The radio existed to communicate. But here it was failing, it had gone rogue, it had forgotten its purpose like the piano, and the people could not reclaim the city.

A few weeks ago I listened to a London Review podcast of Miéville
reading a story about the immolation of animals. It was certainly the New Weird, the images clung to me, no doubt enhanced by his nuanced delivery. Miéville said he found the story a child of Austerity. I liked that. I suppose a YA audience would like the milieu of King Rat, whereas I did not. I hated the book. It is lad lit expressing daddy issues. It is a clumsy reworking of a few myths with the virtual art of Drum and Bass spot-welded on board to provide urban edge. I read this as a part of a group read but I was afraid to spoil the collective mood with my face-palming and kvetching. I expected much more from that strangely talented author.

I never would have thought the day would come that I would empathize with... rats!
But a good writer can take you by the hand and lead you to places you would never imagine you'd find yourself in. For me, one of those unimaginable places is empathizing with rats.
This brilliant, dark, and disturbing retelling of the Piper of Hamelin fairy-tale managed the impossible feat of having me switch my allegiance and root for the rats, somehow.
China Mieville is a GENIUS.
His prose was a bit immature here, his pacing imperfect, but I nevertheless loved every page of "King Rat".
I can highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good horror and is not easily upset by gore and on-page animal cruelty.

Really good book---my first real fantasy book I've ever read. Gonna continue on with Perdido Street Station next I believe. Really like his writing style.

I read the first King Rat book James Clavell in th e 60s, and was confused that there was another King Rat. Very familiar London streets located story of our hero who becomes the king rat to fight the Pied Piper who weaves his magic through the medium of jungle/drum and bass. I enjoyed the story and the morphing between human and animal characters - and mostly good tempo and pacing but there were parts that were repetitive or pedestrian. Good preview of the talent to come. Not quite 4 star, but getting close.

I was having a Drum & Bass revival so read this. It really rocks. Good fantasy.

got better as it went on. good stuff in the end. horribly dated by the jungle references but did all come together in the end (pun intended). 3.5 starts but no 4.

Feels harsh but some of the key parts of it (drum and bass discourse, gods-are-real-and-they-live-among-us) grated. On balance I had a good enough time with it though and intend to read more of his stuff. It's a debut novel after all.

China Miéville's first novel, King Rat, does feel like it's his first, but only because the prose is weaker - too many extended descriptions of characters moving around London (in unusual ways, but still). Nevertheless, it is very much a Miéville novel, with a living, breathing setting (if perhaps over-familiar to urban fantasy fans), socialist ideas, and imaginative fantasy ideas married into a larger theme (in this case, the son as extension and destruction of the father). It's the story of Saul, who discovers he's in the line of succession to become the rat king, ever at odds with the Pier Piper of Hamelin. This backstreet coming of age eventually plays around with the Drum and Bass club scene in London is a pretty cool way, and if I wasn't too convinced by the early chapters, ends on such a perfect note, that I forgive it its faults.

I recently learned this falls under the subgenre of Urban Fantasy. I was introduced when that blog linked to a review of mine...so that's the kind of fantasy I gravitate toward.

I also gravitate toward views other than mine, and this one coming out of London does not disappoint.

A young man has a fight with his father, nothing unusual there. Then his father is murdered, and the young man is locked up as the number one suspect. It's smelly, bloody, gritty, and dirty. Even as you cover your mouth you keep reading to find out more about that strange rat man that breaks him out of jail, and just who is this kid anyway? You find out there's a culture of animal-people and this kid is destined to be the King Rat. These Kings of the animals have a natural enemy...can he prevail even though he grew up wholly human?