Embassytown by China Miéville

 

I've heard lots of really good things about China Miéville, so after seeing this book a couple of times at the library I figured I'd give it a read. It's really not all that great: the voice is kinda clunky most of the time, the timeline jumps around jarringly for not much in the way of good reason that I could see, the characters are varyingly unlikeable and giving off unreliable narrator vibes (though I don't think the POV at least is supposed to) and the setting pretty persistently failed to sustain suspension of disbelief. There's a speech near the climax, though, that packs one hell of an emotional wallop, if you can get through everything that proceeds it. I dunno if that one moment is worth the ride, but it's there. Deeply underwhelmed, I am.