Mieville, China - Un Lun Dun

[oyceter]

Oh, I love this!

Zanna and Deeba find themselves crawling into UnLondon (ergo the book title), where Zanna is the destined savior ("the Shwazzy") against the encroach of the deadly Smog. That said, Deeba is the character I love, and she is made of awesome. Girls of color who kick ass for the win!

I'm putting most of this under spoiler cut. So for those of you who haven't read it, go read it! It's wildly inventive and fun and I love it so much for some of its takes on genre tropes, and it has binjas and unbrellas and an UnSun and smombies, and like cofax7 says, it reminds me of The Phantom Tollbooth, only with a kickass girl of color and a world that both feels timeless and very modern.

I started out very worried; I knew there was a girl of color whom both Minnow and Cofax thought was awesome, but I was very disgruntled by Zanna's designation as the Destined Hero and Deeba as the supposed sidekick, particularly since Zanna is tall and blonde and Deeba... is not. Deeba is short and Asian (as in British Asian as in Indian).

And then Zanna gets caught by smog and Deeba finds out that the plot is thicker than previously realized, and she returns alone to UnLondon to fight the smog. I LOVED this. I love how Mieville subverts the usual "Chosen One" savior, I love the moment Deeba finds out she's supposed to be the Funny Sidekick, I love how she decides plot coupons are dumb and goes straight for the last one, I love that she chucks the books out of the window. It reminded me very strongly of Buffy and how Buffy deals with the Watcher's Council and all her prophecies. I love how the villains are scary and banal at the same time; the most frightening remind me the most of the facelesss time-waster guy from Phantom Tollbooth, which I remember as the scariest villain in the book.

I should say more, except I haven't written this up for days and days because I can't quite get through what I want to say. So just go read it!

Links:
- minnow1212's review
- cofax7's review
- gwyneira's review

Comments

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

>I started out very worried<

I remember actually debating whether to say something to the effect of, "stick it out! It subverts the expectations"...and couldn't quite figure out how to say that without being terribly spoilery.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I was like, "But... Minnow said the girl of color was awesome! And I don't care how awesome she is, I don't want her to be the sidekick." And I was prepared to write out a growly post, but decided to stick it out, because Deeba was still getting more personality than Zanna (Curdle!), and then it went there and I was so happy!

[magistera.livejournal.com]

*delurks*

Having carefully avoided the spoilers in case I want to give Mieville another chance: have you read anything else of his? If so, is this generally similar in style?

I read Perdido Street Station and I believe one other book of his and didn't like them at all, but I've recently discovered a couple of authors that I now love by being a little more forgiving of first impressions, so I'm sort of inclined to give some of the other "people everyone is raving about that I felt blah about" another try, if that makes any sense.

[cofax7]

I bounced hard off Perdido Street Station; this is nothing like it, either in tone or in prose. To my mind, anyway.

[magistera.livejournal.com]

That's really good to know, thanks! Maybe I'll give this one a try, then.

[oyceter]

I haven't read anything else of Mieville's, so sadly, I can't say.

If it helps any, I've sort of been avoiding his other books because they don't sound up my alley, but all the reviews had me checking this one out. It feels like very classic children's fantasy and very modern at the same time; I can see this one sticking around for a while.

[magistera.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that is helpful. I think this one will go on my "things to keep in mind" list :)

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Absolutely completely different in tone. Stylistic similarities, but you have to look for them. Definitely read this one.

[cofax7]

YAY I'm glad you liked it!

I saw another review elsewhere today and they hated it, so I'm glad to have validation from you.

[oyceter]

I really loved it! It was just so fun, and it went about subverting genre tropes while sticking with the best of them at the same time!

[mattador.livejournal.com]

I think that might actually have been my favorite of Mieville's books- it took itself less seriously, and that relaxation was good for it.

[oyceter]

It was just so fun! I laughed so much while reading it out of sheer delight.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I'm carefully skipping past the spoilers, so if you cover this in there, I apologize! It sounds like a really fun book. My friend B adores YA fantasy (like Tamora Pierce and Sherwood Smith) and would love a story about a girl of color kicking ass. I just wanted to check, because you know with YA anything goes, does this have a happy ending? Also, is there any smut? (B shies away from smut).

[cofax7]

(a) yes. (b) no smut.

It really reads like a multi-cultural girl-friendly slightly aged-up version of The Phantom Tollbooth, with more puns and an even wilder imagination.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thank you! :) It sounds perfect.

[oyceter]

Definitely a happy ending, definitely no smut. Also, it feels like very classic YA fantasy to me, with a smart take on tropes.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

Isn't it great? I think YA is perfect for Mieville because he's forced to control his maim-y impulses - though I did find the Black Windows incredibly creepy. I hope he writes a sequel. More Deeba! More Hemi!

[oyceter]

Maim-y impulses? Oh dear!

The Black Windows and Webminster were maybe my favorite parts! So punny and creepy at the same time.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Have just read the book and thought I'd look to see if you reviewed it. Maim-y impulses: practically all of Mieville's adult books have downbeat endings in which the sympathetic characters end up horribly dead or permanently damaged. Mieville has gone on record (http://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/11/with-one-bound-we-are-free-pulp-fantasy-and-revolution/) as saying, in effect, that he can't write happy endings because the only happy ending for anyone can be World Revolution and the world after World Revolution would be so different that nobody living under capitalism could imagine it.

[oyceter]

Mieville has gone on record as saying, in effect, that he can't write happy endings because the only happy ending for anyone can be World Revolution and the world after World Revolution would be so different that nobody living under capitalism could imagine it.

*has flashbacks to W*ll Sh*tt*rly*

Well, in that case, I will probably skip his adult books! Thanks for the warning. (I am all for overturning capitalism but not so much with the doom&gloom in fiction right now.)