Book review: Three moments of an explosion by China Mieville

This is the first time I have read anything by Mieville. Having read excellent reviews of his work I have high expectations. A short scan through his Wikipedia profile provides an insight into his Marxist political ideals, particularly as it relates to international law and relations. In brief, Mieville considers international law in capitalism as a sham and a cover for the ‘real’ international law – the law of the jungle. 

Armed with this knowledge, I picked up a copy of China Mieville's collection of short sci fi stories, Three Moments of an Explosion, last night. Instead of reviewing the whole collection, I thought I would instead review a few of the stories contained in the collection in a little more depth. I will choose stories that I, subjectively, think best highlight what I believe the author is trying to achieve with his work.

The first story I will review is the first and eponymous ‘Three Moments of an Explosion’.

In Three Moments of an Explosion’, the world around us is not too dissimilar to the one we currently live in. Nanotechnology combined with genetic modifications have developed to a point where advertisements can be placed in the everyday – apples will always rot into the logo of Apple Inc, and the BAE logo can be displayed in the dust of bombed out cities. The most profound new technology revealed combines ‘time-freezing’ tachyons with drugs such as MDMA.

These new drugs have created a new type of adventure seeking hipsters. The story follows three such individuals who time their drug use for the three stages of an explosion – before, during, and after. During the explosion, while time is frozen, they explore the semi-destroyed ruins of buildings, attempting to understand the truth of their physical world in a moment that is usually is gone before the blink of an eye.

I greatly enjoyed this story. Although brief, I was still able to feel immersed in the world Melville created. The application of the new technologies felt entirely believable. Both the corporate interests and the youth use technology that could be profoundly humanity changing, in a way that is both selfish and trivial. The only difference between the two is that while corporate interests will ensure their trivial pursuits are sanctioned by the government, the less powerful  youth will always find that they are at the mercy of the law. 

I also found the escapism, and ultimate nihilism of the youths entirely believable. If we are powerless to change our environment, then it is easy to give up on positive change and assume that life is without meaning.

You might have noticed I don’t offer objective reviews here (you’ll never see X amount of stars). I will say that based on this story and the others of have read so far, that Three Moments of an Explosion by China Mieville was a worthy purchase and well worth the time invested in reading it.

You can pick up a copy here:Three Moments of an Explosion: Stories