful study of human morality and language is just brilliant. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Ian Guard
Just plain boring
I can't believe this was listed as one of the best SF books of 2011. I kept reading, thinking it would get more interesting or that there would be a plot twist in there somewhere,... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Patty
Fairly average for Mr Mieville
I've enjoyed essentially all of China Mieville's stuff, but this one only has one idea wedged in the middle of some fairly basic story-telling. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alistair
Inventive but confusing
I liked the premise of this book, it was very imaginative, but it took a long time to figure out what was going on. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Burrows
Ummm, amazing
Once again, China Mieville has done it. His use of analogy and language in describing quantum space is amazing. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ifeoluwapo Eleyinafe
The kind of literature only possible within the genre called "science...
This book is going to kick your ass. Not only is the prose well-crafted and the overall story pretty mindblowing (and truly 'science fictiony'), it drives at issues that just... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Gordon E. Anderson
Very good, but not his best
First off, let me say that I love China Mieville's writing. He might be my favorite active author. Perdido Street Stations single-handedly changed what I expect from a book, and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Christopher Torgersen
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