A really surprising debut novel from China Miéville. It was interesting to start with Perdido Street Station, move through the world of Bas Lag, as well as the underground portion of Kraken's London and the deserts of Railsea, to finally come to the place where this master of fantasy began his career (if you don't count his collection of short stories).

I don't really have anything bad to say about the story.

Like Railsea retold Moby-Dick in a flash of excellence, King Rat is a brilliant retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, though the Piper in Miéville's story isn't someone to cross. Miéville's usual weirdness is here, though not as fully realized as his later works. The ending seems a little rushed, and I had hoped for something more definitive regarding the Piper's fate, but it's possible that given the status of the Pied Paper of Hamelin in history, it'd seem odd to dispose of a character that should be able to be reincarnated in other forms of story-telling, and it's naive to expect a solid conclusion from someone whose works leave the reader wondering about many of his characters' tomorrows.

Good. Less lushly described, and definitely more grounded than Perdido Street Station.

I'm generally a sucker for creative interpretations of fairy tales or legends. Among my favorite books ever are two alternative renderings of the Sleeping Beauty story: Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper, and Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. I also love the "urban fantasy" genre represented by authors like Charles de Lint, so I guess I was pretty much predisposed to enjoy this story. It's a "sequel" of sorts to the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, but with much more blood and gore, and plenty of horrendous murders. Much of the story is set in the sewers beneath the city of London, and several of the characters, including the title character, his cohorts Anansi and Loplop, and the piper himself are creatures of the underground who essentially live in a parallel reality of sorts, but are able to enter our reality at will. The main character, Saul Garamond, is thrust into this alternate underground world after being taken in for questioning in the murder of his father, when the mysterious King Rat appears in his cell to whisk him away to the rat kingdom where he is apparently the heir apparent to the throne. This is a very dark tale filled with deception and manipulation, as well as lots of grisly murders, as I mentioned earlier. There is also a crucial plot element that centers around drum and bass jungle music. This also reminded me very much of the works of Charles de Lint, as many of his recurring characters are musicians and the music frequently plays a critical role in the stories. De Lint, in fact, often uses his afterword or introduction in part to tell the reader which artists and/or genres of music he was focusing on while developing each story. The music in this tale becomes the most significant character as the novel draws close to its conclusion. I've been seeing a lot of good press about China Mieville and his works lately, and this first foray into his imagination has convinced me that I will probably need to check out some more of his offerings.

Not Miéville's best, but you can clearly see the roots of the urban fantastic that he'd take to such heights with the Perdido Street trilogy, and the workings of a vaguely eldritch architecture that The City & the City further explores. A good tale unto itself, firmly rooted in the 1990s, London DnB scene and all.

This book takes place in present day London and for that reason alone I got a kick out of it because I happened to be in London as I read it. I hadn't been in London since I was five so it was kind of cool to see bits and pieces of London by day and then read about Saul and King rat exploring those very same locales, albeit from a far different perspective, at night. In fact, at one point, as I was reading in my hotel room on High Holborn, Saul and King Rat ran right past my window in the book (page 98). That was pretty cool.

China's first book. Dark, atmospheric and visceral - as all his books are - this one has some rough edges. The prosey backbone protrudes occasionally, throwing the astute reader out of the experience.

Compelling and thrilling, with Mieville's extraordinary ability to transform a city into a visual landscape for your mind.

Yes I figured what was happening with the piper and the music, but I find this refreshing compared to the City & the City where the twist comes from nowhere, badly explained; or PSS where I feel Mieville got lost & overwhelmed by the sheer size of the story he was creating.

This is beautifully written, exciting dark fantasy & I loved it.