His sisters

Iron Council by China Miéville

I've read Miéville's previous three novels with awe. Perdido Street Station was amazing, The Scar even better. King Rat, when I finally found somewhere that sold it, wasn't quite as good, but for a debut novel was pretty impressive. When I got hold of my signed edition of IC, I was fairly excited. When I started hearing negative reviews of the book -- stories of buck-tossing from people at the 'shop -- I ignored or dismissed them. His work's been getting better and better, and even if it isn't better than The Scar, it'll still be great.

Firstly, I realise that last statement displays an incredible amount of naivety, for which I should probably be beaten about the head with my copy of IC. I should stop thinking like this as soon as possible. Great authors can produce doorstops. Hell, look at Stephen King, who remains one of my favourite authors yet wrote the book about the shit-weasels and From a Buick 8.

Secondly, in this instance, that last statement about Miéville is almost true. Sure, IC has its flaws, but it is a good book. The story is unbalanced, Ori's story ends disappointingly, and whilst the middle section is brilliantly written, Miéville's decision to include such a long flash back may disappoint some people. I've heard some complaints about the number of battles in this piece, as the peoples of the Iron Council and the Collective go up against the militia time and time again, but when they're written so well, I find it hard to see as a bad thing. Some of the new creatures and magics we're introduced to in this book -- the stiltspear, the golems, the alien attacks of the Teshi -- I found intriguing and marvelled at the author's imagination and the way he's tied it all together.

All in all, a really good book, just not as good as PSS or The Scar.