Oh God. So there's this remote outpost at the edge of the universe. Humans have colonized it and get along with the indigenous Hosts. Until a new Ambassador shows up and ruins everything. Okay, so that's the basic premise. It sounds like your run-of-the-mill science fiction story, but it's more complex. The book makes you think hard about language, religion, colonialism, and human nature.
My thoughts
I wasn't smart enough for this book. So that kind of put a damper on my enjoyment of it, but it was exciting and I did like it.
The most intriguing aspect of the book was its ruminations on language. The Hosts are pure creatures who cannot lie, and Language is everything to them (hence the capital L). Unless there's a word for something, the Hosts cannot conceptualize it. To get around this, they need similes to express the concept that one thing can be like another. The catch is that there are highly structured rules concerning similes. Similes must be based on something that has actually occurred, so the Hosts stage events so that a new simile (and therefore new ideas) can enter their language. Humans are a corrupting influence on the Hosts. The Hosts invite them to festivals where the humans tell lies and the Hosts try to emulate them.
The tragic twist is that the humans bring an illness that decimates the Hosts, and there are only two ways to stop it. The Hosts must murder all of the humans (obviously untenable for our human heroine) or they must learn to lie, ruining their relationship with Language. It's powerful.
Bottom line
Probably not worth it unless you're a hardcore science fiction aficionado. I'll try some of China Mieville's other novels, though.
Fine print
Embassytown, by China Mieville
Genre: science fiction
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from the library.
