A Dribble of Ink

Thanks to Wert for digging this out:

Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts – who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts.

And that is impossible.

Sounds lovely. I’ve only read The City & The City by Mieville, but this sounds just wonderful. Mieville’s known for writing dense, weird stories, and big Space Opera seems like a great opportunity for him to really let loose. It’s easy to see some similarities to Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness in the blurb. It should be interesting to see how he handles some of the genre’s more prominent tropes. I’m prepared for my mind to melt as it tries to comprehend Mieville + spaceships.