The Iron Council

I’m still plodding through the Iron Council. I’m on page 428 – about 140 pages to go.

I have to say that this book is a real dissapointement. I loved Perdido and I adored the Scar (I haven’t read King Rat), but I haven’t found IC as engaging. There are moment of brillinace, bits of the novel that make you go wow… but they’re few and far between.

People who don’t like China, believe he over-writes. Take this review as an example:

http://www.bookslut.com/fiction/2004_07_002789.php

But I never found that a problem in Perdido or Scar. In fact I found the writing to be beautiful and poetic. But IC, for me, is over-written… so many adjectives and long sentences and scenes that seems to drag on.

Also, what I found fantastic about Perdido and The Scar were their strong plots and settings. Aside from being full of wonder and invention, both of them took you on a marvellous journey. IC is trying the same thing with the Perpetual Train, but I think much of that wonder and delight gets caught up in the politics of it all. And I suppose that’s my biggest problem with IC. Not the political stance per se, but how overtly political the book is and how this seems to get in the way of telling a story.

Still, I don’t regret reading IC. I’m a China fan and I will continue to read his stuff. The guys a great writer, a great talent and the world is better off having people like him pushing the boundaries of the genre.