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Un Lun Dun is the first of Miéville’s books that I’ve read. Miéville’s Un Lun Dun is quite unlike any novel I’ve read before. Miéville falls into a category he calls “weird fiction” or its more contemporary name, “new weird”. To say the novel was spectacular would be an outright lie, but to write it off as a failure would be unfair. Miéville has created an interesting novel aimed at young adults, which I picked up at a bargain sale in early 2007 because the blurb captured my imagination. Upon reading the novel I found that the plot lacked a certain spice, the protagonist was anti-climatic and the characterisation was poor. However, for all that I did enjoy the book.
The novel begins in everyday London, focusing on the seeming protagonist Zanna, and her trusty ‘sidekick’ Deeba. It seems that Zanna is being followed, and strange messages being left for her, a lifelike cloud portrait in the sky, an antiquated bus driver calling her the “shwazzy” and the word suddenly following her around. What could it mean? After an attack by a smog particle leaves both girls afraid, and when a broken umbrella seems to be searching for Zanna, she takes a stand and follows it, back into the parallel world of “Unlundun”.
In the world of Unlundun Miéville claims his place in the category of “weird fiction” incorporating reality into a world of imagination, the combination of abstract and concrete creates a wondrous world where giraffes are evil, men live on rooftops, and boys exist as half ghosts, not to mention forests that exist within houses, or moil houses, made of rubbish that has seeped through from London. Unlundun is a reflection of London, part of a world that reflects our own, along with Lost Angeles, Baghdidn’t, NoYork and Parisn’t, a world where the imagination truly has no limits.
“UnLundun is at war. We’re under attack. And it’s been written, for centuries, that you -you- will come and save us.”
Zanna is the Shwazzy, the Chosen One; the one who it is written will save UnLundun from their enemy, the Smog. But what happens when the Chosen One fails? Then it is all left to Deeba, the unlikely side kick to step up and save her unusual friends from destruction and pollution.
Miéville addresses and important issue in Un Lun Dun, of pollution, however despite the opportunity to really address the issue, he skims around it, much as he does any important story points. Miéville’s biggest flaw, in my opinion, is his lack of depth. There is nothing for the reader to connect with, no true characterisation or development of protagonist or characters, nor in the plot. Miéville is very matter of fact about his plot, there is little development and everything progresses in a “cause I said so...” manner, without the necessary preparation.
For all that however, Miéville created a story that was worth reading, and that appeals to the imagination, one that I would recommend others read.
