Its substance was known to me. The crawling infinity of colours, the chaos of textures that went into each strand of that eternally complex tapestry…each one resonated under the step of the dancing mad god, vibrating and sending little echoes of bravery, or hunger, or architecture, or argument, or cabbage or murder or concrete across the aether. The weft of starlings’ motivations connected to the thick, sticky strand of a young thief’s laugh. The fibres stretched taut and glued themselves solidly to a third line, its silk made from the angles of seven flying buttresses to a cathedral roof. The plait disappeared into the enormity of possible spaces.

Any time you ask about modern ‘weird fiction’ / weird ecologies / weird cities. China Miéville and Perdido Street Station almost always come up. Turns out… that’s for a good reason. Why in the world did I take so long to read this book?

Overall, this book really shines when it comes to weird¹ worldbuilding. Half-bird, half-human creature? Not that weird. Half-bug creatures? Where the women have a scarab beetle instead of ahead and the males are non-sapient grubs? Weird. Frog people? Re-animates and constructs? Plant people? All living together in a grimy steam-powered, airship and tech and magic driven mess of a metropolis?

Weird¹.

And wonderful.

Overall, this was exactly the sort of book that I love and I’m glad to see there are other books in the same world, if not with the same characters. I want more!

Conversely, if you’re not into weird fiction, more than a touch of body horror, or a book where everyone necessarily get a happy ending (or even survive the story)… maybe skip this one. It’s dark. And that’s sort of the point.

Side note: I listened to this on audiobook and I loved the narration. Perhaps my favorite thing? Whenever the narrator said Issac’s full name. Grimnebulin! 😄

Art is something you choose to make… it’s a bringing together of… of everything around you into something that makes you more human, more khepri, whatever. More of a person.

Characterwise, I really like the character of Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin… even though I don’t know if I’d actually like him as a person. A mad scientist type with a weird (I know) romance plot? Let’s do it.

Yagharek gives us a few into the bird-man garuda parts of the city and Lin into the bug faced khepri, both interesting both for their worldbuilding and giving us a glimpse into ‘alien’ that I think was done well.

The more minor characters just get weirder from there, especially when you get to ones like Mr. Motley, the Construct Council, and the Weaver².

Weird¹.

Plotwise, it’s a bit weaker. There is a plot, even if it’s not at all what you’d expect until say, halfway through. That’s about when shit³ really hits the fan. Definitely a slow burn (the book is 700 pages / 30 hours long)… but I think still worth it.

The writing… is perhaps overdone. I can definitely see where some people would be put off by this alone. Personally, I loved it.

Overall, it’s the sort of book I wish I’d read sooner. But as they say, the second best time to plant a tree is right now.

Onward!