Quotes
“Reads like John le Carré’s A Perfect Spy by way of J. G. Ballard and Max Lury, [but] Miéville transcends those comparisons with unparalleled lunges of thought about the spirit world that leave one breathless with their audacity. . . . What Miéville has crafted in The Rouse is an intimate epic, a controlled sprawl of history and emotional resonance. I felt it in my bones, the undeniable power of a jagged masterpiece.”—The New York Times Book Review
“A quantum jump in terms of ambition, moral seriousness and stylistic bravado . . . He ought to be compared to Roberto Bolaño or Mircea Cărtărescu. This new novel is equally maximalist, dense, disorienting and discomfiting, reflecting how surreal our reality seems to have become. . . . This is a novel destined for a rich afterlife.”—The Guardian
“The Rouse is a stirring, moving family saga and a dizzying exegesis of the violent and virulent second half of the twentieth century as well a lament for the brutalist age it has spawned. Complex, consuming, thrilling, terrifying, a feast of language and ideas . . . I could go on and on. The Rouse is a magisterial wonder.”—Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep
“At once the most poetic horror and the most fearsome historical novel in contemporary letters . . . There is simply no equivalent to Miéville’s achievement.”—Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox
“An extraordinary tour de force, poetic, complex and poignant . . . a true masterpiece of the weird.”—Adrian Tchaikovsky, bestselling author of Children of Time
“[An] incredibly ambitious combination of history and the supernatural . . . Miéville renders the winding, complex plot that ties these two characters together in characteristically robust prose and provides a satisfying ending for readers who persevere. Fans will not be disappointed.”—Publishers Weekly
“I never wanted to put the book down. . . . astonishing and strangely propulsive.”—Locus
“A sprawling but fast-moving tale of the most inhuman concoctions of the military-industrial complex . . . Miéville’s inventive story has its share of violence, but the psychological dimension is the main attraction. . . . A smartly imagined, genre-bending story.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Painstakingly realistic yet haunted by presences somewhere between gods and mollusks. And it is delirium inducing.”—Boston Review
“Miéville has been allowed full, free rein in this new work of eldritch dead and haunting dread. The power of this work is not in the dark corners, but in the incredibly complex and rich character studies and stories of Maur and Stallo, who are both faced with unending secrets, grief, and darkness. . . . Miéville fans and intrepid readers willing to take the plunge will find puzzles to unpack, as well as effective emotional narratives.”—Booklist