Anyway, this is all a preamble to the fact that I'm not an unbiased reviewer. I knew I was going to buy Embassytown as soon as I heard about it, and I bought it as soon as it came out, and I started reading it right away. Then I got so sucked in that I took it with me on a weekend trip to take workshops with my belly dance idol... and almost felt upset that I had to put the book down to go dance. Yeah, it's that good.

But enough gushing, on with the review. In Embassytown, Miéville departs from his usual New Weird genre and decides to give good old fashioned sci-fi a try. But don't let that trick you into thinking that this won't be a bizarre story. It's just as satisfyingly strange as everything else that he writes, but instead of weird fantasy races, there's weird alien races, and instead of unusual magic, there's unusual technology.

The story starts off slow, alternating between current (for the story) events and Avice the narrator's past, setting the stage and dropping hints that something is about to happen. What does happen is a bit of a surprise and it sets off an ever-worsening chain of events that Avice finds herself dragged into against her better judgment.

Although the story relies on being set in an isolated colony world, and revolves around the idiosyncrasies of a specific alien race, it's not a big space adventure. The themes are society and language and politics and diplomacy and such, though there are a few action scenes to spice things up.

If it seems like I'm being vague, it's because I am. I've developed this obsession with knowing as little as possible about a book that I know I want to read before I read it. I'm tired of reviews and back-of-the-book blurbs that provide spoilers or misinformation or their own interpretation that I might not agree with. I want to be surprised by every turn that the plot takes. I want to figure out on my own who the important characters are. It feels more organic that way. And I want you, the reader, to have that chance, too. Unless I hate a book, of course. Then I'll tell you just how much it sucks.

If you already like Miéville, or if you've heard about him and want to give him a try, you should do yourself a favor and read Embassytown. Then you can join me in waiting for next summer, and his next book. But don't worry, I'll be here every month with something else for you to read while you wait.