All three volumes of The Bas-Lag Trilogy are available in both eBook and audiobook format on Amazon, Overdrive, Barnes & Noble and Apple Books.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
The problem with amazingly written world-building is that it’s hard to describe succinctly without make it sound derivative, generic, or completely idiotic. Bas-Lag, the fictional world where China Miéville set three loosely-connected novels, could be technically classified as fantasy, with elements that could be labeled as Steampunk or Lovecraftian. If all that sounds appealing, great! Keep reading! If that sounds generic and forgettable… Well, you keep reading too.
Binge It! The Outsider Is a Supernatural Crime Drama Aimed at Stephen King Fans
The first book, Perdido Street Station, takes place in New Crobuzon, a city that’s a bit like London, except that in addition to humans, it’s also populated by cactus-people, water goblins, and humanoid insect-women who only communicate via mandible sign-language and pheromones. New Crobuzon is ruled by a ruthless fascist government, there are airships and monorails everywhere, and the whole city is built underneath the towering skeletal remains of some gigantic extinct animal. Also, magic is real, but most people don’t really bother with it because it’s sort of a pain in the ass to do.
Still not onboard? Bear with me.
What is Perdido Street Station actually about? It follows the rogue experiments and misadventures of a scientist named Isaac, his girlfriend Lin, who has a giant scarab beetle for a head and makes art by eating colored chalk and sculpting her own vomit, and a mysterious stranger who is a seven-foot-tall talking bird with limited social skills. Oh, and there’s something extremely horrible on the loose, terrorizing everyone.
Also, it’s extremely violent, gross, trippy, and occasionally flat-out horny. China Miéville’s writing is often classified as “weird fiction,” and when you dig into it a little bit, it’s not hard to see why. It’s not quite science fiction, it’s not quite fantasy, but it’s definitely weird.
Perdido Street Station plays out like a Dungeons and Dragons campaign run by a totally unhinged but imaginative DM. It’s a meandering horror-flavored adventure story that introduces a nasty, brutal, disgusting, yet surprisingly enticing world you’ll want to continue exploring. And, luckily, there are two more novels in which you can do just that.
The Scar is technically a sequel to Perdido Street Station, though it can probably be read on its own. While Perdido Street Station focused on the seedy alleyways and grimy corners of New Crobuzon, The Scar sets sail on the high seas of Bas-Lag, introducing a rogues’ gallery of sordid characters, a menagerie of horrifying creatures, and some of the most vivid imagery I’ve ever encountered in fiction. The Scar is hands-down my favorite book I read last year.
If Perdido Street Station is an inner-city dark fantasy Steampunk horror novel, and The Scar is a nautical Lovecraftian pirate adventure novel, then Iron Council is a magical socialist pansexual Cowboy epic of Biblical proportions. And yes, I realize how stupid and/or completely bonkers that all sounds, but I swear, it works way better than it has any right to.
While The Scar can be read on its own, Iron Council feels like a true sequel to Perdido Street Station, and a triumphant victory lap that brings the series full circle. The first two novels meander a bit but they’re fairly straightforward stories; Iron Council is noticeably more ambitious in scale, and it’s readily apparent how much Miéville has grown as a writer.
The world China Miéville created in these three novels is on par with the one William Gibson created for Neuromancer, or the one that I was sucked into as a kid reading the Harry Potter series, and in an odd way, it feels like an intersection of the two. It’s the kind of world-building that puts just as much emphasis on a thousand years of fictional history for an imaginary civilization as it does the mundane objects that a character has scattered on their kitchen counter.
If you’re looking for a weird, new place to get lost, pay a visit to Bas-Lag. Sorry about the mess, remember to wash your hands.
More From Binge It!…
- Netflix’s Voltron Is a Surprisingly Complicated Update of the Classic Cartoon
- Letterkenny Is the Smartest Small-Town Comedy Ever
- James Acaster’s Repertoire Is a Meta Stand-Up Absurdity Loop
- Netflix’s The Letter for the King Is YA Game of Thrones, and It’s Great
- The Outsider Is a Supernatural Crime Drama That Should Please Stephen King Fans
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Binge It! is IGN’s recommendation series. Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music… if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about — and why you should check it out.
Source: IGN.com Binge It! The Gross, Horrifying, Weird World of China Miéville's Bas-Lag Trilogy