The multi-award-winning China Mieville has been called 'the equal of David Mitch
ell or Zadie Smith' (Scotland on Sunday), a writer whose 'inventiveness and prec
ision is awesome' (Independent), and who writes with 'an imagination of immense
power' (Guardian). In this extraordinary series of stories, glistening icebergs
float above urban horizons; a burning stag runs wild through the city; the ruins
of industry emerge unsteadily from the sea; and the abandoned generations in a
decayed space-elevator look not up at the stars but down at the Earth. Ranging f
rom portraits of childhood to chilling ghost stories, from dystopian visions to
poignant evocations of uncanny love, with beautiful prose and melancholy wit, th
is breath-taking collection poses searching questions of what it is to be human
in an unquiet world.
It is a humane and unsentimental investigation of our so
ciety, our world, and ourselves.
