Perdido Street Station
Cover of first UK edition
Author	China Miéville
Illustrator	Edward Miller
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Bas-Lag novels
Genre(s)	Speculative fiction
Publisher	Macmillan
Publication date	2000
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	710 pp
ISBN	0-333-78172-4
OCLC Number	42912755
Preceded by	King Rat
Followed by	The Scar

Perdido Street Station is the second published novel by China Miéville, and the first in a series that is set in the fictional world of Bas-Lag, a world where both magic (referred to as 'thaumaturgy') and steampunk technology exist. Perdido Street Station is set in Bas-Lag's large city-state of New Crobuzon.

The novel was nominated for the 2002 Nebula Award for Best Novel and Hugo Award for Best Novel.^[1][2] It won the British Fantasy Society's August Derleth Award in 2000,^[3] the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2001,^[4] the Premio Ignotus Award in 2002,^[5] and the Kurd Laßwitz Award in 2003.^[6] It also won the Amazon.com Editors' Choice Award in Fantasy in 2001.^[7] In May 2009, it was made available as an audiobook from Random House.^[8]

[edit] Plot

In an interview, Miéville described this book as "basically a secondary world fantasy with Victorian era technology. So rather than being a feudal world, it's an early industrial capitalist world of a fairly grubby, police statey kind!" ^[9]

Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is an eccentric scientist living in the city of New Crobuzon with his Khepri girlfriend Lin. While Lin, an artist, is commissioned to create a sculpture of mob boss Mr. Motley, Isaac is offered a unique challenge. He is approached by the garuda Yagharek, who asks for the restoration of his wings which were cut off by his tribe as punishment for a crime that he claims has no human equivalent. Isaac is sparked by the seemingly impossible nature of the task, and gathers all manners of flying beasts to study in his lab - including a multicolored, unidentifiable larva gathered through illicit means. Once Isaac learns that the caterpillar only eats a hallucinogenic drug called "dreamshit", he begins to feed it, unwittingly stimulating its metamorphosis into an incredibly dangerous, hypnotic and monstrously large butterfly-like insect, a slake-moth, that feeds off the dreams of sentient beings, leaving them as catatonic vegetables. Later, it is revealed that dreamshit is in fact the "milk" of a fully-grown dream slake-moth, and that four other such creatures have been sold to Mr. Motley, a hideously Remade crime boss, and "milked" to produce the drug. When the fifth larva transforms and escapes, it frees its brethren, and together they plague the citizens of New Crobuzon until Isaac can find a way to stop them.

[edit] Characters

• Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, a human scientist, dabbling in all fields but obsessed with his pet theory of "crisis energy". Lover to Lin, and close friends with Derkhan Blueday.
• Yagharek, an exiled and de-winged Garuda from the Cymek Desert, far south of New Crobuzon. He comes to Isaac in order to have his flight restored, no matter how (nor the cost).
• Lin, Isaac's lover, and a Khepri artist who is commissioned by the gangster Mr. Motley to create a sculpture in his form.
• Derkhan Blueday, a middle-aged lesbian and seditionist, co-editor of the Runagate Rampant (an underground newspaper).
• Lemuel Pigeon, Isaac's contact with New Crobuzon's criminal underworld.
• Mr. Motley, New Crobuzon's most feared ganglord, who runs a dreamshit harvesting operation, among many other nefarious activities. He presumably originated as a human but has altered his body many times through remaking, into an amorphous collection of body parts and appendages.
• Mayor Bentham Rudgutter, the corrupt mayor of New Crobuzon who bargains deals with crime syndicates and demons alike.
• MontJohn Rescue, an ambassador of the feared handlingers (powerful parasites who take over other species as hosts), working for the mayor.
• Teafortwo, a dim-witted and friendly Wyrman who runs small favours for Isaac.
• Construct Council, a hive-minded artificial intelligence formed in the city's rubbish dump. It controls many Constructs (simplistic robots originally engineered for janitorial and other purposes) in New Crobuzon.
• The Weaver, a multi-dimensional being in the form of a giant spider, who speaks in a never-ending torrent of free-verse poetry.

[edit] See also

Speculative fiction portal

• Races of Bas-Lag

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Free download at Suvudu
• Perdido Street Station publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Audio review and discussion of Perdido Street Station at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
• Runagate Rampant: Perdido Street Station description, list of awards, publication history, and annotations.
• Perdido Street Station at Worlds Without End