Embassytown

A very thoughtful book about language and how aliens' language might be so truly alien from our own that we can't even begin to understand it.

Embassytown is a trading outpost on the world of the Ariekei (also known as The Hosts). The world is very foreign, but the Hosts have allowed the establishment of the town and attempts at communication and trade. The Ariekei language is impossible for normal humans to speak at all, however; their language must be spoken by two simultaneous voices and one single mind, all three working together to deliver the same message. As a result, only very specially trained sets of identical twins have been able to converse, and only very carefully. Also as a result, lying or even hypothetical imaginings are impossible among the Ariekei; they rely on examples as they can only refer to literal truths, and need to actually create real examples of a concept before they can understand and refer to it thereafter. Protagonist human Avice Benner Cho is an example of one of these living similes; as a child she performed a role in a scenario and is henceforth referred to by the Ariekei as "There was a girl who was hurt in darkness and ate what was given her."

As an adult, she returns to her home world again and encounters other living similes, as well as discovering some unsettling truths about the sacrifices that twin sets go through to qualify to be translators. But when a translator unintentionally exposes the Ariekei to a lie, something they are psychologically and physiologically incapable of comprehending, the impact changes them irrevocably, throwing the entire world into chaos. Avice is for the most part a fairly neutral protagonist, mainly existing to give us the human viewpoint and background of the story, but towards the end even she gets wrapped up in the chaos that follows.

It's not necessarily an easy book to read, like most of Miéville's writing it requires some deep thinking about unusual concepts. Probably not the best Miéville book to start with, but interesting as always.

I've said it before (admittedly, after having read only one of his books), and I'll say it again (now that I've read two): China Miéville is a master of gradually and surreptitiously introducing the reader to a new world, so that they don't notice the transition from not knowing about this world, to being immersed and engaged in its history.

Embassytown has a few parts, and in each one we see either a completely separate part of its unique world, or a completely new era of one we already know.

Language (sic) is used in such a way that the entire text feels otherworldly. This is achieved by carefully picked obscure words, the author's own neologisms, and a certain atmosphere and style that the author manages to imbue the text with. This is combined with passing references to varied cultures of a future human race that has expanded to many planets and has created different states. These references paint a picture of that future that is not exhaustive, but it is complete enough to be plausible and interesting.

The world itself is very rich in imaginative constructs. The author gives the impression that this is all effortless for him. Where one of these constructs would be enough to build an entire book on, he dedicates a section of the book to one construct, and then moves on to a new one on the next section, whereby the reader realizes the previous construct was expounded as background.

Finally, the plot manages to be grand, meaningful, plausible and explore wonderfully themes like language, truth, the potential otherness of alien beings, and politics.

All in all, this book only cements my love for the author. Even so early in my reading his works, I feel he will be one of my favourites.

China Mieville does it again: an excellent book! This may be the best I've read from him yet (or best ever), though at the moment I can't decide if I like it more than [b:The City & The City|4703581|The City and the City|China Miéville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320475957s/4703581.jpg|4767909].
The first ~third of the book is absolutely awesome. It's classic sci-fi like something you would expect from Asimov or Clarke.
The next ~third drags a bit, but only because the focus shifts a bit from being about the concepts to being about the plot/characters.
The final ~third is great and shines new light on that middle third that makes it quite exciting.
The ending is quite satisfying and the story overall doesn't feel as dark as some of his other works (I'm looking at you, [b:Perdido Street Station|68494|Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1)|China Miéville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891688s/68494.jpg|3221410]).
I love the way he expresses the Hosts' Language. It looks easy to pronounce, but is, in fact, impossible to do so- a truly alien way of speaking.
My only regret is that we didn't see more of the immer. I would love to read other books set in this universe.

I would recommend this book to fans of aliens, space travel, language, and/or sociology/politics. I would not be surprised to see this book nominated for (and winning) awards this year.

Update (4/19/12): after the Hugo nomination I decided to re-read the book. Here are my thoughts: strakul.blogspot.com/2012/04/book-review-embassytown-by-china.html

It takes a while to sink into this, to stop being vaguely confused and no longer need to reread sentences to see if you missed some context that would make sense of the whole thing. Similar to Gene Wolfe's SF, Miéville just throws the reader into the middle of this world and leaves them to muddle things out. Which on the one hand, sort of makes sense... Though on the other hand, not, because it leaves me to wonder who the narrator's intended audience is. Other Embassytowners? Off-worlders? Is it a private journal?

Otherwise, this is a brilliant book, exploring the role of language and figure of speech in psychology, and speculating on the role it might play in the lives and interactions of extraterrestrial sentient species.
The characters, even the only briefy-mentioned or wholly alien, are extremely well-fleshed, interesting, relateable. I got teary during a certain speech at the end of the book, not going to lie. (pun intended?)