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Stoatie - t'was called Armada.
I think there's a definite point here - Mieville writes best when he's systematising things - when he's laying out the environment like some deranged and gifted D&D gamesmaster - he's even said as much in this inteview, where he says:
I start with maps, histories, time lines, things like that. I spend a lot of time working on stuff that may or may not actually find its way into the novel, but I know a lot more about the world than makes it into the stories. That’s the “RPG” factor: it’s about systematizing the world.
But though that’s my method, I don’t start with it. I don’t start with a bunch of graph papers and rulers. When I’m writing a book, generally I start with the mood and setting, along with a couple of specific images—things that have come into my head, totally abstracted from any narrative, that I’ve fixated on. After that, I construct a world, or an area, into which that general setting, that atmosphere, and the specific images I’ve focused on can fit. It’s at that stage that the systematization begins for me.
I think that's what is different with IC is that he's forgone a lot of that upfront exploration of the fictional world, to the detriment of the story. Like I said, I'm gonna keep reading before I comment much more here, but as a starting section (maybe a good tenth of the book) it's just too disjointed to make a positive impression for me. |
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