Author(s): China Mieville

Novel | Dystopia, Science Fiction and Fantasy | Read our reviews!

An enthralling novel from the award-winning author of Kraken and The City & The City.

Embassytown: A city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe. Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts - who cannot lie. Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes. Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts. And that is impossible.

Review: This is one of the most memorable novels I have read about language and alienation. Mieville lands you in a place so foreign, with intelligent species. He provides a space that is unhinging to one's psyche, but endlessly fascinating. Be immersed in this planet beyond the uiniverse as we know it and allow your perspective to be altered by this ever-intriguing investigation into the possibilities of language and communication, and the shortcomings of our human experience.  - Stella

-------------------------------------PRAISE FOR CHINA MIEVILLE "[Mieville s] wit dazzles, his humour is lively, and the pure vitality of his imagination is astonishing." Ursula K. Le Guin, The Guardian (on Three Moments of an Explosion) "Dark and thought-provoking." The San Diego Union-Tribune (on The City & The City) "Mieville more than delivers." San Francisco Chronicle (on Kraken) "Compulsively readable." The Washington Post Book World (on Perdido Street Station)

Prizes: Winner of Locus Award Best Science Fiction Novel 2012 (UK). Short-listed for Nebula Award Best Novel 2012 (UK) and The Arthur C. Clarke Award 2012 (UK) and The Kitschies Red Tentacle Award for Best Novel 2012 (UK) and BSFA Award for Best Novel 2012 (UK) and Hugo Award For Best Novel 2012 (United States).