The Scar (novel)

Plot summary

The Scar opens with a small ship journeying from New Crobuzon to the colony Nova Esperium across the Swollen Ocean. On board are Bellis Coldwine, a linguist fleeing for her life; Johannes Tearfly, a scientist studying megafauna; Tanner Sack, a Remade criminal bound for slavery; and Shekel, a young cabin boy. Pirates capture the ship, and all aboard are press-ganged into the floating city Armada, built from thousands of ships. Tanner embraces his new freedom, undergoing further remaking to become an amphibious creature, and his loyalty shifts to Armada.

Bellis, now a librarian in Armada's vast collection of stolen books, despises her new life and longs for home. She attracts the attention of Uther Doul, bodyguard to the city's scarred leaders, the Lovers. Doul involves Bellis in a plan to raise the mythical avanc. She also becomes involved with Silas Fennec, a New Crobuzonian spy who reveals that the grindylow are planning war on New Crobuzon.

Bellis and Silas find comfort in each other but feel powerless to save their home. Shekel, learning to read with Bellis's help, finds a book that Bellis realizes is needed to raise the avanc. To send a message home, she destroys a large part of the book's appendix containing the equations and methods for raising the creature.

Reception

Steven Poole reviewed The Scar for The Guardian, noting that the first forty pages show a writer straining for effect, but once the novel settles, it builds an intriguing plot of espionage and deceit. Poole concluded that the book demonstrates enough invention and energy to show Miéville as one of the most imaginative young writers in any fiction.