Review - Un Lun Dun

Un Lun Dun, by China Miéville, is about the underside of London. The forgotten parts. So far, so very Neverwhere, I thought, at first. But actually, Un Lun Dun is a different kind of book. Cleverer, in that it twists fantasy clichés ("the UnChosen one" being the biggest example), quirkier (I didn't see a living milk carton called Curdle, or living ninja bins, binja, in Neverwhere!), and lighter. It's definitely aimed at younger people, and actually, I think China Miéville does a good job of it. The pacing and description is much better than in Perdido Street Station, in my opinion, although the chapters are very short so sometimes it feels a bit choppy; possibly scene breaks would have been more appropriate than chapter breaks.

I have to say, it is rather light on characterisation. Instead, it's more of a parade of quirky ideas -- Curdle, the binja, broken umbrellas having a life of their own... Normally, that'd be a problem for me. I'm very much the kind of person that gets attached to characters. Despite twisting the Chosen One archetype, the main characters ends up being rather the Chosen One type: smart, lucky, brave, etc, etc.

It's not what you'd expect from China Miéville, if you've read any of his other stuff. It's not the best example of his work, because I don't think it's representative. It's light, and very easy and quick to read. I think that makes it pretty fun.

And in case you didn't notice, I really like Curdle.