A review by mschlat
Embassytown by China Miéville

4.0

Embassytown is the story of Avice Benner Cho, who grows up a girl in the town, leaves for other planetary systems, and returns as a married women. The town is aptly named --- it is the point of contact between the humans on the planet Arieka and its native species (referred to as the Hosts by the residents of Embassytown). What sets the Hosts apart, besides bioengineering skills, is the difficulty of their language. I am not going to divulge too much here, but for humans to speak the Hosts' language requires more than just translation software, it requires a special type of human speakers.

Note that if you have any interest in linguistics and science fiction, this is a must read. The Language of the Hosts (and, yes, both are capitalized) is a fascinating concept about the connections between what we think and what we say. If you've liked the works of [a:Mary Doria Russell|4007|Mary Doria Russell|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1236919634p2/4007.jpg] or [a:Janet Kagan|127081|Janet Kagan|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]'s [b:Hellspark|14981811|Hellspark|Janet Kagan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387701988s/14981811.jpg|1042756], this book hits some of the same appeal factors (although with the requisite Mieville weirdness).

The first portion of the book reads like science fiction literary fiction --- think of [a:Ursula K. Le Guin|874602|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg] or [a:Doris Lessing|7728|Doris Lessing|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1256020901p2/7728.jpg]. The emphasis is on personal relationships that amplify and mediate the assumptions of the different societies. However, about halfway through the book, the plot speeds up, turns from the personal to the global, and takes a dark, horrifying turn. I found it compelling, but not a pleasant read.

Spoiler

Two comments for those who have read the book. One, as I have seen elsewhere, you can easily read the work as a meditation on the Fall myth, although clearly Mieville sees the result of the Hosts' fall as somewhat positive and clearly a necessary adaptation. The Hosts without the Fall are far too susceptible to those who use language to both convey and conceal. Two, this is a zombie novel. Not in the ending, but Mieville's Hosts become (for a while) unreasoning monsters with strange biological powers. In their own minds, the Absurd become non-sentient. Mieville even tips his cap to early zombie movies which the humans watch during the novel. And --- if I have to read a zombie novel --- I'd much prefer to read Mieville's version.