By: Ariele Purves, SFU Student
An ocean of soil, inhabited by mammoth creatures. A vanished squid in formaldehyde. A man in a bottle. Aliens driven mad by miscommunication. The end of the world.
Sitting in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea, I enjoy losing myself in China Miéville’s peculiar writing. The British author’s novels swoop through inventive stories with bizarre characters, their style utterly captivating! I have read three of his books so far, each one drawing me into their web, and plan to read many more.
Railsea (2012)
I first encountered Miéville’s work in 2024 while searching for a new audiobook. The synopsis of Railsea hooked me instantly. A retelling of Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick, authored by someone with a nearly identical surname? It seemed like a strange coincidence. Like Melville’s original tale, Railsea follows the hunt for a majestic white beast, but with several fantastical changes: a great white mole tunnels through the earth beneath the railsea, a vast network of winding train tracks. A surprising discovery made by the protagonist Sham, working aboard a moletrain, sets off a hunt to determine the nature of the railsea. Is it truly infinite? I especially liked the setting’s creativity and delighted in the descriptions of riding the rails, imagining giant creatures breaching the earth like whales in the ocean.
Kraken (2010)
Reading Railsea set me on a journey to discover Miéville’s other books. I chose Kraken next, a mystery of supernatural occurrences beginning with the disappearance of a preserved giant squid from the museum where Billy works. He is quickly trapped in an unfamiliar world; a conspiracy of a squid-worshipping cult, paranormal police, and inhuman beings, all with conflicting goals for the specimen. Billy learns to navigate the horrors around him, aided by a cultist, an ancient Egyptian spirit who flits between statues, and an ordinary woman. I really loved the character interactions and found the plot so compelling that I reread it this summer — a rare thing for me!
Embassytown (2011)
Most recently, I picked up Embassytown. The story follows Avice Benner Cho, a human raised in the furthest outpost in the known universe. Two distinct societies share the planet; the humans in Embassytown and the Ariekei who speak “Language,” each entity speaking with two voices simultaneously. Despite humans knowing how to interpret and replicate “Language,” the Ariekei cannot understand them. When a grave miscommunication endangers their coexistence, Cho undergoes a barrier-breaking journey to save life as she knows it. This book spoke to my interest in languages and how societies relate to each other, because of the unique challenges faced by the world’s characters. Besides, science fiction is my favourite, and Miéville’s particular take on it is unlike anything I have read before!
Miéville excels at unexpected imagery and is a delightful author for anyone seeking an extraordinary story. His writing is eccentric and meandering, using neologisms (invented words) for the new ideas introduced, winding towards unexpected conclusions. Consider one of these reads if you appreciate innovative, abstract concepts woven together into compelling and satisfying tales.
