I have a niche interest in “sci-fi books about language” (give me all your recommendations!) and so this one came my way. China Miéville is a pretty highbrow author, and this is a pretty literary SF book. It is pretty focused on its own theoretical linguistics and the xenology behind language. It doesn’t go so much for major character development or plot, but it’s not annoying in the way that it can be when a fictional structure is just a lazy device to deliver a […]
“People resist a census, but give them a profile page and they’ll spend all day telling you who they are.”
When I first re-discovered reading for pleasure as an adult, I happened upon a bizarre book called The Flame Alphabet. I was tremendously intrigued by the concept of language being used as a weapon, but was ultimately VERY disappointed and confused by The Flame Alphabet (because it’s weird, y’all. Super weird.) Fortunately, book lovers were there to point my uninitiated self in the direction of Snow Crash and this book. Turns out, “language as weapon” is a veritable sci-fi subgenre! Lexicon is, easily, the most […]