Iron Council

Iron Council is a novel of war and revolution unlike any you have ever read. Set in and around the urban melting pot of New Crobuzon, it is a vividly imagined masterwork filled with action, ideas, and an extraordinary cast of characters, both human and other. As the novel begins, New Crobuzon is engaged in a long-running war with the rival city of Tesh. When the city’s leaders decide to build a railroad across the surrounding desert, an act designed as a tactic in that ongoing war, the narrative takes an unexpected turn. Revolutionary forces, faced with the endemic corruption of New Crobuzon’s Parliament, take over the railroad and hijack the train that will come to be known as Iron Council. That “perpetual train” will become the seat of a mobile revolution aimed at eliminating a power structure that has dominated new Crobuzon for much too long. Exotic, compelling, and constantly surprising, Iron Council is an overtly political novel that offers powerful visions and unique perceptions on virtually every page. Without sacrificing any of the genre’s traditional pleasures, Mieville has created a hybrid of fantasy and revolutionary politics that is hard to set aside and difficult, perhaps impossible, to forget. Finally, as a bonus for Mieville’s many fans, this very special edition concludes with “Jack,” the only short story set in the Bas-Lag universe. The tale of a renegade “remade” who brings a measure of hope to the poorer denizens of New Crobuzon, “Jack” is Mieville at his incomparable best, and sheds essential new light on the nature of life in one of modern fantasy’s most memorable and imaginative locales.

Iron Council is a novel of war and revolution. Set in and around the urban melting pot of New Crobuzon, it is filled with action, ideas, and an extraordinary cast of characters, both human and other. As the novel begins, New Crobuzon is engaged in a long-running war with the rival city of Tesh. When the city’s leaders decide to build a railroad across the surrounding desert, an act designed as a tactic in that ongoing war, the narrative takes an unexpected turn. Revolutionary forces, faced with the endemic corruption of New Crobuzon’s Parliament, take over the railroad and hijack the train that will come to be known as Iron Council. That “perpetual train” will become the seat of a mobile revolution aimed at eliminating a power structure that has dominated new Crobuzon for much too long. Iron Council is an overtly political novel. This edition concludes with “Jack,” the only short story set in the Bas-Lag universe. The tale of a renegade “remade” who brings a measure of hope to the poorer denizens of New Crobuzon, “Jack” sheds light on the nature of life in the Bas-Lag universe.

Following Perdido Street Station and The Scar, acclaimed author China Miéville returns. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later. It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places. In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope. In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council... New Crobuzon Series Book 3