Author: China Mieville

ISBN: 0345443020

The following review was contrbuted by: Paul Lappen: CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews

New Crobuzon is a sprawling city, that is also very
polluted and dirty. It is a place where all sorts of
races, including humans and Re-mades (those who have
been physically altered for various reasons, not
always with their consent) live in fear of
Parliament's brutal Militia.

Isaac is an eccentric scientist studying Chaos Theory.
One day, he is approached by Yagharek, a member of a
race called the Garuda (half-man, half-bird).
Yagharek's wings had been chopped off his back as
punishment for a major crime, so he commissions Isaac
to make him a new set of wings. As part of his
research, Isaac acquires hundreds of species of flying
things, from the smallest bug to the largest bird. He
also studies the process by which caterpillars turn
into butterflies. Deciding that his research is going
in the wrong direction, Isaac gets rid of the rest of
his "collection," and keeps a strange, multi-colored
caterpillar that thrives on a very powerful and
addictive drug. One night, it emerges from its cocoon
as a slake-moth.

Slake-moths are flying, nocturnal creatures, whose
wings show an ever-changing color pattern, hypnotizing
anyone instantly. This gives the slake-moth the chance
to feed on a person's thoughts, feelings and fears,
leaving them in a permanent vegetative state. The
Ambassador from Hell is asked to help in stopping the
moths (there are now 5 of them terrorizing the city)
and declines. The Weaver, a giant spider that can
easily move between dimensions and has a liking for
scissors, joins the hunt. How does one stop, or even
slow down, creatures who can hypnotize anyone
instantly?

This is a great steampunk novel. Put Charles Dickens,
Franz Kafka and Neal Stephenson together in a blender,
add a dash of Neal Gaiman and H.P. Lovecraft, and this
is the result. It's a long novel, about 700 pages, and
the body count gets rather high by the end, but this
novel is very much recommended.