Review of Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

I discovered this novel when reading book reviews for a class I took a few semesters ago. One day, I was walking through Hastings and low and behold, there was a used copy for $3.99. I had to have it. The review I read (I believe in the New Yorker) had already grabbed my attention.

Due to some personal things that came up and the beginning of the book being a little slow, it took me a while to read the book. The beginning of the book must be slow to introduce the reader to the world of Un Lun Dun and set up a few twists and turns that take place in the novel. Overall, I found the book really engaging and unique.China Miéville creates a world like no other, but with a few influences like C.S. Lewis and Kurt Vonnegut (in fact, there is a reference to a wardrobe at one point).

Un Lun Dun is a world that sits opposite London, in some interesting other-dimension type place. It is inhabited by ghosts, moving pieces of garbage, talking books and animals, killer giraffes, and half-human/half-other worldly "people," a menacing villain called Smog, as well as humans (some of which have seeped over from London).

I really feel that I can't write too much because I would ruin a great many surprises to all those interested in reading it. The book is written at a teen level, but does leave the reader with some things to think about with several overarching themes. Predestination and free will definitely do battle in this book, and the jury is still out as to what wins. Miéville may be backing up some of my personal (as well as Forrest Gump's) beliefs as to "maybe it's both." The two ideologies don't necessarily have to conflict. Certainly, there is some prophesy that comes true in Un Lun Dun,it just doesn't come about in the way the prophesy is supposed to come true. Another overarching theme is one of environmental consciousness (the villain's name is Smog, after all, and grows more powerful with smoke and pollution).

Now, I really don't like it much when cleverness is so forced in adolescent literature (like in the Series of Unfortunate Events series (my wife will kill me for saying that)), but Un Lun Dun is somewhat clever without trying to be. I definitely saw a few of the events in the book coming, but there were some that I did not see. Surprises shouldn't always be complete surprises to the reader, and foreshadowing is something that the author does well without giving too much away.

I would recommend this book for anyone who likes adolescent literature, fantasy, or sci-fi. After you get through the first 100 pages or so, the book just flies by and is hard to put down.