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A review by songwind
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville
4.0
China Mieville is a noted writer of dark steampunk fantasy. When I learned that he had written a YA novel, I was curious how well he would accomplish it, and if it would still be recognizable as his.
The answers are: Just fine, and Yes.
Un Lun Dun revisits one of the major themes of [b:King Rat|68498|King Rat|China Miéville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692699s/68498.jpg|1870961]: an second London, existing alongside the first. However, instead of King Rat's world of the lost and downtrodden, UnLondon is a world made up of many types of people, some of whom are indigenous, and technology that has become obsolete in London.
Zanna and Deeba are school girls who end up in UnLondon, and in the middle of a conflict that has been brewing for years. How they affect the course of the conflict and the people of UnLondon is the focus of the book.
The prose is clearly Mieville's. Though accessible for younger readers, he still imbues it with his obvious love for words. Words even play a role in the course of the story more than once.
I also liked the fact that the US version of the book did not Americanize the text. Instead, the author included a dictionary of English usage and slang to help the reader with any idiomatic terms that might be unfamiliar.
The answers are: Just fine, and Yes.
Un Lun Dun revisits one of the major themes of [b:King Rat|68498|King Rat|China Miéville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170692699s/68498.jpg|1870961]: an second London, existing alongside the first. However, instead of King Rat's world of the lost and downtrodden, UnLondon is a world made up of many types of people, some of whom are indigenous, and technology that has become obsolete in London.
Zanna and Deeba are school girls who end up in UnLondon, and in the middle of a conflict that has been brewing for years. How they affect the course of the conflict and the people of UnLondon is the focus of the book.
The prose is clearly Mieville's. Though accessible for younger readers, he still imbues it with his obvious love for words. Words even play a role in the course of the story more than once.
I also liked the fact that the US version of the book did not Americanize the text. Instead, the author included a dictionary of English usage and slang to help the reader with any idiomatic terms that might be unfamiliar.