wmhenrymorris 's review for:

October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Miéville

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This reads like history written by a fiction writer, which means it's very readable. Lots of rehearsal of events punctuated by writerly details. I have no idea if the history is solid or not. It's not a cookie-cutter hagiographic account by any means, though. Just because dude's a communist doesn't mean he glosses over things. And actually, a lot like The German Mandarins book I read last month, it's the last chapter where all that comes before points to all that is to come where you get the full impact of the book. If Miéville is trying to pry just a bit of room between Stalinism and the Russian revolution and Marxism, then I think he does so successfully.

It's most important function for me, though, is that now I understand the end of Iron Council better (plus Miéville's general obsession with trains).