So much was clear to her now—and so much that was terrible, that she balked at confronting, that she could not think about just yet. She had understanding and knowledge inside her, but she shied away from it as if from a bully. … But at odd moments she would wince—she would blink and hiss and grit her teeth—as the knowledge inside her moved. She was pregnant with it—a fat, malign child that she was desperately ignoring.
Another fascinating adventure in Miéville’s world of eldritch horrors. It’s only connected to the story of Perdido Street Station in the most tenuous, tangential way, which I think is good—I didn’t really need a continuation of that story. But it shares many qualities I liked about that novel, including the slow build-up of emotional depth in its protagonists. And it has some very thought-provoking themes about loyalty and navigating conflicts between groups when both sides are guilty of doing severe harm.