China Miéville's
third novel is a world novel, set in Bas-Lag, the world introduced in
Perdido Street Station. He dodges most of the problems of many series
by having little in common between books. The Scar is set outside the
city of New Crobuzon, and the protagonist wasn't a character in
Perdido Street Station, although a connection to the previous book
emerges along with a convoluted plot with the expected but unguessed
final twist.
Considering Miéville's strong drive to rid fantasy of mandatory Tolkienesqueness, the world series approach has commendable points: he doesn't have to spend a hundred pages in each book just to get the setting straight. Quite the contrary, he continues filling out the vagaries of Bas-Lag, building on top of the previous work. Having read PSS is not necessary, but it makes it easier to drop into the flow of an alien world.
I'm charmed by the way he flouts the tradition of Tolkien to downplay technology. In The Scar, maybe even more than before, strange and definitely fantastic technology enables lot of the plot. The author takes care in introducing all vital technology hundreds of pages in advance of the need, so that the reader doesn't feel like being cheaten out of yet another dead end of the plot by the invention of new machinery.
The plot is criticized by many on failing Chekhov's rule: that all strings should become attached at the end and everything should then make sense. Miéville appears to do this on purpose, and it may well be the deciding factor for whether a given person likes his work.
Category: Fantasy/non-Tolkiensque. Recommendation: strong read.