Review: Three Moments of an Explosion by China Mieville

three moments of an explosion by china mievilleFormat read: ebook provided by the publisher via Edelweiss
Formats available: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: science fiction short stories
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Released: August 4, 2015
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

London awakes one morning to find itself besieged by a sky full of floating icebergs. Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure but violent purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse’s bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?

Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection—many published here for the first time. By turns speculative, satirical, and heart-wrenching, fresh in form and language, and featuring a cast of damaged yet hopeful seekers who come face-to-face with the deep weirdness of the world—and at times the deeper weirdness of themselves—Three Moments of an Explosion is a fitting showcase for one of our most original voices.

My Review:

China Miéville seems to be one of those authors where people who like his writing really, really like it, and people who don’t just don’t. There doesn’t seem to be much of a middle.

After finishing his collection of short stories, Three Moments of an Explosion, I find myself firmly in the latter camp. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried something by him, and my second impression matches the first – “interesting, but not for me.”

I like my stories with a clear beginning, middle and end. However, a lot of the stories in this collection seemed to simply stop, rather than satisfyingly conclude. That’s my interpretation, and your mileage, of course, may vary.

There were also quite a few stories in the collection that felt like horror, some of the Lovecraftian school, and some just plain horror. I very seldom like horror stories, and this was no exception. Creepiness for creepiness’ sake just, well, creeps me out. But also leaves me cold. Sometimes shaking with fear, but mostly cold as to engagement. I don’t warm up to the story.

My favorite story in the collection is the fourth story in. The Dowager of Bees is a story about the inherent magic in cards, card play and card games. It’s part of that satisfaction one feels when the one card in the entire deck comes up, and you win against all odds. It also taps into the wonder of watching someone do complex card tricks excellently. We’ve all handled those pasteboards, how can someone make them dance? But the story involves secret magic, that sometimes, when one is an especially adept player, very special cards appear in the game, and those special cards invoke very special rules that are only available to you while the secret card is in play. It’s also a story about competition, and the desire to win, and oddly enough, love.

One of the horror stories is quietly terrifying in a way that stuck with me. To say I liked it is the wrong phraseology. To say that I’m haunted by it is probably a better match. Säcken is extremely creepy, and creeps along behind you after you finish. A young woman flees something completely “other” that utterly terrifies her, discovers that she can’t flee, and tries to placate it instead. While we all know that was a mistake, it is easy to feel her relief and ultimate terror as she discovers that she has only made things much, much worse. If you think Grimm’s Fairy Tales aren’t nearly Grimm enough, this one’s for you.

There’s a story that is just a bit creepy, but in the thriller type of creepy. It’s also a bit fun and playful. In Dreaded Outcome, we find out just how far some therapists are willing to go in order to help their patients move beyond whatever, or whoever is causing their emotional traumas. If you’ve ever been in therapy, much of the setup will feel familiar. You may also wish that the solutions to your issues could be found in the way that the narrator does.

Escape Rating C+: The few stories I liked, I really liked. The Dowager of Bees is a story that I could see recommending to lots of people looking for a story that might fit into Lev Grossman’s Magicians series or even Harry Potter. The idea that there is magic in the everyday world, but that we don’t run across it except in certain special circumstances.

A lot of SF tropes and themes get played with in this collection. There are several stories that skewer the vicious smallness of academic politics. The academic side is very vicious indeed, but what they are fighting over generally starts out small in these stories, until it becomes bigger and creepier than the reader originally thought.

But in general, there is a lot of very creepy weird in this collection. And it’s just not my cuppa. If it is yours, enjoy.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Guest Review: Railsea

In Railsea by China Miéville, the orphan Sham ap Soorap lives in a tangle, travelling the railsea as doctor’s assistant on the moler Medes.  It’s not a job he’s particularly good at, and it doesn’t help he’s not quite sure what he wants to do with himself.

The railsea on which the train Medes travels is a dangerous place — step off the rails, which cover the dry, soft earth-ocean in a Borgesian labyrinth, and you’ll find that the monsters of the deep are rather too close to the surface either for comfort or surviving the next five minutes.  However, it has its rewards for those who travel the rails, switching their way from line to line in pursuit of salvage, moldywarpes, or philosophies.  You might even find your place in life — or so Sham hopes.

Of course, sometimes you also find something completely unexpected.  One day Sham ends up on a crew sent out by the captain to investigate a wrecked train, and comes across some pictures.  In short order, Sham finds himself in the middle of a pursuit by pirates, naval trains, and subterrains for what lies behind those pictures — a truth that will change the world.

Escape Rating A: As with the rest of Miéville’s oeuvre, Railsea works on many levels.  It’s a rollicking adventure tale worthy of Robert Louis Stevenson, a coming-of-age story, and a treat for those who like wordplay.  For example, at one point the Medes finds itself trapped between a siller and the Kribbis Hole (read it aloud to fully appreciate).  I’m at best a reluctant user of audiobooks — I tend to listen to them only if I’m faced with a very long drive in areas of the country with spotty NPR coverage — but after reading Railsea, I think I’ll be making an exception and also getting the audiobook.

The book is like the railsea itself, a dense knot of intersecting story lines, changes in points of view, and allusions.  The entangling lines of the physical setting matches the complexity of the human setting with its array of diverse island city-states, pirates, salvors, and nomadic Bajjer traveling the lonely sea, to say nothing of the detritus of history and alien influence that litters the world and hints at many untold tales.  The book makes it clear that its pages only scratch the surface of a fascinating milieu.

From this knot emerges a meditation on constraint and searching for freedom.  The railsea cannot be escaped, seemingly — as I mentioned, stray off the narrow (though not very straight) tracks and you’ll quickly find yourself devoured by the denizens of the soft earth.  The high sky is the domain of alien beings too strange and obscure to contemplate.  Travel in one direction, and you’ll eventually find the rails looping back on themselves.  Pursue your obsession, as Ahab did with Moby-Dick, and you’ll find yourself in the midst of dozens of captains, each with their own “philosophy” that few of them manage to hunt down.

There’s a lot to be said for staying in the thicket — there are lots of interesting things to find there, as any reader of Miéville has come to expect.  Once you reach the end, however, you’ll find a rather satisfying breath of fresh air.

What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand? 5-6-12 AKA The Sunday Post

As I looked for a replacement Mailbox meme, I looked long and hard at The Sunday Post. Why? Because I do a Sunday post, it’s this one, my mostly virtual nightstand.

Kimba the Caffeinated Book Lover (and I love that name, BTW) created her meme in part to fill the gap. But The Sunday Post is also intended as a

“chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.”

I use Virtual Nightstand to do the forward looking parts of that. I’ve chosen Stacking the Shelves as a way of handling the Mailbox bits of the mandate. But Virtual Nightstand is my news and upcoming reviews post.

To make a long story short, I’m going to link Virtual Nightstand to The Sunday Post. Anyone who comes here from that link might wonder why they got here. Or hopefully they’ll just jump down to the cover pictures.

What’s up this week?

Monday is Ebook Review Central, of course! This week is Leap Week, so I’ll be covering two new publishers, Red Sage Publishing and Curiosity Quills. They are permanent additions to ERC. For this first round, you’ll see a round up that takes them back to the beginning of ERC and catches them up to everyone else, so September 2011 through March 2012, if they have titles back that far.

Tuesday, May 8, I’m hosting an interview with Lisa Kessler, author of Night Walker, as part of a Bewitching Book Tour to celebrate the re-release of Night Walker in paperback! I’ll also have a review of Night Walker and an entry for several tour-wide giveaways.

Thursday, May 10 Reading Reality will be the host for a guest blog from Kay Dee Royal, promoting her book Staring into the Eyes of Chance. This is also part of a virtual book tour from Bewitching Book Tours. And I will also be posting a review of this shapeshifter/paranormal romance, the first book in Ms. Royal’s new Lycan International Investigation Agency Series.

On my nightstand, there are books I’m reading to prepare for next week. I always look a week ahead so I don’t get too surprised. Also, next week I’ll be traveling again, which does throw things off a bit!

There are only four, so maybe I’ll have a chance to catch up with myself. Probably not. But a girl can dream next to her nightstand, can’t she?

I asked for A Patch of Darkness by Yolanda Sfetsos from Samhain because it sounded like an interesting urban fantasy/paranormal romance. And because some of Ms. Sfetsos’ previous work has been well-reviewed. And because it’s book 1 in a series, so I don’t have to jump into the middle, or read a long backstory. All good things. I’ve averted my eyes from some early reviews.

Railsea by China Miéville is a book that I selected from NetGalley because my husband likes China Miéville’s work. And Galen is supposed to provide a guest review for this one for me.

On May 17 Reading Reality will be hosting a Virtual Book Tour of Bad Girl Lessons by Seraphina Donovan for Book and Trailer Showcase. So, I need to read and review the book before the tour.  This book just sounded like yummy fun. Good girl seeks bad boy to teach her how to have a good time after she gets dumped at the altar. Sex, love and romance ensue.

I have to remind myself that I also have a print ARC of The Mongoliad Book One by Greg and Erik Bear and a host of others on my nightstand. It’s not only a relatively big monster (450 pages), but I owe my editor at Library Journal a review on May 21. This one is sort of looming out there. Like an attacking horde.

So, are there any books on your nightstand that you’re looking forward to? How’s your Sunday treating you? And what do you have planned for your week?