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Un Lun Dun

by China Miéville (Goodreads Author)

3.78 · rating details · 4,319 ratings · 795 reviews

What is Un Lun Dun?

It is London through the looking glass, an urban Wonderland of strange delights where all the lost and broken things of London end up . . . and some of its lost and broken people, too–including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas; Obaday Fing, a tailor whose head is an enormous pin-cushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle. Un Lun Dun is a p...more

Paperback, 474 pages

Published January 29th 2008 by Del Rey Books (first published 2007)

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Feb 22, 2010

Ceridwen rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Ceridwen by: Miriam

Shelves: fantasy, rule-britannia, steampunk, urban-fantasy, young-adult, zombies

China Miéville is my new boyfriend. I mean, look at him:

China looking very growly and hawt

Hubba hubba. I mean, I've always had a thing for guys who have had their noses obviously broken at some point, but this man is just wicked attractive. Now that I've been super lame and girly about this authors merits, I do want to say that I love you for your mind, Mr. Miéville, your hot, hot mind. And the fact that your name is weird. And you've got those little French thingees over the e that I can't get my word processor to do. (I roll with cut-and-paste; it's a kluge, but it gets the job done.)

I'm too young to have this be emotionally real for me, but one of the reasons Hitchcock's “Psycho” was so upsetting is because it discombobulated the viewers notions of main character. Hitchcock spends all this time documenting Marion and her crime and escape, lavishing scenes on her switching cars, chatting with the bf, all that. Then she checks into a motel, has a little dinner, dips into the shower and SWINK SWINK SWINK end of story. Like, WHAT? I imagine everyone in the theater thinking. You just killed off the main character! In steps Lila, Marion's sister, and we all kind of breathe a sigh of relief, but it just has to be said: Lila's not as interesting. Norman is, though, and then you realize that the story's about him, and he's a bloody killer.

But maybe that's not even it, maybe it's that we can't trust Hitchcock anymore because stories should be about one thing and not another, one person and not another, and we like it when character is destiny, but more importantly, we like it when characters have destinies, because, like, isn't that the point of fiction? Fiction winds up these little marionettes who trundle forward in little dioramas, and maybe the fictions are more or less life-like, maybe the dolls have real silk dresses, or the walls are actually lathe-and-plaster with horsehair and newspapers from the turn of the last century as insulation, but it's still fiction, which means there's a simplicity at it's soul, even when it's complicated – there's just no way to make a 1-to-1 model of everything. We root for main characters, even when they suck and are terrible, because we are main characters all; I don't care how much empathy you have, you simply can't know what goes on in another person's head, anyone's. So Hitchcock kills his main character, and we all start, because, holy wow, man, you just killed us.

Anyway, Miéville does this with the concept of Destiny and I just want to give him a big smooch for it. (Well, okay, for other reasons too.) A pair of girls fall into the Un Lun Dun/unLondon of the title. UnLondon is just fantastic, not entirely because it's trying to be fantastic, but because it isn't, sort of. Man, that didn't make any sense. Okay, here's an example: our protagonists run in with folk called the Roofrunners, who seem like those sort of aggressively clannish Klingon types who are always crowing about how no one has stepped onto the ground in three generations and wear a lot of leather. You can see where this is going, right? Some Roofrunner is going to have to step onto the ground at some point very soon to Save Them All, but then, when it actually happens, turns out the roofs are false roofs, just sitting there on the ground with no houses under them, so all they really have to do is STEP DOWN. That is so freaking funny! I mean, it's all fiction right? The roofs, the city, the people inside, why not have the roofs on the ground? Why not make the danger something that comes from the stories these people told, and not the imaginary gravity of their imaginary environment? Whoa. I just freaked myself out.

There's other sublime weirdness as well: a school of fish in a diving suit who constitute a sentient entity, or a bird in a robot man with a birdcage for a head, or any of a hundred other frightening or comic people and things. There's pictures too – little pen and ink sketches by Miéville himself – more swooning – that aren't obnoxious or distracting, but help catalog the oddments without interrupting the narrative. He has the good sense not to interfere with my notions of how the main characters look, instead stuffing the peripheries with the ideas I might miss out of the corner of my eye.

BUT, all soul mates have to have their their first fight, and here's my opening salvo: sometimes puns just piss me off. There should never be places called Webminster Abbey...made of webs! Inhabited by the Black Window...who is like a window with spider legs! It's just, you know, lame. (Although, the actual descriptions of the Black Windows, even though just typing those words made me die a little bit, was unsettling and powerful.) Gaiman's Neverwhere gets mentioned a lot with this book - I think it's mentioned by and Miéville himself - I had the same problems with that one. Additionally, one of the reasons I didn't groove on Neverwhere like some of Gaiman's other stuff is that Richard Mayhew is milquetoast as all get out, and his problems with his gf were kind of stupid, Sex and the City style antics, and he just needed to sack up, in general. Deeba is similarly unrealized, in some ways: I don't have a good sense of how she is when she's alone, but at least she didn't have a harpy-ish girlfriend who seemed like a sexist caricature.

Sorry Gaiman! I still love you too, but I'm throwing you over for this Miéville fellow!(less)

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May 10, 2011

Stephen rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, award-nominee-british-fantasy, award-winner-british-fantasy, award-nominee-arthur-c-clarke, award-winner-arthur-c-clarke, multiple-award-nominee, multiple-award-winners, ya, fantasy, award-nominee-locus, award-winner-locus, 2006-2010, weird-and-new-weird

Let me begin this sadly negative review by saying that I think China Mieville is one of the BEST writers working today. To put it simply…he is THE MAN!! Unfortunately, and it pains me to say, he is THE MAN in this case that wrote a really shitty book. It happens to the best of artists at some point in their career. Al Pacino did Author, Author, Steven Spielberg did Always and even Will Ferrell did Bewitched. Well, I must report that this is Mr. Mieville’s Ishtar, sans Dustin Hoffman...more

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Dec 15, 2010

Joel rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, 52-in-2010, ya, sci-fi-fantasy, vote-getters, stefon

For the second book in a row, China Miéville's writing has reminded me of nothing so much as one of Stefon's drug-fueled gay fantasies:

UnLondon's hottest club is Smog. This place has everything: naked ghosts, balloon zombies, sentient pollution, buses with lizard feet, spider windows, ninja R2D2s. You know that thing where a trash can has been trained in the martial arts?

---

This year it was my goal to read 100 books. Which I have accomplished with several weeks...more

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Mar 27, 2008

Tony rated it

· review of another edition

I hated this book to start with, which is to say the first third or so. However, since I was reading it for work, I stuck with it, and finally came around to the novel.

My specific gripes with the first third are that it's clichéd, the characters lack distinction, and it falls into the classic sci-fi/fantasy trap of deluging the readers with unfamiliar and hard to describe details, thereby alienating them from the workings of plot and character. Instead of coming off as unique and...more

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Mar 28, 2008

Michael rated it

· review of another edition

When I started this book, I thought to myself "oh lord, I hope this isn't another _Neverwhere_". I liked Gaiman's novel just fine, but I had in my hand ANOTHER urban fantasy, with a Dave McKean-esque cover, and I didn't think that I could handle it.

Kudos to Mieville for taking my worries and drop-kicking them into the ocean.

There's so much to like about this novel. The protagonist isn't who it seems at first. The level of imagination is astounding (quirky, gentl...more

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Jun 19, 2011

Robert rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I am not sure what to make of this book or its author.
Considerable time is spent attacking cliches of the fantasy genre, yet Mieville's Unlondon is acknowledged as derivative of Gaiman's Neverwhere. Isn't being obviously derivative of your predecessors both a cliche and the worst crime of the fantasy genre? (I give credit for open admission of the debt, though.)

One of the cliches attacked is that of the the Protagonist with a Heroic Destiny (PHD). Fairy Nuff, but you can see ...more

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Mar 19, 2008

Trin rated it

Shelves: childrens, fantasy, english-lit

A sort of kiddie Neverwhere (and Miéville does indeed credit Neil Gaiman in the intro), this is one of those books that’s packed with cleverness—and really, really aware of it. I like some of Miéville’s attempts to turn the typical quest-y fantasy on its ear—The Chosen One turns out to be fairly useless! The “tasks” one must complete to defeat the bad guy are highly skippable!—but UnLondon never felt like a real place to me, or its denizens real people. I’m still really not sure who Deeba was ...more

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May 15, 2007

Susan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: YA readers looking for sci-fi

Shelves: ya

A poor man's Neverwhere. I'll admit that I stopped reading after 115 pages.

I read several glowing reviews of this, saying it was going to rescue us in this, the time of no-more-harry-potter. And lookee! It has female protagonists! But no. A typical adventure/sci-fi premise: someone from our world gets transported to a different world and must save something/do a quest.
a) It is, at least in the first 115 pages, entirely plot-driven. I know nothing about what separates the two ...more

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Aug 20, 2010

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± rated it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, urban-fantasy, group-read

(Maybe more sort of 2.5)

I was excited about the premise of this story. I like 'Wonderland' type stories, especially Gaiman's Neverwhere, which Mieville does specifically mention as being an influence. But this story never really got above "alright" for me.

Part of the problem was that I never really clicked with or cared that much about the characters. I liked the role of Deeba at first - the friend who reluctantly gets dragged into an adventure - but I neve...more

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Aug 19, 2008

Robert Beveridge rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-goal-list, cuy-co-pub-lib, finished, best-i-read-2008-edition

China Mieville, Un Lun Dun (Ballantine, 2007)

I have written many times (more than I can count, certainly) about the dangers of message fiction. Chief among them is that the author gets so wrapped up in the message that he forgets he's first and foremost supposed to tell a story. When I realized that Un Lun Dun, China Mieville's first childrens' book, was of the “message fiction” stripe, I quailed in despair, thinking I might have encountered my first Mieville book (and I've read 'em ...moreChina Mieville, Un Lun Dun (Ballantine, 2007)

I have written many times (more than I can count, certainly) about the dangers of message fiction. Chief among them is that the author gets so wrapped up in the message that he forgets he's first and foremost supposed to tell a story. When I realized that Un Lun Dun, China Mieville's first childrens' book, was of the “message fiction” stripe, I quailed in despair, thinking I might have encountered my first Mieville book (and I've read 'em all) I wasn't going to like. I should have known better.

Message-fiction writers, listen up: the vast majority of you have a lot to learn from China Mieville. This is how you tell a story. Not just a message story, but any story. (Which is the point, really.) Perfectly-created characters that are rich and deep, a strong plot in which to set them (with no end of surprises-- Mieville is also poking some fun at the traditional fantasy-novel setup here), a setting that manages to both be original and wear Mieville's debt to Clive Barker on its sleeve, and a message that, yes, still manages to poke its head through! Believe it or not, you can have all these things in one book! Don't believe me? Read this one.

Un Lun Dun is the story of Zanna, the Shwazzy (I'd explain that, but catching the many puns in this book before Mieville reveals them is a lot of the fun-- and he still nailed me with Klinneract), and her friend Deeba. The two of them live in a block of apartments in London. Strange things start happening to them-- animals trying to communicate with them in sign language, odd-shaped clouds, being followed by a broken umbrella. Then Zanna goes into a basement, turns a wheel, and everything changes. I wish I could tell you more. I want to tell you more. But I don't want to spoil anything, anything at all, about this book. You deserve all the surprises, and all the delights, awaiting you when you read it for yourself.

If you've encountered China Mieville before, you should know what to expect, except on a more YA level than you're used to. If you haven't experienced China Mieville before, hie thee to the library or the bookstore yesterday, if not before, and pick yourself up a copy of Perdido Street Station, one of the best books that's been published in the past decade in order to get acquainted. Though actually, I have to say, Un Lun Dun is the first book of his I've thought would also make an excellent entry point into Mieville's alternate universes (while most of his books are set in the invented world of Bas-Lag, his first novel King Rat and many of his shorter works are set in an alternate London somewhat similar to the one he uses here). One way or the other, though, I will not stop in my quest to get everyone I come into contact with to read China Mieville's stuff until, well, everyone has. And that includes you, so hop to it. **** ½

(less)

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Aug 13, 2008

Suzi rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, middle-grade-books, young-adult-books, sf-book-group-books, read-aloud-with-partner-books

God, I love this book. Every time I read it, I love it more despite the heavy-handed bad guy.

Here's my review from my paper:

Those who have read some of China Miéville's adult science fiction works may be surprised by the playfulness of this long middle-grade book. The story questions both predestination and the familiar Tolkien (and Biblical) tropes of those who are picked by some greater force to take up a mantle of heroism. Instead, Miéville suggests, you don't need to...more

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Jul 21, 2008

Terence rated it

Shelves: sf-fantasy

I wasn't sure whether or not to give this book a 3 or a 4 (if we had a more refined rating system, I'd give it a 3.7/3.8) because it started out a bit slow but as soon as Mieville focused on Deeba, the story picked up its pace and became much more interesting.

Short plot outline (which doesn't contain spoilers): Like many young-adult & adult fantasies, there's another version of London (and the world) that exists just "around the corner" or in between the stacks in a library...moreI wasn't sure whether or not to give this book a 3 or a 4 (if we had a more refined rating system, I'd give it a 3.7/3.8) because it started out a bit slow but as soon as Mieville focused on Deeba, the story picked up its pace and became much more interesting.

Short plot outline (which doesn't contain spoilers): Like many young-adult & adult fantasies, there's another version of London (and the world) that exists just "around the corner" or in between the stacks in a library that it's sometimes possible to get to. In this case, it's the city of UnLondon, where the trash and the obsolete (like old-style double-decker buses) and lost laundry wind up. Everything there is alive, so Deeba winds up with a pet milk carton named Curdle.

Zanna and Deeba are two young girls from London. Zanna is the Chosen One (the Shwazzy, corrupted French "choisir") prophesized to save UnLondon from the Smog (the sentient detritus of the pollution generated by our own world). Unfortunately, when they arrive, it turns out the prophecies were wrong and Zanna is dispatched (no, not killed, just "neutralized") rather easily by the Smog's minions. Fortunately, it appears that the Unbrellisimo, the ruler of the Unbrellas (no, that's not a mispelling, it's what broken umbrellas are called) has a plan to fight the Smog and everything looks like it will be all right so Zanna and Deeba return to London.

In the process of being saved, Zanna forgets everything that occurred in UnLondon but Deeba remembers and stumbles upon the fact that the scientist Unstible, who created the formula by which the Unbrellas became effective weapons against the Smog, died in London so she knows something is wrong, and manages to return to UnLondon to find out what it is and save her friends.

The rest of the novel is taken up with Deeba and her UnLondon friends' effort to save UnLondon.

I wound up really enjoying this book. The moral of the book is that a person's fate is not set in stone, that people make their own fates. It also stresses the importance of friendship, and manages to get in lessons about recycling and preserving our environment without being preachy. It also displays Mieville's usual inventiveness.

I'll be passing this along to my nieces, who may be a few years too young yet to appreciate it but will enjoy it eventually.(less)

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Apr 12, 2008

Chris rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

A young girl in London is visited by strange people who seem to know her. They call her the Schwazzy and mysterious graffiti seems to imply that young Zannah is a mysterious savior-in-waiting. There's a mysterious world, unknown to most people, and only she can save them!

This is pretty much how the book begins. At this point, I found myself thinking, "How long will it be before people can read something like this without thinking of Harry Potter?" I mean, the whole displa...moreA young girl in London is visited by strange people who seem to know her. They call her the Schwazzy and mysterious graffiti seems to imply that young Zannah is a mysterious savior-in-waiting. There's a mysterious world, unknown to most people, and only she can save them!

This is pretty much how the book begins. At this point, I found myself thinking, "How long will it be before people can read something like this without thinking of Harry Potter?" I mean, the whole displaced child-messiah thing is fun, but Potter was a really big example of it and it'll take a long time before authors are able to overcome that. So, it was at this point that I settled in and got ready to read a nice boilerplate novel.

Mister Miéville, if you're reading this: I'm very, very sorry for not trusting you. It won't happen again.

Miéville has taken the child savior idea and pulled the rug out from under it in this book. While Zannah is the Chosen One of UnLondon, the one foretold about in the greatest prophecies of that abcity. It was said that she, with her friends, would defeat UnLondon's most horrible foe.... And if Miéville had stuck with that, he still would have had a very entertaining book. With UnLondon, a kind of funhouse-mirror version of London, he's created a rich and vibrant city that can support tales of great complexity. That great city wants Zannah to save it.

But right around a hundred pages in, Miéville goes and switches protagonists on us. Just because a girl is the Chosen One doesn't mean that she has to end up being the one to save it. A good thwack on the head can make it so that the Funny Sidekick - Zannah's friend Deeba - is now the one who has to save UnLondon from The Smog.

While Miéville owes a great debt to Neil Gaiman for his writing of Neverwhere - which he acknowledges in the end of the book - he's taken the concept of the Other London (to say nothing of other abcities such as Lost Angeles or Baghdidn't) and extended it. He's created a potentially vast other world, a network of cities that reflect our world in weird and wonderful ways. Deeba and her companions - embodied slang, a half-ghost boy and an animate milk carton named Curdle, to name just a few - embark on a quest to save a world from itself. It's a great story, full of adventure and twists which takes the expected standards of the genre and stands them on their head. For that alone, he should be praised. That, and for writing an awesome book....(less)

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Jul 05, 2007

Ross Lockhart rated it

· review of another edition

Un Lun Dun is the sort of book that promises the staying power of a classic. Though intended for young readers, Un Lun Dun can be enjoyed by adults as well, and Miéville does an excellent job of setting up, and then thwarting, the clichés and expectations inherent in YA quest motifs, from the idea of a “chosen one” to the intricacies of the quests themselves. At times, Un Lun Dun is reminiscent of the linguistically-playful tone of Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth or Madeline L’Engle’s A Wr...more

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Jan 10, 2012

Peter rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, childrens-ya, steam-punk

This is the first China Mieville book I have read. It is a YA fantasy story where Deeba, a teenage girl, and her best friend Zanna stumble into Un Lun Dun – a surreal version of London. They are tasked with ridding both cities of the evil Smog - a personification of an environmental disaster. To do this they must gather a gang of trusted friends together; solve a few tasks and collect some magical weapons. Along the way there are twists and betrayals. The usual Quest story basically.

Th...more

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Mar 03, 2008

Janice rated it

· review of another edition

i think i would have to give this 4 and a half, though it was derivative of some other "lower london" books i've read, which shall remain nameless. i like this one better. but what i really liked was how it turned the whole young-adult phenomenon on its head, breaking all the rules laid down by the likes of narnia, dark is rising, harry potter, etc. unfortunately, he has to set up that sort of young adult world in order to smash it down, so the first 100 pages or so are not indicati...more

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Feb 21, 2008

Chloe rated it

Recommends it for: Fan of escapist, plot driven stories and psychedelic fantasy.

Recommended to Chloe by: Bridget

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, experamental, ya-j

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Some books are mixed bags. There are good parts, parts that leave you dazzled or moved. Then, there are those weak moments: poor characters, clichés, general silliness… Many books are mixed bags. This book is not. This book is a mixed magician’s hat. Nothing so drab as a bag could enclose the majestic wonders described in Un Lun Dun. A bag is too commonplace to hold the world Mieville has created. Only something truly spectacular could contain it. However, wizard’s hat container or no, it’s stil...moreSome books are mixed bags. There are good parts, parts that leave you dazzled or moved. Then, there are those weak moments: poor characters, clichés, general silliness… Many books are mixed bags. This book is not. This book is a mixed magician’s hat. Nothing so drab as a bag could enclose the majestic wonders described in Un Lun Dun. A bag is too commonplace to hold the world Mieville has created. Only something truly spectacular could contain it. However, wizard’s hat container or no, it’s still a mix.

I first wish to say that I enjoyed this book. I like to be taken into a fantastic world where the strange and supernormal can create wondrous visions in my mind. Mieville has a genius for doing just that. He can take you into a place so absurd that you never could have even dreamt it, and then he lets you see it in glorious Technicolor. However, that being said, I also enjoyed Mirrormask, The Labyrinth, and countless cheesy old suspense radio programs and pulp fiction magazines. Call it a weakness. All of these have excellent qualities that make them enjoyable, but they also are mixes of good and bad. If you can suspend your belief to enjoy at least one of the above, you probably will like Un Lun Dun.

Un Lun Dun is a refreshing step away from the stereotypical fantasy. It ostensibly has all of the same attributes (the prophecy, the chosen one, the evil “emperor”, the sidekick, the mentor, the fearless band, et cetera). However, soon you realize that the chosen one really isn’t chosen and it is up to the courage and strength of another, thrust into the story by forces beyond her control, to save the day. This is like a fresh, spring breeze entering a stuffy room when it comes to modern, teen fantasy. Almost every teen fantasy follows the same plot anymore: some young fellow (more often than not an apprentice to someone) is told by a wise so-and-so that he or she has a destiny… to save THE WORLD! (As my friend says, if the hero has such a destiny, why tell him or her? Won’t it come to the hero naturally? If he/she is predestined? If not, then he or she does not have a destiny, wouldn’t you say?) However, in stepping away from this dead horse, Mieville’s work actually brings to mind the work of an author he claims to hate: Tolkien. Unlike stories in which the hero is chosen by a destiny, the hero of The Lord of the Rings, Frodo, is an unlikely hero who must rely on his courage and strength to save the day from events that he is thrust into by forces beyond his control. So, in rejecting one fantasy archetype, Mieville has picked another, equally iconic, one. Not that this is at all wrong, but it is worth pointing out. Character-wise, the story is not quite as original as it seems.

In fact, Mieville’s characters are little more than archetypes. The unlikely hero is present. We have our “evil emperor” (the fact that it is smog and not a person does not make it any less evil or any less of an “emperor” figure). We have a mentor: a wisecracking, talking book. Sure, it may make tons of mistakes, but it does help the heroine and offer advice. We even have a sidekick, the milk carton; and a band of fearless underdogs. The sad part of all of this is, though as different species they are original, none of the characters display especially original personalities. In fact, the reader never really gets to know anyone. As one reviewer pointed out, the two girls from London above are practically the same. No one develops enough for the reader to build sufficient emotional attachment to anyone. The characters do not seem to have lives outside of the story. Great characters, such as Scarlet from Gone with the wind, Cathy from Wuthering Heights, Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, Tom from Tom Sawyer, Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia, Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, Harry from Harry Potter, are far more fleshed out. If you mentally popped Scarlet into a masquerade ball, you would know how she would react. If Cathy met Elizabeth, we could easily picture the results. Tom’s style of behavior is second nature to us. If Lucy went to Middle Earth, we know how she would react. And, of course, Gandalf is iconic. But, if I tried to imagine any of the Un Lun Dun cast in a situation outside of their book, I would be stumped. They do not exist outside of the story. They are not quite real enough.

No, the appeal of the book is not in the characters. The appeal is not even in the plot. The plot itself is simply the wanderings of the Unlikely Hero through Un Lun Dun as she and her Fearless Underdogs decipher clues to find special items and defeat the Evil Emperor. It’s fairly simplistic and a little thin. The author seems to want to write Alice in Wonderland or The Phantom Tollbooth. However, both of these stories had a main character with a distinct personality, one we could relate to and who has an existence. In fact, all of the characters in The Phantom Tollbooth are well developed, regardless of however little we know them. On top of this, they were both original, and Un Lun Dun sometimes feels like a rip-off, especially regarding words. I had a hard time not seeing The Phantom Tollbooth in my mind whenever they came up. No, characters and plot to not make the story.

What does make the story? Why read it at all? The world. That is why I enjoyed the tale, and that is why I am giving the book three stars. While the characters are as forgettable as a generic brand cheddar, the world is memorable. Not only that, it is real. If Mieville had developed his characters only half as well as he developed his world, their names would be as common as all of the iconic characters I listed above. On top of this, the world does have an existence that transcends the story. I am perfectly willing to believe that the world goes on after the tale, and that it existed before the story began. If I dropped a dazed elephant into the world, I know how the world would react. The world of Un Lun Dun is the most memorable character in the book. It breaths excitement and will keep you turning the pages, drinking in its awesome beauty. Mieville evocative prose further strengthens the vision of Un Lun Dun by painting it clearly and in vivid colors in your head. It is hard remove these pictures from your brain long after the book is closed. The world is spectacular, vast and brimming with a imagination as powerful as an atomic missile. You will not be able to get enough of the gorgeous scenes the author paints in your mind: forests in houses, window spiders, living litter, a bird in a VERY peculiar cage. What is more, you never feel confused or lost in this world, though it could easily have swallowed the reader whole and spat him/her out again. Perhaps this is why the plot, as skimpy as the skeleton of a living umbrella, is so easily forgiven by the five-star reviewers. You are so busy exploring the world that you don’t have time to think about a complicated story.

This does not mean that the world is without its flaws. The concept of an underground London world, populated by strange characters, has already been done. Popping an unlikely hero into the world has been done, too. The story I am referring to is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. In fact, more than one reference seems to have been lifted from Gaiman’s work. The fact that Neverwhere is a superior book, with fully-realized characters as well as a world just as wondrous and tangible as Un Lun Dun, does not help Mieville’s case. Fans of Neverwhere may even find themselves angered by Mieville’s liberal lifting. Those who have not yet read Gaiman’s work (I had not read Neverwhere when I read Un Lun Dun) may find Mieville’s story cheapened when they do so. Such was the case with me.

In all, Un Lun Dun is a fantastic voyage into a strange world. Not unlike Mirrormask (another Gaiman work, I might add), it fills up the empty spaces left by the lack of character development and a strong plot with amazing visuals that dazzle the mind like so much glam. (A CGI artist would have a ball with this.) But, the glam is not superficial, and moves and brings the reader to a place of awe with great skill. Enough skill, I say, to make the book a worthwhile read.
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Jan 30, 2008

Wealhtheow rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: young fans of Piers Anthony, Neil Gaiman, the Phantom Tollbooth, Diana Wynne Jones

Shelves: ya, urban-fantasy, fantasy

Reads like a modern The Phantom Tollbooth. Zanna and Deeba, two young friends, are abruptly transported from London to UNlondon, where the obsolete and unwanted bits of London go. There, they fight their way across the city, through menacing trash piles and piratical insects, to reach the Propheseers, who can tell them why they've been transported and why everyone calls Zanna "the Schwazzy". Zanna, it turns out, is spoken of in prophecies as the Chosen One who can defeat the Smog, ...more

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Aug 08, 2007

Tommy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

First off, if you haven't read China Mieville yet, I wouldn't recommend starting with this book, which is the author's first exploration into writing for young readers. Go pick up Perdido Street Station, one of my favorite books of the last fifteen years.

Un Lun Dun was a fun read, but a bit of a disappointment after the Revelation of the New Crubozon books by Mieville. It was all a bit too familiar, especially after books like Neverwhere and a lot of the comics in the Vertigo line. ...more

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May 15, 2007

Alanahurley rated it

· review of another edition

Having read China Mieville's excellent and sadly under-the-radar New Crobuzon trilogy (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council) I was rather leery of reading Un Lun Dun, his first work of young adult fiction. However, Mieville brings the same bizarre perspective and riotous imagination to his YA fiction as he does to his other writing. The story's main characters, Zanna and Deeba, find themselves sucked into UnLondon, London's warped mirror-city. A war between the UnLondoners and the Smog...more

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Aug 13, 2007

Evan rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of fun fantasy

Shelves: youngadult, fantasy

This is an awesome book. There are some books that make me squee in girlish delight(Kiki Strike In the Shadow City), some that make me cackle with insurrection (Trickster's Queen), some that make my heart race with the adrenaline of music and new love (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist). Un Lun Dun makes me giggle with glee. A lot. Just seeing the book on the shelf can make me burst out again.

Some notes: The characters aren't flushed out so well. It starts a little slowly as...more

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May 11, 2007

Carissa rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who likes sci-fi with twists

I read lots of these types of books and I loved this one. It's about two girls, Deeba and Zanna, who are schoolmates in London. Weird stuff has been happening to Zanna recently. People (and animals!) she's never met seem to know her and someone walked up to her in a cafe and said, "schwazzy." Whatever that means. Pretty soon, the girls find themselves on an exciting adventure in a very strange city called "UnLondon" where the conventions of our lives have been turned top...more

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Feb 13, 2008

Blair rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: kids-and-young-adult, fantasy

From all I've read about this, I was expecting to adore it, but it's all just a bit... silly, really. Yes, it's a children's book so I probably should have expected that, but positive reviews in the likes of the Guardian Review led me to believe the book has more crossover appeal than it really does. Enjoyable but pretty daft and implausible, and a lot of the character names, conceits etc were really annoying. (I know it's for kids, but does the book really have to signpost everything so blatant...more

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Sep 03, 2007

Tim Hicks rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: imaginative people

Shelves: fantasy

I'll read this book again every few years. I like all of Mieville's work, and I was wondering what he'd do for a younger audience. I wondered that about Neil Gaiman too, and his "Coraline" was great. "Un Lun Dun" is equally great. How can you not like a book in which a lead character has a pet milk carton? It's wildly imaginative, but follows the basic rule of SF/fantasy: assume whatever you like, but after that be consistent and follow the rules you just invented. There a...more

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Nov 05, 2007

Dracolibris rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2007, ya-lit

This was a wonderful, whimsical, truly fantastic fantasy the likes of which I have not read in years, if ever. I never did fall in love with Dorothy and the OZ books- couldn't tell you why I missed that- but I imagine this is what it feels like to be introduced to such a crazy world and its lovable (and frightening!) denizens for the first time. I don't even want to try to explain what goes on in Un Lun Dun, you must find out for yourself. Belive me, you are in for one wild ride. :-)
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Jan 02, 2009

Elizabeth Wallace rated it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult-children

When you get right down to it, this book was about 100 pages too long, the pacing was off in a lot of places, and it wasn't nearly as gripping as Mieville's "Perdido Street Station," not by half.

And yet..

He's so frigging CLEVER. You'll be reading along, and getting a teeny bit bored, and he'll throw some clever little pun at you, some new UnLondon native or piece of geography, and it's just so NEAT. (Seriously, the name of the cars that've been turned into boats...more

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Jan 02, 2009

Jaymi rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2007

It was the image on the cover and the name that caught my eye when I was in the bookstore. And I'm gald I purchased it. Adding into what I call the Modern day faerietale and magic realism genres, this book tells the story of UnLondon, a world under and between our London. Smog (yes, the smokey stuff) has grown to intelligence and threatens to destroy this rich and lush world spun by Mieville. It's up to the heroine (seems like more books are choosing to write from the perspective of young women ...more

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Jan 18, 2012

Hannah added it · review of another edition

This bizarre yet imaginative tale pulls the reader in from the very beginning to an alternate city a reality's-span away from the familiar city of London. As the story begins we follow sensible Deeba as she follows dreamy Zanna along her pre-destined path to UnLondon. he has been labeled by the citizens of Unlondon as the "Shwazzy"- an English-ified version of the French "choisi" meaning chosen. These people, viewed through the eyes of the two English school-girls are to put ...moreThis bizarre yet imaginative tale pulls the reader in from the very beginning to an alternate city a reality's-span away from the familiar city of London. As the story begins we follow sensible Deeba as she follows dreamy Zanna along her pre-destined path to UnLondon. he has been labeled by the citizens of Unlondon as the "Shwazzy"- an English-ified version of the French "choisi" meaning chosen. These people, viewed through the eyes of the two English school-girls are to put it mildy, eccentric and otherwordly. Upon their entrance to Unlondon, they are first greeted by a boy who is half-ghost, half human, and then by a man dressed in a suit made entirely of the pages of books. after being given a lift in a flying double-decker bus, and traveling through the more hazardous regions of UnLondon, Zanna reaches those who can explain to her why she has been brought here. Her mission: to fight the Smog, a poisonous, chemical smoke evolved from pollution with unnerving powers and a malicious mind of its own. Undaunted (mostly) Zanna has her first chance to prove her worth moments later when the group is attacked by the Smog's own minions. Everything goes exactly as prophesized- until it doesn't, that is. Instead of winning a glorious victory, Zanna is struck down by the Smog. Now it is time for Deeba, described in the prophecy only as "the humorous sidekick" to take over and get her friend home safely. This harrowing journey accomplished, this part of Deeba's life is over now, and she can move on, right? Wrong. Certain discrepancies lead Deeba to the horrifying realization that those who so helpfully bundled her and the Shwazzy back to London may have had a more sinister reason for doing so. Deeba must now find a way bak to help her newfound friends- no Shwazzy, onlly her rather resentful sidekick. But deeba has something the Shwazzy does not- true compassion for UnLondon and all its far-fetched inhabitants. With the help of these odd characters, she can work to find safety for her world and theirs, and her own inner leader along the way. Compassion is mighter than the prophecy, and a true leader will unite and not conquer.
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Jan 09, 2012

Leslie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, a-boy-s-shelf, action-adventure, author-of-another-country, chapter-book-8-11, concenter-ish, eco-crit, fantasy, middle-school-11-14, most-all-ages-really, natalyas-shelf

The author writes an anti-Alice, a shorter, rounder, less kempt, darker, and cleverer protagonist; titles a chapter with “despotic logorrhea;” and uses the word “pluperfect.” Need I say more? Possibly, because I haven’t yet gotten to the flesh-eating giraffes and I know you will want to read a story involving those.

With Christmas-money to burn, Natalya heads to the book store and we stayed a smidge too long. This is how we managed to browse the shelves and noticed a juvenile fiction wi...more

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Nov 30, 2011

Emma Thompson rated it

· review of another edition

One day, Zanna and Deeba somehow end up in Un Lun Dun, which is much like London only entirely not. They find out that Zanna is the chosen one, and she must destroy the smog...only Zanna doesn't want to so they hand over to the citizens of Un Lun Dun, go home and Zanna's memories are taken. But something doesn't make sense and Deeba can't stop thinking about what's happening in Un Lun Dun.

I found this book wonderfully vivid and imaginative, a great read and it would no doubt make a gre...moreOne day, Zanna and Deeba somehow end up in Un Lun Dun, which is much like London only entirely not. They find out that Zanna is the chosen one, and she must destroy the smog...only Zanna doesn't want to so they hand over to the citizens of Un Lun Dun, go home and Zanna's memories are taken. But something doesn't make sense and Deeba can't stop thinking about what's happening in Un Lun Dun.

I found this book wonderfully vivid and imaginative, a great read and it would no doubt make a great movie as it has a good number of visual elements that would work well like that. The opening is a little dull and predictable, we have all the traditional fantasy setup of the chosen one, the evil one who needs defeating, the sidekick, the mentors...and then it all goes to pot and it gets interesting.

Deeba is a wonderful, likeable character who grows a lot during the novel and really comes to find herself. The backdrop for the story is wonderful and imaginative, it made me want to explore Un Lun Dun. I was expecting kind of a city below like Neverwhere but Un Lun Dun is a city beside, I suppose. Kind of like an alternate dimension where it's kind of like London but at the same time very much not. As it's primarily a young adult book the villain is a little flat sometimes, though to it's credit it has reasons for doing what it does beyond "Muwhahaha I'm evil" which is as far as some fantasy gets. The side characters and charming and memorable, like Curdle the milk carton and Bling and Couldron the words. I got to relaly care about a whole host of them and that's another good thing about the book, it isn't afriad to make you feel things.

Deeba as a character is endearing not only in that she's positioned from the outset at the underdog, Zanna's sidekick, but in that she's adorably teenaged. She uses slang like bling and innit and at times just talks like a teenager and wants the things that teenagers want.

So, yeah. The book is aborable, endearing, and has characters you will remember and care about. The world is vivid and interesting. My only big annoyance was I worked out the end reveal about two chapters too early and ended up having to skim read those two chapters, thuogh the fact that once I'd worked it out it made me actually nervous and so full of energy and concern I had to skim read ahead to make sure Deeba worked it out and it was of is a testement to the book. Also, given it's a young adult book my getting the point early isn't unexpected...but yeah. IT's good. Go read it now.(less)

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About China Miéville

A British "fantastic fiction" writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" (after early 20th century pulp and horror writers such as H. P. Lovecraft), and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clichés of Tolkien epigons. He is also active in left-wing politics as a membe...more

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Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1)

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“The dead are way more organized than the living.” — 40 people liked it

“My dad hates umbrellas, said Deeba, swinging her own. When it rains he always says the same thing. 'I do not believe the presence of moisture in the air is sufficient reason to overturn society's usual sensible taboo against wielding spiked clubs at eye level.” — 21 people liked it

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