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In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language. When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.
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Embassytown, China Miéville
- Language
- Released
- 2011
- product-detail.submit-box.info.binding
- (Hardcover)
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- Title
- Embassytown
- Language
- English
- Authors
- China Miéville
- Publisher
- Macmillan Publishers Ltd
- Released
- 2011
- Format
- Hardcover
- Pages
- 416
- ISBN10
- 0230750761
- ISBN13
- 9780230750760
- Series
- Tags
- Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, Linguistics, Space Opera, Steampunk, Extraterrestrial Civilizations, Weird & New Weird, Locus Poll Award, Ambassadors, Interlinguistics
- First published
- 2011
- Original title
- Embassytown
- Rating
- 3.95 out of 5
- Description
- In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language. When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.