This book took me several weeks to finally work my way through; not because it wasn't interesting, but because it continually required more effort than I expected. This might sound odd, but I really wasn't expecting to think as hard as I did while reading this. Mieville has written what I consider to be the perfect mix of Urban Fantasy and Cyberpunk and it took me a little while to find my way around his world, but in the end it was worth it. His gift, as a storyteller, is that he has such compassion and understanding for his characters that I empathized with every single creatures from whose perspective Perdido Street Station was told.