That’s a bold statement. Some would call him (in the pejorative sense) “just a genre writer,” but they’d be wrong. Does he write horror? SF? what is it, exactly, that he writes? The term many use is “bizarro fiction,” or they’ll call it “the new weird.” I’m not sure those terms do his writing justice. It is speculative fiction with a capital S, and speculative about big ideas, too, not just what kind of monster would live in what kind of world. The writing is stunningly beautiful.

Take a look at his statements about monsters, from the journal Conjunctions: https://www.conjunctions.com/print/article/china-mieville-c59

Find out more about China Miéville here: https://www.indiebound.org/author-interviews/mievillechina

My favorite of all his novels is The Scar (even though it’s labeled part of a series, it’s not really a sequel and you can read it standalone) although Embassytown is close behind. I need to re-read Embassytown, because it is one tough book. If you don’t know his writing and want to start out easy, you might try Perdido Street Station (and convince yourself it’s just horror–although it will give you nightmares), or The City and the City, a police procedural with a bizarro twist. I’d stay away from The Iron Council, unless you want to read an 800-page prose poem. Or unless you become a dedicated fan. I am, and I did.