Courtesy - Amazon.com

Well, we now take the plunge in to a world where humans and aliens live in peace. Embassy Town; China Mieville latest book released this May has made to the Best Books of the year list on Amazon, hence I decided it was worth “checking it out!” Well, this is not the first sci-fi book I’ve read, although I must state I do not have a particular passion for sci-fi books. Hence writing this book review was particularly difficult for me. Still, this is by book review in continuation of the series of the 2011 best seller book reviews

Embassy Town – The sci-fi bestseller book creates a multi-layered world

“Embassytown” is written through the life of “Immerser” Avice Benner Cho. It is her chronicle of her childhood that tells us the life on planet Ariekei, where most children don’t grow up with their parents. Humans share their world with alien beings called “extos”. These aliens do not live out in the open and confidently “walk down the streets”; no in Ariekei, the aliens are screened with one important exception, extos can only settle on Ariekei if their sociologic and, to an extent, genetic makeup (they must have language, move comfortably in a human-run world, have similar thought processes, et cetera) is similar enough to allow integration with humans. The planet Ariekei, is not owned by humans. They are mere settlers under the permission of beings known as “hosts” who are the real owners of the planet.

Embassy Town – The sci-fi book takes on a slow start

China Mieville takes his time to show us the various facets of his planet. The story that begins with the childhood of Ariekei, continues on to show the nature and the understanding under which the various beings live in temporary harmony. The Hosts are highly benevolent beings, taking an extra liking to the children, but humans cannot breathe in their region of the planet. They speak a language that can be understood by genetically engineered linguists, and hence these are the Ambassadors. They are not at all humanoid in appearance; they do not communicate like humans; and their sociologic match-up is questionable at the very best.

Problems Arise in Embassy Town – A New Ambassador arrives

Of course! No peace can last a thousand years when there are at least three different life forms existing on one planet. The Trouble starts in Embassy town when a new Ambassador pair arrives. Drawn from the capital planet of the colonial power rather than homegrown on Ariekei, it brings about changes that no one could anticipate and that threaten the shared existence of colonists (Humans) and Hosts on the planet. Avice who grew up Embassy Town is caught in the middle. When that harmony is shattered by an impossible arrival and an unexpected discover she finds herself caught up in the tragic, violent birth of a new order.

In spite of the cruelty, fear, loss, and destruction that it describes, Embassy Town is first and foremost a portrait of strength and survival. Embassy Town excels both as gripping, imaginative science fiction and as a carefully thought out meditation on the nature of cities. Embassy Town is a dark novel.