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Perdido Street Station: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:perdido_street_station_american_cover.jpg|frame]]▼
| title = Perdido Street Station
| caption =
| author = China Miéville
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = A scientist named Isaac van der Grimnebulin is commissioned by the wingless Garuda, Yagharek, to find a way to enable him to fly again. In Isaac's search for an solution, he unwittingly releases a monster in the city of New Crobuzon.
| genre =
| franchise = Bas-Lag Cycle
| followed by = The Scar
| publication date = 2000
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
In the city of New Crobuzon, rogue scientist Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin is commissioned by a wingless bird-man to return his ability to fly. Isaac's artist girlfriend Lin, who has a beetle for a head, is commissioned by a crime lord to create a very special sculpture. Naturally, it all goes to hell.
[[China Mieville]]'s sprawling monster-hunt, followed by related works ''[[The Scar]]'' and ''[[Iron Council]]'' (different stories set in the [[Bas-Lag Cycle|same world]]) gave a name to the [[New Weird]] movement and provided a counterpoint to the long, dreary march of Tolkien rip-offs. They're also excellent examples of [[Steampunk]].
Compare [[Kraken (novel)|Kraken]], by the same author.
{{tropelist}}
* [[
* [[Alien Sky]]: It is mentioned that the moon has two 'daughters' orbiting it.
* [[Badass]]: Yagharek and Jack Half-a-Prayer fit the bill in the more classic sense of the term, though Isaac and Derkhan's sheer bravery despite possessing no combat training definitely qualify them too.
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* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Isaac, overlapping with [[Genius Bruiser]].
* {{spoiler|[[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]}}: A large part of the reason [[Diabolus Ex Machina]] is summoned.
* [[Bury Your Gays]]: Oddly averted. In books where being a named character and being sympathetic/a decent human being is usually a recipe for death, and the named-protagonist body count runs into the double digits, {{spoiler|Derkhan}} manages to make it out mostly in one piece. [[Heroic BSOD|Key word here being mostly]].
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: {{spoiler|Toro}} is mentioned (though not by name) before {{spoiler|she}} becomes important.
** Also, in the first book they mention that the Ambassador from {{spoiler|Tesh}} is a {{spoiler|vagabond}} by custom, and in the last book this is important as the villain and source of impending arcane doom is {{spoiler|Spiral Jacobs, the vagabond}}.
* [[The Dandy]]: Lemuel Pidgeon.
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* [[Fridge Horror]]: Throughout ''Perdido Street Station'', there are snippets of reports of an eye-snatching serial killer dumping eyeless victims all over the city. [[Crusading Editor|Ben Flexible]] gets snatched by New Crobuzon's militia {{spoiler|tortured for information, and is later found, dead and eyeless, in the river.}} A few chapters later, [[Complete Monster|Mayor Rudgutter]] mentions that his eyes are failing. {{spoiler|He'll have to get another pair...}}
* [[Giant Spider]]: The Weaver.
* [[Handicapped Badass]]: Jack Half-a-Prayer, the one-man [[La Résistance]] who has been Remade with a giant Praying Mantis arm.
* [[Helping Hands]]: The Handlingers.
* [[Humongous Mecha]]: {{spoiler|the Construct Council.}}
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* [[Interspecies Romance]] (Isaac and Lin)
* [[La Résistance]] (Runagate Rampant)
* [[Late to
* [[Machine Worship]]: The Godmech cogs. The trope is played for comedy at first when [[Scary Black Man|Isaac]] frightens off a Godmech Cog, and played straight {{spoiler|when the [[Humongous Mecha|Construct Council]] shows up.}}
* [[Malignant Plot Tumor]] - The {{spoiler|slake-moths}}.
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* [[Shout-Out]] (The rampage of the five Rorschach-winged dream-eaters is referred to variously as the Dream Curse, the Midsummer Nightmare, and Nocturne Syndrome, all references to [[The Sandman]])
** The professional adventurers are described as "grave-robbers" and only in it for "gold and experience."
* [[Stout Strength]]: Strangely inverted-Isaac vomits after [[Le Parkour|enough rooftop-hopping]] and gets winded after climbing up a flight of stairs, but he is very capable of punching Lucky Gazid across a room.
* [[
* [[Take That]] (The book includes a good-natured jab at the typical role-playing-game adventuring party, who are looked upon by the thoroughly urban protagonists as a bunch of psychotic tomb-robbers)
{{quote|Derkham: "Anything for gold and experience."}}
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{{reflist}}
{{Arthur C. Clarke Award}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Nebula Award]]
[[Category:World Fantasy Award]]
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[[Category:New Weird]]
[[Category:Hugo Award]]
[[Category:Arthur C. Clarke Award]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]
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