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The Scar

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The Scar

Written by: China Miéville
Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
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About this listen

 A mythmaker of the highest order, China Miéville has emblazoned the fantasy novel with fresh language, startling images, and stunning originality. Set in the same sprawling world of Miéville’s Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, Perdido Street Station, this latest epic introduces a whole new cast of intriguing characters and dazzling creations.

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 New Crobuzon. But the journey is not theirs alone. They are joined by a handful of travelers, each with a reason for fleeing the city. Among them is Bellis Coldwine, a renowned linguist whose services as an interpreter grant her passage—and escape from horrific punishment. For she is linked to Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, the brilliant renegade scientist who has unwittingly unleashed a nightmare upon New Crobuzon.

For Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. But when the ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are summarily executed. 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. On Armada, everyone is given work, and even Remades live as equals to humans, Cactae, and Cray. Yet no one may ever leave.

Lonely and embittered in her captivity, Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence. Instead, she must furtively seek information about Armada’s agenda. The answer lies in the dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters—terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission. . . .

China Miéville is a writer for a new era—and The Scar is a luminous, brilliantly imagined novel that is nothing short of spectacular. Adventure Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction
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Another phenomenal book from the peerless China Miéville. If you’re a fan of his other works, you can’t go wrong by adding this twisting naval narrative to your library. Miéville demonstrates his mastery of the craft by plunging us into the bizarre world of Bas Lag where the only thing more terrifying than the inscrutable monsters that lurk around every corner are the immense institutions whose weight is felt pressing down upon our protagonists, informing their every decision.

The scar is a story about three people ripped from their old lives by a twist and fate and press-ganged into becoming citizens of the floating pirate city of Armada. Here they are transformed - both physically and mentally - as they adapt to their new lives, ascending to new heights and stooping to lows along the way.

A socially conscious steam-punk Moby Dick

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what a journey! great narration. I've always enjoyed China Miéville's work. This did not disappoint

An intoxicating strange fiction building slowly but finishing well

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China Mieville is one of my favourite authors. His brain is so unusual and the stories he creates are utterly singular. The Scar takes place in a fully realized world that is part steam punk part Star Wars and mieville’s descriptions are so vivid it’s like you’re there. The story is quite long and descriptive paragraphs can go on a bit, but are necessary as there is no short hand for this world that is so unlike our own. Characters are fully realized, the action is always moving. I highly recommend this book and his book “the city and the city” another brilliant offering. Mieville does have some favourite words in this book, though. I'm wondering if this was an editing choice or if it just slipped through. I think the word "stupid" must appear at least 50 times in the book.

Amazing and unusual story

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This fell short of its predecessor, Perdido Station. The main character isn’t well flushed out, she was both aware and unaware of what was unfolding around her and still her actions felt forced. Character growth is expected but she had no real foundation. You had other supporting characters that had more depth and were far more intriguing. The story had lots of twists but again very hard to follow with such a wayward main character that is so mute it goes against the definition of a protagonist. To make matters worse, the performance of the narrator was torture. He is so monotone and so robotic throughout the narration-it took me longer to finish the story than usual. The narrator in the Perdido novel had far better delivery with a great tone and rhythm. This narrator felt like he was trying to orate as someone else to the point where I thought it was AI. It has put me off reading the next book as well any other books narrated by G Jackson.

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