The third New Crobuzon book (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, this) takes us back to the city itself, but several years after the events in PSS. While the story doesn’t strictly follow on, there are some mentions of events that make PSS a good pre-read (although not so much The Scar) – actually, a definite pre-read just to pick up on the explanations of water-people Vodyani, cactus-people, and scarab-headed women.

This isn’t a cheerful book. The characters aren’t all that engaging – all flawed, all with realistic levels of importance (ie, not so much). However, the whole – the story, the descriptions – are utterly engrossing.

I read the first 250 pages on a train, which is appropriate: the story is about a train, the first to go through the continent of Bas-Lag; and about rebellions. Never quite lives up to Perdido Street Station, but still a good read.