Product Description

The iron wheel began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The room grew darker. As the light lessened, so did the sound. Deeba and Zanna stared at each other in wonder. The noise of the cars and vans and motorbikes outside grew tinny . . . The wheel turned off all the cars and turned off all the lamps. It was turning off London.

Zanna and Deeba are two girls leading ordinary lives, until they stumble into the world of UnLondon, an urban Wonderland where all the lost and broken things of London end up . . . and some of its lost and broken people too. Here discarded umbrellas stalk with spidery menace, carnivorous giraffes roam the streets, and a jungle sprawls beyond the door of an ordinary house.

UnLondon is under siege by the sinister Smog and its stink-junkie slaves; it is a city awaiting its hero. Guided by a magic book that can’t quite get its facts straight, and pursued by Hemi the half-ghost boy, the girls set out to stop the poisonous cloud before it burns everything in its path. They are joined in their quest by a motley band of UnLondon locals, including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas, Obaday Fing, a couturier whose head is an enormous pincushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle.

The world of UnLondon is populated by astonishing frights and delights that will thrill the imagination.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24175 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Death Ray
'A modern day Alice in Wonderland, this is where the New Weird is at...'

Fortean Times
'It's funny and it's frightening...The characters are wondrous...'

About the Author

China lives and works in London. He has written four novels for adults. He has twice won the prestigous Arthur C. Clarke Award, with Perdido Street Station and Iron Council, and is also twice winner of the British Fantasy Award, for Perdido Street Station and The Scar.

Customer Reviews

Great fun!
Having just read the disappointing Iron Council I was happily very impressed with Un Lun Dun. It's supposed to be a children's book but me at 43 years old truly enjoyed this fantastic fantasy adventure. It's 520 pages long (in hard back) but it's so exciting that if you pick this book up you'll fly through it in no time. This is the first book I've ever read that at the end of it I wanted to start it all over again! China Miéville is a real great talent. For the adults out there I also recommended his Bas Lag novels "The Scar" and "Perdido Street Station", which is one of my favourite novels of all time. But those novels are definitely not for children. I've given "Un Lun Dun" Five out of five. Go get it.

Fantastic fun!
Deeba and Zanna discover a wheel in a basement, Zenna turns it and realizes that something weird is happening - London is being switched off! Zanna and Deeba are two best friends and they find themselves in the world of UnLondon, a place where London's discarded things somehow end up. UnLondon is under siege by the sinister Smog (a poisonous cloud) and is waiting for its saviour to arrive as prophesised by their magic book that can speak. Guided by this book the girls have to try and put an end to the poisonous cloud. A crew of UnLondon locals, the likes of which you will have never dreamed, joins them in their quest! UnLondon is more than a little unusual but an absolute wonder to read about.
If you love Neil Gaiman (especially Neverwhere), Terry Pratchett and Lewis Carroll then this book will be a particular delight for you

Subversive, original and very entertaining
China Mieville's brilliant YA fantasy subverts the traditional genre elements, notably the ideas that only a person ordained by prophecy can defeat a Big Bad, fantastical worlds only accessible through special portals and that pretty blonde girls have to be the hero.

When Zanna and Deeba realise that a broken umbrella is watching Zanna one night, they follow it and find themselves in the parallel world of UnLondon. There they discover that Zanna is the Shwazzy, the only person able to defeat the Smog, a cloud of noxious gas intent on dominating and destroying both UnLondon and London. But just as Zanna's embraces the role she's unexpectedly incapacitated. Someone has to help UnLondon if it is to survive, and Deeba volunteers. But she's not the Shwazzy, so what good can she possibly do?

Mieville's imagination blew me away. His UnLondon is familiar to Londoners (double-decker buses, markets, even a version of the London Eye) but he mixes it with the surreal - cannibal giraffes and houses constructed from rubbish amongst others. He uses puns to great effect and I'd recommend this book for the binjas alone. Politics also plays a big part in the book, with London's government being tied to what's happening in UnLondon. There's a distinctly anti-authoritarian feel to the text with the motivation of political leaders and even the book of prophecy all being questioned and found wanting.

Mieville illustrates his own text and the drawings are evocative and help flesh out his world. Deeba's a very human heroine, brave because she needs to be and prone to self-doubt and I particularly liked the scene where she refuses to jump through the normal prophecy hoops. Her helpers are well written, particularly Hemi the half-ghost boy who sees shoplifting as extreme shopping, Jones the bus conductor and I loved Curdle the milk carton. My only quibble is that where Mieville kills members of her team, those members haven't quite been in the book long enough for it to have a big emotional impact.

The slow build-up might put off some readers, but the chapters are kept short and there are some wonderfully written scenes (my favourite being one with a Black Window spider, which is very creepy). Mieville leaves an opening for a sequel and I would love to see more of the world he's created. Teens reading this will want to read more of his work.