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The Scar
by China Miéville
(Macmillan, £17.99, hardcover, 608 pages, 26 April 2002; ISBN: 0333781740.)
In The Scar, China Miéville returns to the bizarre  world
of Bas-Lag, introduced in his multiple award-wining novel Perdido
Street Station, where humans share dominance of the planet with
the vampiric Brucolac, the plant-like Cactacae, the water-breathing
Cray, and many others. At the heart of Bas-Lag is the city of New Crobuzon,
where criminals are punished by being "Remade," that is, by undergoing
grotesque body modifications at the hands of "chirurgeons."
In the aftermath of the horrific events of the previous book, Bellis
Coldwine flees New Crobuzon, intending to relocate temporarily to a
far colony. The boat on which she travels is hijacked by highly organized
pirates. She is transported to Armada, a utopia she never wanted, where
the political machinations of the megalomaniac Lovers will uncover some
of Bas-Lag's ancient and frightening secrets.
For Tanner Sack, one of the Remade being held prisoner in the bowels
of the ship on the way to a life of slavery in the colonies, the pirates
are liberators. In Armada, he finds a sense of purpose and a dignity
he never thought possible. Working at cross-purposes, he and Bellis
must unite to save from destruction everything they each care for.
The Scar is a baroque and picaresque odyssey, peopled by strange
species and ambiguous characters. Miéville's use of language
is distinguished by a compellingly dissonant marriage of punkish brashness
and ornate neologisms borrowing from other languages and Old English.
Less plot- and character-driven than its predecessor, The Scar
is nevertheless dense with ideas and inventions, unfolding at a pace
that leaves readers in breathless awe, gasping with wonder.
Originally published in The Montreal Gazette,
Saturday, 27 July 2002.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
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