Railsea, by China Mieville

[rachelmanija]

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.

Comments

[owlectomy]

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.

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.

[kore]

(Spoiler: the cute pet survives.)

SOLD

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

I am about halfway through this now and in love, in love, in love. I keep wishing I had it in audiobook -- there's an appreciation of the flexibility of language to the thing that is one of my favorite, favorite things.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

Sold! Or more accurately, requested!

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Oh, Rachel, I wasn't specifically interested in this book until your review, stop doing this to me I have too many booooooooks to read.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I am enjoying the hell out of this one, also.

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!

[bummble.livejournal.com]

Yay, sounds terrific!
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.

[bummble.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I tried to post a comment but it was marked as spam...
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!

[bummble.livejournal.com]

Ah, good, commenting without adding links seems to work.

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. :-)

[kimberlite8.livejournal.com]

Excited to pick this up. I've only read Perdido Street Station. His other books like The City and The City and Embassytown seemed too much of a didactic parable for someone with my short attention span to appreciate. Saw your post about meeting him...guh, guh. Im usually not so susceptible to crushes on famous people. Is there a China Mieville Estrogen Brigade?

[starlady]

Wait, That Apt Ohm = ?

For the record, I liked the bill collectors.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Loving this so far! And I had forgotten what you said about the ampersand having a purpose--but desperance reminded me, and then I came back here to re-look at your review (because you were part of the reason--a major part--that I picked up the book), and saw your comment. So: good. Looking forward to having that explained.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD, I loved this so, so much. And yes, this, precisely:

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 !