Over the past years I've heard plenty a good thing about China Mieville and his novels. Most popular seems to be his Perdido Street Station yet, as I usually do, I picked Mr Mieville's first novel to begin with: King Rat.

Overall I was disappointed with this offering but I can see how this being his first novel it would be unfair to gauge all of his writing solely by this book. There were some strong scenes in the story and the imaginative quality showed potential but I was most aggravated by the style of writing. The many long and over-detailed descriptions found in this book were boring and held little meaning to me. All they did was make me frustrated. It seems that every third sentence had italics on some word and the relationship between the main character and his "mentor" started interesting but fumbled into strangeness about one-third of the way into the story. The characterizations in general I found rather dull and I had trouble actually believing I was reading about a London I know.

I would be happy to give Perdido Street Station a try but I would not recommend this novel to fantasy readers. There are many better urban fantasy novels to read. ( )

I wish I hadn't known this was Mieville's first novel, because I can't tell if my opinions were unfairly influenced. For example, I could say, "For a first novel, it's pretty good" or, "Some of the seeds of Mieville's later greatness can be found here."

As with The City and The City, I am amazed at Mieville's ability to write something impossible and make it seem inconsequential. He's a rat AND a man, and all the problems you might think of such a person going through life with such a double role are nonexistent. And, without any magical explanations. Mieville just writes it into being.

Reminded me of the Secret Life of Moscow and Neverwhere.

I found the overall end of the book fine, but the past few paragraphs seemed tacked on and didn't have enough support from the rest of the book. ( )

Saul's father has been murdered and he's been framed as the murderer. When he is sprung from jail by a mysterious stranger claiming to be both a rat and his uncle, the mystery increases. And when a stranger arrives playing a flute that can control anyone who hears it, that's when Saul knows he's in way over his head.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating to read an urban fantasy take on the Pied Piper legend. This was dark and gritty with quite a few terrifying scenes and I never found the book short of action. I never wanted to put the book down, even when my eyes were drooping from exhaustion.

The only part I didn't like about the book was it quite easy to predict the ending. I figured out fairly early what the Piper was going to do to attempt to defeat Saul. This predictability was more than countered by the high energy and horribleness of the final battle. And the scene with the children (that's all I'm going to say to avoid spoilers) when the wall split open almost made me cry.

All in all, I highly recommend this book if you have a strong stomach ;-) ( )

You can just imagine China and his mates out at a Jungle club night dancing like crazy and afterwards imagining how the Pied Piper could use that rhythmic music to control the population. Briliiant. I'm a Londoner and this is my town. ( )

One Sentence Review: If you like gritty urban fantasy give King Rat a whirl.

King Rat is a blending of many old tales in a modern setting, from Rat King Folklore to The Pied Piper of Hamelin to Anansi. If you aren’t a lover of folklore, fear not; the novel’s still enjoyable even if you are not familiar with these tales. It’s a swiftly paced novel, full of fleshy characters and a lush world in which it’s easy to lose yourself. Some may argue that Miéville is a bit too florid but the prose flowed smoothly enough for me.

This novel is very visceral: violent and grimy and dark but not without hope. Lots of obscene language, but that’s hardly worth noting these days. Point is, it fits with the characters and makes them believable but this isn’t a book I’d read to Little Timmy as a bedtime story.

The downside is that King Rat is one of the weaker works of Miéville. Still a worthy read, but not up to Perdido Street Station or The Scar. If you’re tired of dragons and elves, China Miéville’s novels are a refreshing change of pace and King Rat is certainly no exception. ( )