Iron Council by China Miéville

This book, Miéville's third set in Bas-Lag, comes at a time of unrest: the Caucus appears poised to take over the city of New Crobuzon, already strained by its war with Tesh. Into this volatile mixture comes the Iron Council (the almost mythical result of a workers' strike that led to them running away with a perpetually-moving train). I enjoyed the story of Cutter and Judah the best of all the plot lines which run through the book. As usual, Miéville's prose is elegant and beautiful and even his smallest ideas are wildly fantastic and fantastical. This book takes a little patience: diving into this universe is neither easy nor quick. I'm not as big a fan of the Bas-Lag books as The City and the City or Un Lun Dun, but I haven't read anything by Miéville that I didn't love, either.