Miéville’s creativity is insane. It’s like he took the Dungeons and Dragons manual, placed it in a steampunk dystopia, mixed it up, and gazed on it through Marxist eyes. The world here is something else.

The pacing, on the other hand, is something that I had a rough time with. The first act was slow as a snail, the second act went at lightning speed, then in the third act he gradually hit the brakes. I think that there’s some truth in the idea that Miéville either is bad at writing endings. But, there’s an alternative explanation: they aren’t so important to him. The story stands well on its own without being tied up in any way, it just makes it really hard to draw conclusions.

The interstitial sections from Yagharek’s perspective in between parts had some of the most beautiful writing, and the Weaver is such a memorable character. I love it so much.