I was all ready to purchase this book the day it came out. But I was lucky enough to come upon an Advance Reading Copy this past week, so I didn’t need to. China Miéville is my favorite author, but even with that proviso, I’ve been awaiting this book from more than several recent works of his. I liked Iron Council but it took me a long time to read it and in the end I didn’t like it as much as I liked The Scar or Perdido Street Station. I own Looking for Jake, but haven’t cracked it yet. Too much other stuff to read. But Un Lun Dun intrigued me even without knowing the outline. All I knew was that it was young adult
and not set in Bas-Lag. I think some of the best books ever were targeted at the young adult
market, though there is a lot of dreck in that section of the book store.
The back of my reader’s edition says that the book is part Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, part The Phantom Tollbooth. My recollection of both of those books is faint, but I’d have to say it leans more towards Norton Juster’s book than Lewis Carroll’s.
Deeba and Zanna are teenage (?) Londoners. Strange things are afoot. Animals look at Zanna weirdly. Clouds as well. One day the two of them follow a crawling umbrella into some sort of underground bunker, where Zanna turns a wheel and London disappears. They are in UnLondon (Un Lun Dun
), a twisted city retaining some of London’s character and built on it’s detritus. Or moil
as the residents call it. Mildly Obsolete In London. The leftovers of London find their way to UnLondon: the wash that blows off the line, the smog, the garbage, etc. Ghosts inhabit UnLondon. So do weird beings such as the pincushion head tailor, and the school of fish inhabiting a diving suit, and a bird controlling a body with a birdcage for a head.
See, Zanna is the Schwazzy. UnLondon is at war. Smog is taking over the city. When it gets thick enough it can think and act. The Propheseers, the closest thing to UnLondon’s rulers and protectors (no one really runs UnLondon entirely), have a talking book of prophecy that predicts a girl from London will save UnLondon in the war. Zanna is their prophesied savior. The book describes her. It describes her winning her first fight with the smog. It tells how she accomplishes seven Herculean tasks culminating in finding the UnGun, which will be used to save UnLondon.
Only things don’t go quite as planned. In her first encounter, Zanna is pretty much useless and UnLondoners Unstible and Brokkenbroll hatch their own plan. Brokkenbroll commands unbrellas, living broken unbrellas. Unstible creates a chemical that makes the unbrellas bulletproof. The unbrellas fight off an attack of the smog by fanning it away and protecting UnLonders from smog-created bullet-like pellets. Everyone agrees to arm the entire city with unbrellas, so everything seems fine after all, despite a blown prophesy. Deeba and Zanna go back to London, though Zanna no longer remembers UnLondon.
But Deeba cannot forget, and some things worry her. She investigates further, and realizes there’s even more danger to UnLondon. So she sets out to return to warn everyone.
As noted in an interview, Miéville has a bit of an axe to grind. Much of fantasy revolves around fate, prophesy, and elite do-gooders who save the world. Fantasy is often about kings, queens, and princesses who are born to rule, and are destined to accomplish great things. What is there for regular people to identify with?
Miéville very consciously made the prophecy in Un Lun Dun nearly worthless. Not completely worthless, but nearly worthless. Zanna may be the Schwazzy, but she still was unable to fight effectively. Deeba, on the other hand, the sidekick, she’s the one who shows loyalty to her friend, as well as the caring to return to UnLondon. She doesn’t set out to be the Schwazzy, but she does attempt to help. She tries to pick and choose the important parts of the prophesy. Life is what she makes it; she doesn’t kowtow to what she’s supposed to do.
I have no clue really how to evaluate the book as young adult
. The reading is definitely tougher than Harry Potter, so it may not appeal to as many young people. And since Miéville makes a point to break some taboos of young adult novels, it may not be particularly popular. People often want the predictable. I think it’s a more interesting book though.
I don’t know if the published version of the book has them, or if the U.K. edition does, but Miéville has some great illustrations up on the official Un Lun Dun web site. The A.R.C. I read only has two small illustrations which are used in the chapter heads. But I’d definitely suggest looking at those drawings after reading the book, not before. Better for the imagination that way.
Title: Un Lun Dun
Author: China Miéville
Imprint / publisher: Del Rey / Random House
Publication Date: February 2007
Format: Advance Reader Copy
Length: 425 p.
ISBN-10: 0-345-49516-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-345-49516-7
