What I Am Reading - Embassytown

Embassytown

China Mieville

349 pages, read in Hardback

What a pretty little gem.  I have been watching Mieville crank out works for some time but never quiet committed myself to take a dip.  This was first plunge into the pool, but I had not realized that plunging into Mieville meant diving head first into the deep end where the water is frigged cold and salty.

Since Mieville was first published in 1998 he has won a host of awards, most notably the Bram Stoker, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and any other award you could think of for shorts and full lengths.  It shows in Embassytown. 

Embassytown is a colony that exists on a back-water planet called Arakie, home of the Arakien who are also known as Hosts.  The Hosts themselves provide life in the form of breathable air, food, power, buildings, etc.; for humans and other alien species that live in Embassytown.  The town is a blend of human technology and the biotech of the Hosts.  The humans that coexist with the Hosts are only able to speak via Ambassadors who work in pairs to communicate with the Hosts.  The only way a Host recognizes a human is when two speak as one, with one motive or intention which mimic how the Host's speak.  Accurately called the Turn and the Cut.  These Ambassadors commit their life to such dedication as Language is an art of sorts.  For the Hosts, thought is language and they can only speak in truths.  Things start to get mixed up when some of the Hosts begin to learn the foundation of how to lie and a new Ambassador comes to Embassytown.  

Mieville's diction is superb and I found myself frequently having to check or resort to looking up the word to ensure.  Why this normally is something that detracts for me, I instead found it perfect.  The fluid feel and direct meaning that Mieville whishes to convey in each passage require words without sloppy meaning.  As an avid reader, its exhilarating and a joy.  With that said though, I most certainly would not recommend this to casual readers.  Embassytown is complicated in every respect and I think it is easy for a unseasoned reader to get lost.  The descriptions of some things are granular while others are barely glossed over and I found some of the things often glossed over where important to the story.  These are the areas that someone could get lost or even give up in.  So in a way, reader beware. 

I myself greatly enjoyed it and will be reading more from Mieville in the future, hopefully with the same delight and ferocity that I consumed this one with.