Evidently China Miéville prefers to describe his writing as “weird fiction,” and his third Bas-Lag novel, Iron Council, certainly fulfills that description fully. Interestingly enough, Miéville has created a most provocative reading list: “Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Books that Socialists Should Read.” I am a bad socialist. I have only read eight.
Iron Council tells the tale of a crew of railroad workers laying a track through uncharted territory. When they decide to go on strike, they steal the train, picking up the tracks behind them and coursing through the truly unknown: towards the Stain, a cacotopic zone that distorts reality. Their escape is aided by Judah, a powerful golemecist who is able to make golems out of earth, fire, rock, shadow, and even light.
Meanwhile, back in New Crobuzon, that bizarre cacophony of races and Remade men, rumors abound (as they always do). As it becomes apparent that New Crobuzon is losing a naval battle with the mysterious Tesh, strange and deadly color-absorbing phenomena begin to appear around the city. Government resisters like Ori and his renegade band attempt to intervene, with mixed results.
A shopkeeper named Cutter, devoted to Judah, chases down the self-styled Iron Council – the railroad workers – in order to persuade them to return to New Crobuzon and inspire hope in the oppressed city, despite the militia and other enemies pursuing them. Q: Do they succeed? A: It’s a Miéville book, so not as one might expect.
Note: If you can’t stomach strange violence (i.e. blood golems and characters turning halfway into brick or into amoebas or into colorless flesh puddles), this book may not be for you. Otherwise, relish the strangeness.
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