Description
Embassytown by China Miéville is an ambitious science fiction novel exploring language, identity, colonialism and the uneasy relationship between humans and an alien civilisation.
In the far future, humans have established a settlement on the distant planet Arieka, home to the enigmatic Ariekei. Their unique language can only be spoken by specially altered human ambassadors, creating a fragile system of communication between the two species. Avice Benner Cho returns to Embassytown after years away, carrying a complicated connection to the Ariekei and their language.
When a new ambassador arrives from distant human authorities, the delicate balance between the colonists and the Ariekei collapses. As political tensions escalate into violence and catastrophe, Avice becomes caught between competing loyalties and forced to confront her own place within a world shaped by language and power.
Intelligent, immersive and conceptually ambitious, Embassytown is a distinctive literary science fiction novel for readers interested in alien worlds, first contact, linguistics, politics, colonialism and challenging speculative fiction.
