this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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[off topic]
China Mieville's books 'The Scar' and 'Perido Street Station' are great at giving information without hitting you over the head.
For instance, there's a tavern called 'The Moon's Two Daughters." From the description of the sign [two girls dancing around the Moon] we learn that Earth's Moon now has satellites of its own.
This is also probably off topic because I can't load the YouTube video.
I was talking about the second Dune film a little while back and saying how much I enjoy a well realised world that doesn't try to convey itself by comparing itself to ours. I get the same feeling watching Dune and Lord of the Rings as I do when I watch a film from a culture I'm not familiar with; a sense of needing to adjust to their way of storytelling.
Pairing this with what you mention which is basically extra subtle show don't tell, and you end up with something I absolutely adore, which is a story in a fully realised culture I know nothing about, that understands that the bare minimum amount of that culture I need to understand to fully enjoy the story can be the best amount to have.
I was going to say how rare this is but thinking about it, it actually isn't. Tolkien's cosmology is fully realised and vast yet I learnt basically no fluff about the world that wasn't necessary to the story. Sometimes I just had to make peace with the fact that I didn't understand the cultural context, I could only measure it's importance in the attitude of the characters.
That's the shit I love.
Man, I tried with Perdido Street Station. I had it recommended to me, so I picked it up and got maybe halfway through it, but it just didn't hold me. I've tried once more since then but it just felt like a slog. It's super creative but I think I just don't like the writing style. No judgment, you just reminded me of the minor shame of not liking something someone recommended, lol.
To each their own.