Requst for information

[brixtonbrood]

I'm trying to get up to date with my sf reading and, in particular, cover the Hugo novel shortlist. Having never read any China Mieville, can I just dive in with Iron Council, or should I start with Perdido Street Station, which I happen to own?
Also, if I didn't really like Singularity Sky and find that plots involving closed time-like curves make my head hurt, am I excused from reading Iron Sunrise?

Comments

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Having never read any China Mieville, can I just dive in with Iron Council, or should I start with Perdido Street Station, which I happen to own?

Opinions vary. I did just that; I don't think I missed much, but I still haven't read Perdido (or indeed The Scar), so I'm not the best judge.

Also, if I didn't really like Singularity Sky and find that plots involving closed time-like curves make my head hurt, am I excused from reading Iron Sunrise?

You can be excused on the grounds that they're both pretty poor, if you like. Well, ok, Iron Sunrise is a bit better than Singularity Sky but it's still clearly the weakest on the shortlist, IMO. And neither is a patch on The Atrocity Archives or Accelerando.

The book on the shortlist that you must must must read, though, is River of Gods by Ian McDonald. But you may have picked that up already. :)

[sparkymark.livejournal.com]

http://books.slashdot.org/books/05/04/27/2051204.shtml?tid=214&tid=6

Extensive discussion of whether someone was wasting their time reviewing IC without having read PSS or TS.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

For what little it's worth, I abandoned PSS having seen Mieville on the TV doing the 'my teachers said that SF isn't real literature but it is, so there' shtick which was tired 25 years ago, on the grounds that reading a mediocre novel is one thing, reading a mediocre novel by a jerk quite another.
What I did read of it was deeply unimpressive, obviously he was aiming at more but the big city full of aliens thing came over to me as being Lord Valentine's Castle warmed over.