I have to admit, I'm not the biggest Chine Mieville fan. The first book of his I read was City and the City and found it very difficult to get through. I just could not engage with the main character, who I found to be rather cliche. Even worse was Perdido Street Station (his supposed masterpiece) which, after two attempts, I haven't been able to finish.

I think the problem I have with him is that he gets way too engrossed in world-building (and I'll admit his world building is fabulous), but his characters are either a) boring and two-dimensional and/or b) cliche. And a lot of the reviews I've read of his work focuses on the shiny, and ignores the leaden plotting and poorly conceived characters. Just my opinion. I know someone else on my flist who'd fillet me for daring to imply he's not the greatest thing since sliced bread. ;)