After hearing about this book for so long, I was glad to finally dig in and try it out. It’s a solid book, with a lot of fantastic elements and near-steampunk technology. The main characters are very well drawn, and his non-humans do a good job of being truly alien. That’s aided by their non-conventional forms– no dwarves and elves, he uses birdmen and ant-headed people instead.
I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more by China Mieville. The book didn’t encourage swiftly reading it and setting it aside, but instead encouraged lingering and inhabiting the world.