Babel was a very different kind of book. It's kind of like Harry Potter, but instead of a school for magic, they are all actually at Oxford studying languages. And instead of becoming wizards they become sort of ninja-linguists that can build explosives through congnates. So I guess it's nothing like Harry Potter. But it was a really fun ride.
Having recently traveled there, I'm a sucker for stories involving the Arctic (especially if they also involve ships). This book is kind of a fictionalized telling of what happened to the ships trying to discover the northwest passage from England around Greenland and Canada in the early 1800s. It didn't go so well for them. Terrific story telling, pacing, excitement, drama - just a great book.
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is…
I actually didn't like this book while I was reading it. It was difficult to get through. But about a month later, I saw the book on my bookshelf and it finally hit me. The whole book suddenly clicked and I realized how great it was. This delayed reaction often happens to me with China Mieville's work. But because this one was based in a comic book character that I wasn't familiar with, I think reading it was a bit harder. But now I really want to read it again. I think I'm going to.
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - A mind-blowing epic from Keanu Reeves and China Mieville, unlike anything these two genre-bending pioneers have created before, inspired by the world of the BRZRKR comic books.
'An exceptionally innovative collaboration from two remarkable minds.' William Gibson, author of Neuromancer
'What an extraordinary book! China Mieville's brilliance as a writer combined with Keanu Reeves's quite magnificently wild imagination make for a compulsive read. Unlike anything else. Boom!' Stephen Fry
'A gripping, hugely intelligent and beautifully-realised nightmare. It's clever, brilliant and horrifying.' Daily Mail
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