Violence, racism and acts of terror flourish in the streets of New Crobuzon. The only hope is the Iron Council, abused railworkers who have stolen a train and are headed off into the unknown, destroying the tracks behind them.
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Publishers Weekly
Full of warped and memorable characters, this violent and intensely political novel smoothly combines elements of fantasy, science fiction, horror, even the western.
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Outstanding
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Washington Post Michael Dirda
In myriad ways, China Mieville's New Crobuzon is an unweeded garden of unearthly delights, and Iron Council a work of both passionate conviction and the highest artistry.
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Favorable
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Library Journal Jackie Cassada
In his hardcover debut, the award-winning author of Perdido Street Station assaults the reader's senses with a cornucopia of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes, bringing his brilliantly imagined world to life. [July 2004, p. 75]
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Favorable
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The Guardian Steven Poole
Fantasy fiction is usually fabulously conservative, and Iron Council - with its implicit trade unionism, as well as the fact that many characters are casually bisexual - stands as a rebuke to the genre's medieval politics.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Book Review Gerald Jonas
[A] challenging but deeply rewarding novel.
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Favorable
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Village Voice John Giuffo
Iron Council challenges, and in some very uncomfortable ways, comments on this reality we'd all occasionally like to escape.
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Favorable
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Booklist Ray Olson
[Mieville's] verbal and imaginative largesse may throw some readers while utterly engrossing others. No doubt about it, he's an original. [1 June 2004, p. 1670]
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Ruth Killick
This is a powerful, intelligent novel. As the Iron Councillors would say: long live.
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Mixed
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Kirkus Reviews
Prodigiously inventive -- Mieville dreams up and throws away more astonishing ideas in a paragraph than most writers manage in a lifetime -- but bogged down with sheer tonnage; the hardworking experimental prose doesn't help.
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Mixed
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Flak
Mieville's phantasmagoric story is eclipsed by a glut of flawed heroes and an invented vernacular that impedes its own progress.
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