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I loved Perdido Street Station and was excited to read the second book in the world of Bas-Lag. Mieville didn't let me down. I can't honestly say which of the two books I prefer: they are drastically different from one another, and if one couldn't conveniently think of them both as "fantasy" novels, it would be hard to place them in the same genre.

I don't want to spoil anything about the story, but I will say that The Scar reminded me in some ways of Moby Dick. Only in good ways. There weren't any tedious descriptions of whales, or hundreds of pages of needless extrapolation.

I find it interesting that in The Scar, I found many of the secondary characters very compelling, yet didn't find the protagonist very interesting or easy to sympathize with. In fact, the protagonist is the only aspect of this book that I didn't like. (I also wanted a clearer description of a few beasts, but I understand Mieville's motivation in keeping these monsters mysterious.)

My final analysis: you should read both Perdido Street Station and The Scar. These are both clear examples of how good fantasy can be.