Do You Like the Word "Palimpsest"?

Because if you do, Perdido Street Station is the book for you.

Let me tell you boy, there are a lot of characters and descriptions of things which have zero impact on the story in this book.

Of particular uselessness are three robots and three mercenaries.

Oh, oops, I should say "spoiler alert".

SPOILER: the three robots and the three mercenaries have no effect on the rest of the story.

The British cover (here) is vastly better than the American cover.