The world as we know it is actually a product of the dream dreamt by Tonsure.
I don't think I would have enjoyed this book in parts as it was originally published, but taken as a whole I found myself drawn in to this strange, confusing, and fascinating world of Ambergris, indeed after I had finished the book I was left wanting more.
The book describes the fantasy place called Ambergris. Begins with a Kafkaesque story of Dradin who visits the place seeking employment. Like Gregor he finds himself alone, surrounded by people, describing their habits and customs. A few warnings in the text assure the reader nothing good will come of him. (spoiler: falls in love with a mannequin, is urinated on by a 'living saint", is conned, abducted, and robbed by a dwarf, and only escapes by knifing him).
Next is the written histories of the place in the style of John Julius Norwich historian, with footnotes debating the validity of the various sources, sometimes humorous).
The transformation of Martin Lake is a short horror story of artist invited to an execution. Goes to an address where people in bird masks tell him kill, or be killed. Reminded me of Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler, but more macabre. Between events in the story is an art critic's descriptions of the work, and speculation on the life of the artist (based in the style of Chagall critic, Lioneli Venturi)
Then follows X: the nature of a writer (VanderMeer) to question the validity of his (created) world and yet rely on his senses to describe it. "From what other tension can great literature be born?".
(spoiler: turns out he's in psychiatric care for pushing a woman in his fictional world out of the path of a moving vehicle, but in the real life pushing her into a fire). ( )

In progress:
The only other book I've read by Vandermeer is Borne, which I quite liked. This is as different from that as it is possible to be. Very imaginative, fairly original. Reminds me of The Vorhh by B. Catling.

Dradin, In Love: the prose is nice, but I thought the story was kind of predictable. The twist was not a twist, for me, because I have read something similar and thus saw it coming. The setting and prose style were arresting, but the actual story, not so much.

Put it down for a few weeks, picked it up again.

The Goegbotton Guide to the Early History of the City of Ambergris: Different style altogether. An early history of the conquest and renaming of Ambergris, and the genocide of its first inhabitants. And its second inhabitants. More of a horror vibe couched in a dry and meandering but strangely compelling narrative voice. Not unlike Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances. Read the footnotes.

The King Squid monograph, formatted like a white paper, was also oddly interesting. The annotated bibliography was entertaining, and also contained both direct and indirect evidence of the author's slide into insanity.

This was an odd one! With the China Mieville quotes dripping off the cover, I guess it's framed as some of that "New Weird."

It's not a novel; it's a collection of documents, presented as source material, around the central cultural whirlpool of the fictional city of Ambergris. There's an absolutely overflowing and overwrought love story about a priest-for-hire. There's a snarky historical tract, full of references to Ambergris authors and historians, sprinkled with hilarious footnotes. There's a self-published tract on the Freshwater Squid and the festival of destruction that celebrates it. There's a race of mushroom people who live under the city. There is Ambergrisian fiction and art criticism...And more, and more.

Some of it fascinates, some of it sort of thuds. But the humor and verbal pyrotechnics hold together the world he has crafted, and you come away believing in the city, its freaky people, its mildew, its many odors.

Worth reading! ( )

It is not the author's fault the publisher made a comparison to Mieville. Nevertheless, the comparison is there. Crobuzon was an act of world-building; Saints & Madmen is a book about the act of world-building. I have nothing against that as a theme. The problem with this book is that... oh, how do I say this. It's an obsessive, intense, overly self-aware look into the world-building, but I never got to see the world enough to love it as much as the author. There is nothing to carry me through the overlaid narrative, nothing to help me share in the obsession enough to want to keep reading. I did keep reading nonetheless, and there are a few moments, sections, that show an interesting imagination and an ability to compel. Those are the moments that made me want to like this. I just wish there were more of them. ( )

This is not so much a story but rather an insight into a world through random snippets of it. From interactions between people to research, there is a lot going on here. I love world building, but I don't know. This wasn't exactly what I expected (to be fair, I didn't know what I was expecting - this wasn't it though.) Some parts were lots of fun but there were other parts I just kind of skimmed through as well. ( )