For this month's science fiction and fantasy book club, I read Embassytown by China Miéville.

tl;dr I rate the book 3 ½ stars.

Plot

Avice, a human, grows up in the human neighborhood of a city on Arieke, an alien planet at the edge of known space. She is the protagonist from whose perspective we witness the events that unfold; she also plays a critical role in the denouement.

The natives of Arieke are called Hosts or Ariekes. They are totally alien, in biology, culture, technology, and most importantly, Language.

Language is unique in a few ways. One, the Ariekes only understand Language when spoken by a creature with a mind: reproductions via technology may make the correct sound-waves but are gibberish to Hosts. This suggests that language has some metaphysical quality uniquely created by a biological creature. Two, the Ariekes have two mouths, so the language is spoken as two streams of phonemes in parallel. This means that a single human cannot speak Language, so in order to communicate, twins are genetically engineered and then linked via technology to be able to speak Language.

There's a lot to Language; it's the core plot device of the novel.

The genetically engineered twins are called Ambassadors. A new Ambassador arrives on Arieke, a unique Ambassador: EzRa are not twins, but in fact despise each other. This contradiction between the minds speaking Language creates a sensation so strong in the Ariekes that they quickly become addicts. Bear with me, this is only a brief summary, so if it sounds ridiculous..

Arieken society collapses practically overnight as the addiction spreads. A movement within the Ariekes begins which cures the addiction by physically removing their own ears: this movement spreads by violence as the cured, named the Absurd, seek to inoculate their brethren.

Finally, Avice manages to teach the Ariekes to lie - I forgot to mention that Language is spoken Truth, the signifier and the signified are not separate - which cures the Ariekes of their addiction. The Absurd and the Liars learn to communicate in writing overnight and it's a happy ending.

What I liked

The world-building and universe-building are mostly excellent. I liked that Ariekes is an outpost colony at the edge of the immer. Instantaneous communication is impossible: "messages in a bottle" (or miabs) are sent across space physically. I liked the lighthouse in the immer, and the Wreck of a previous ship orbiting Arieke.

I really enjoyed the biorigging - the planet, the city, the buildings are alive, combinations of technology and biology, carefully crafted by the Ariekes. This alone made for a rich setting.

What I didn't like

This novel is too ambitious, it should have been split up across a series. There are multiple stories at multiple levels advancing in parallel, and it's simply too much for such a short book. For example, the empire-colony plotline, Avice's personal story, Language and the Ariekes, the spread of the addiction and the collapse of society. I'd have preferred the book ended with the start of the addiction, and then the next worked through its development and resolution.

That brings me to the ending.. I can't buy it. Overnight the Ariekes are transformed as they are taught how to lie, at just the last second.. deus ex machina as someone in the book club called it. This allowed for the happy ending, but given the plot up to that point, I think the ending should have been collapse and rebirth. The addiction spreads and consumes the Ariekes. The next human ship arrives and finds the colony destroyed: Ehrsul, a robot, the only survivors, tells the story of the collapse.

Conclusion

If you're interested in an intellectually challenging science fiction novel that focuses on themes of language, then I recommend the book to you.