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In China Mieville's wildly inventive science fiction/fantasy take on Moby Dick, earth and water are reversed. No one may step on the terrifying land lest they immediately be munched by some predatory creature tunneling up from below. Luckily, the railsea is covered in train tracks and traversed by a multitude of trains - including the moler train Medes, which hunts giant moles and is captained by a woman obsessed with the great ivory-colored mole that bit off her arm.
This was probably the most purely enjoyable book I've read all year. That being said, it's a love-it-or-hate-it novel - it has a very distinctive and odd prose style, bizarre (awesomely bizarre!) worldbuilding, and lots of metafictional authorial intrusions into the text. But if you've always liked the sound of China Mieville's worldbuilding but don't like grimdark, this is the book for you - all the worldbuilding, none of the grim. (Spoiler: the cute pet survives.) Also, you don't need to have read Moby Dick (I haven't) but a number of things are much funnier if you know the general outlines of the story.
Railsea is packed full of cool details, fascinating beasts, and sense of wonder. The worldbuilding is wacky but logical on its own terms, and the world keeps unfolding and unfolding, revealing more and more secrets and marvels. The ending is the logical outcome of everything that came before, and perfectly so: a succession of satisfying revelations leading up to a final image that made me grin until my face nearly cracked. (Not the thing about the bill, that fell flat; I mean everything else.) Tons of little details which at first seem annoying (like the use of & instead of "and") or throwaways turn out to be there for a purpose - worldbuilding, thematic, or just a running joke. (I cannot believe that Mieville actually managed to sell me on the ampersand, which annoyed me immensely when I began reading.)
Railsea repeatedly made me laugh out loud, sometimes at the author stepping in to give the readers a head-up about the plot, sometimes from events in the story itself. And though the hero is a boy, it has tons of women and girls in the supporting cast - so many that it made me realize just how unusual that is in most science fiction novels.
I didn't like Mieville's other kids' book, Un Lun Dun, but I absolutely loved Railsea. Highly recommended. I suggest that you give it some time if the style and metafiction put you off at first - it took me a little while to warm up to it, but I ended up falling in love. I would also advise against knowing too much going in. A lot of the fun is discovering all the little details for yourself. Also, be aware that the beginning, though not super-graphic, is gorier than the rest of the book.
By the way, this did not read at all YA to me, so also don't be put off if you don't generally like YA. It's more of a playful adult novel with a young protagonist. Though I could also see it being a good read-aloud.
Railsea
Feel free to put spoilers in comments.
This was probably the most purely enjoyable book I've read all year. That being said, it's a love-it-or-hate-it novel - it has a very distinctive and odd prose style, bizarre (awesomely bizarre!) worldbuilding, and lots of metafictional authorial intrusions into the text. But if you've always liked the sound of China Mieville's worldbuilding but don't like grimdark, this is the book for you - all the worldbuilding, none of the grim. (Spoiler: the cute pet survives.) Also, you don't need to have read Moby Dick (I haven't) but a number of things are much funnier if you know the general outlines of the story.
Railsea is packed full of cool details, fascinating beasts, and sense of wonder. The worldbuilding is wacky but logical on its own terms, and the world keeps unfolding and unfolding, revealing more and more secrets and marvels. The ending is the logical outcome of everything that came before, and perfectly so: a succession of satisfying revelations leading up to a final image that made me grin until my face nearly cracked. (Not the thing about the bill, that fell flat; I mean everything else.) Tons of little details which at first seem annoying (like the use of & instead of "and") or throwaways turn out to be there for a purpose - worldbuilding, thematic, or just a running joke. (I cannot believe that Mieville actually managed to sell me on the ampersand, which annoyed me immensely when I began reading.)
Railsea repeatedly made me laugh out loud, sometimes at the author stepping in to give the readers a head-up about the plot, sometimes from events in the story itself. And though the hero is a boy, it has tons of women and girls in the supporting cast - so many that it made me realize just how unusual that is in most science fiction novels.
I didn't like Mieville's other kids' book, Un Lun Dun, but I absolutely loved Railsea. Highly recommended. I suggest that you give it some time if the style and metafiction put you off at first - it took me a little while to warm up to it, but I ended up falling in love. I would also advise against knowing too much going in. A lot of the fun is discovering all the little details for yourself. Also, be aware that the beginning, though not super-graphic, is gorier than the rest of the book.
By the way, this did not read at all YA to me, so also don't be put off if you don't generally like YA. It's more of a playful adult novel with a young protagonist. Though I could also see it being a good read-aloud.
Railsea
Feel free to put spoilers in comments.
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Oh, yes -- I read the first fifty or hundred pages raging at how overwritten it was, and then something clicked and I couldn't stop reading.
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SOLD
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Do review it when you're done. I thought it just kept getting better and better. The ending is marvelous.
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The Bas-Lag books I've had a love/hate relationship with -- so much mind-blowing awesome and at the same time, so much that made me want to shake them. The more recent stuff I can see is technically _fabulous_ but it keeps demanding a little more focus and brainpower than I've had available. This one is just delightful; there's clearly Stuff Going On all over the place in it but the return of all the id-tastic zany worldbuilding stuff is keeping me engaged in a way that the more controlled, more careful-feeling recent books haven't managed. I could not be more thrilled.
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I love The Scar... except for some of the more grimdark moments, some of which also seemed depressing for depressing's sake. But the mosquito people! The setting! The very ending! So perfect.
The Iron Council had some great bits and a lovely climax, but as a whole, it didn't come together.
I thought The City and the City had a great concept, but the prose, characterization, and plot were too restrained. I haven't yet read Kraken or Embassytown.
Railsea is just perfect.
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I did groan a bit when I stopped to think about That Apt Ohm, however.
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But yes, it was quite charming.
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Have you checked out Nalo Hopkinson's THE CHAOS yet? I'm only a tiny bit into it so far, but it has teens who have sex! Poly teens! Many people of color!
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I strongly disliked UnLunDun as well, but love (mostly) Mieville's other stuff.
This one has just moved up to the top of my wish list.
And for those who have not read Moby Dick (which is a wonderful, absorbing, fast-paced adventure novel with even a sense of humor in places) this project has just started:
http://www.mobydickbigread.com/
Tilda Swinton!
Stephen Fry!
Etc, etc.
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Perhaps because I added a link to the Moby Dick Big Read page, where Moby Dick is being read a chapter a day (they've just started a week or two ago) by people like Tilda Swinton and Stephen Fry?
Fingers crossed this comment makes it through the filters!
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So, thank you for the recommendation as well!
I strongly disliked Un Lun Dun (mainly because it felt completely flat, with dull characters that had no personality whatsoever - the whole thing just felt so *forced* and contrived) but (mostly) like Mieville's other stuff.
This book sounds terrific, moving it to the top of my wish list. :-)
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But then, I come from good Red European stock. ;-)
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For the record, I liked the bill collectors.
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LOVE!
THIS!
BOOK!
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The ending is the logical outcome of everything that came before, and perfectly so: a succession of satisfying revelations leading up to a final image that made me grin until my face nearly cracked. (Not the thing about the bill, that fell flat; I mean everything else.)
(Down to your parenthetical. I mean, I agree with you completely)
I loved this book so, so much. I too laughed out loud. I said out loud on several occasions, "I LOVE this book." So awesome. I loved how Sirocco got woven back in; I loved--LOVED--the spoiler about Naphi's arm; I loved that she came along with him at the end; I loved how Mocker Jack destroyed the ravening angel; I loved the siblings Shroake, I loved Oh shun, with its endless tears (so great!), I loved the postmodern stuff.
JUST ALL OF IT !
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I gave it to my father for Christmas.
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Rachel, I have imprinted on YOU as my Miéville guide. What should I read next?
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You might like Un Lun Dun, his children's novel; I didn't, but lots of people did. It didn't hit the sweet spot for me that Railsea did, and the tone tipped over into twee. For me. But it's probably the closest in tone and content.
I have not yet read Embassytown and Kraken, but both sound interesting.
The City and the City has an amazing concept (two cities which exist in the same space - it's complicated), but very restrained writing; I found it intellectually interesting but emotionally dry.
Perdido Street Station and The Scar have fantastic gonzo worldbuilding, and are very energetic and fun. They are also somewhat similar to Railsea. However, they are also extremely dark: in both books, the most likable and uncomplicatedly sympathetic characters meet horrible fates in a manner that was a bit "squashed by the hand of the author." PSS additionally has (off-page) rape. However, if you're up for that, I did find both tremendously enjoyable, and The Scar does end on a moving, uplifting note. You don't have to read them in order, but The Scar refers back to some events from PSS.
The Iron Council is set in the same world, and is similar but doesn't work as well as a whole. It has some great bits, but I wasn't engaged by the characters the way I was in the other two books.
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DECISIONS DECISIONS
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Of all the ones I mention, I assume Un Lun Dun.
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