My journey with this book was a rollercoaster. This was my first Mieville and I wasn't aware that he kind of throws you into the world then explains later what is happening so I spent the first 30% or so extremely confused about what was happening. Once I got it, I was a little bored and I felt like the middle of the novel was repetitive. It picked up around the 60-70% mark. Overall, I liked it but it was just a little long for my taste.