China Mieville: what to sample?

I'm a slow reader, so in a (still hopeless) effort to sample every standout author at least once, I tend to do a hit-and-run approach: read one book by that author, then move on. Usually it's pretty easy to figure out which one to select, but I'm having trouble with this guy. There's no one book that seems to stand out as a clear best or favourite, and it seems like a lot of variety in what he's done. My first instinct was Perdido Street Station, but now that seems like maybe an outlier among his work?

Anyway: if I'm reading just one to create my impression of "what China Mieville is all about", what's your vote?

That is a hard question -- while Miéville has a unique style, he tends to be very different between his books.

As you posted in the Fantasy group - are you looking at his Fantasy works or are you also open to Science Fiction and the genres in between? His style really does not fit inside of a single genre.

I find Embassytown or The City & The City much better books than Perdido. They all have their strengths but if I need to recommend one to start with, it will be one of the two. Probably The City & The City if I had to chose one. Or just look at the descriptions of his books and book whichever sounds the best topic-wise.

>2 AnnieMod:, that was my impression, that he could be considered sci-fi as well. I'm not particular where a particular book falls, genre-wise.

Post over in the SF group as well? We had had quite a lot of conversations there about him. Or just bite the bullet and grab whichever is closest :)

I liked Perdido Street Station, esp. as a fantasy novel.

FWIW, I started with Kraken but never seemed to really grasp it. So I don't recommend starting there, at least.

I recommend Un Lun Dun.