Artist Rendering of New Crobuzon

I’ve been reading this book for about two weeks now (I’m only at page 200!) and I thought I would share the following thoughts:

• At this point in my life, I have yet to be immersed in a world so fully realized as Mieville’s New Crobuzon.
  
• As descriptive as Mieville can be, I had a really hard time picturing what Lin looked like in my head.  I couldn’t process the visual that she supposedly has a body similar to a human but basically a giant beetle for a head.
  
• Big fan of Yag and his dedicated side story in arriving at New Crobuzon.  Perfect way to intro the novel.
  
• Just how long did China work on this thing?  The backstory of the city itself is so intricately detailed that I cannot imagine this place spilling out of his mind in anything less than a few years.

As much as I’m enjoying this, I wish I could just fly through it as I’m under a library imposed deadline.  Unfortunately, having to look up every 3rd word really slows things down.