Perdido Street Station

Beneath the bleached ribs of an ancient dead creature lies New Crobuzon, a city of radical hybrids and desperate commerce. When a half-bird, half-human Garuda arrives seeking Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin's help to restore its ability to fly, Isaac's scientific obsession leads him to collect specimens and conduct experiments that unleash something far worse than he could have imagined. China Mieville's debut novel in his New Crobuzon sequence is dense with invention, morally complex, and utterly unlike anything in the fantasy genre around it.

John Lee's narration handles Perdido Street Station's scope with remarkable authority. The novel runs nearly twenty-four hours and demands a performer capable of the full register from street-level grit to cosmic horror, and Lee delivers it with the kind of sustained command that makes this one of the landmark audiobook performances in modern fantasy. Winner of multiple major awards, the novel rewards patient listeners who give themselves over to its world entirely.