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thepurplebookwyrm's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I'm actually really impressed to learn this was China Miéville's debut novel! Like damn... it was above and beyond many other debuts I've read, that's for sure. And so yes, I really enjoyed this one; Miéville's literature just keeps doing it for me (to put it mildly)! 😊
Specific positives:
• King Rat isn't the 'deepest' Miéville I've read, but even the 'sketch'-level of theming I got from it was surprisingly clever, and certainly engaging. I found commentary on 'urban ecosystems' here; on the ambiguous relations between humans and their non-human brethren, especially as it relates to the concept of 'vermin'. Through this also came theming on marginalisation, marginal and liminal beings, spaces, etc... then identity, in concert with familial heritage.
• I was impressed with what Miéville managed to accomplish with mere 'sketches' of characters, and world-building. No wonder some of his later, more fleshed-out works rank among some of my all-time favourites!
• I also really enjoyed the fact this story included a kind of retelling, or should I say re-molding, of the tale of the "Pied Piper" from European folklore – not something I've ever really seen or even heard of before! Some of the story's characters also felt like a different take on... faeries, or changeling lore – kind of – and I really liked that!
• I never shed any actual tears, but I was, yes, somewhat moved by the story's more emotional threads. And whilst the book's ending bordered on feeling a little 'on the nose' (especially if one is familiar with the very often noticeable political tenor of Miéville's literature, as a whole), I also thought it fit rather perfectly.
More neutral or negative elements:
• King Rat still had very good prose – and the kind of prose that just really works for my brain, apparently – but it didn't reach the heights of thoughtful, or playful beauty some of his later works do.
• Miéville struck an overall satisfying balance between presenting non-human animals as they are, and indulging in a smidge of narratively useful anthropomorphising, but I wasn't a fan of the fact the story also posited a couple of things that fed into 'human exceptionalism' at times (especially since these weren't really based on actual truths about the animal world).
Specific positives:
• King Rat isn't the 'deepest' Miéville I've read, but even the 'sketch'-level of theming I got from it was surprisingly clever, and certainly engaging. I found commentary on 'urban ecosystems' here; on the ambiguous relations between humans and their non-human brethren, especially as it relates to the concept of 'vermin'. Through this also came theming on marginalisation, marginal and liminal beings, spaces, etc... then identity, in concert with familial heritage.
• I was impressed with what Miéville managed to accomplish with mere 'sketches' of characters, and world-building. No wonder some of his later, more fleshed-out works rank among some of my all-time favourites!
• I also really enjoyed the fact this story included a kind of retelling, or should I say re-molding, of the tale of the "Pied Piper" from European folklore – not something I've ever really seen or even heard of before! Some of the story's characters also felt like a different take on... faeries, or changeling lore – kind of – and I really liked that!
• I never shed any actual tears, but I was, yes, somewhat moved by the story's more emotional threads. And whilst the book's ending bordered on feeling a little 'on the nose' (especially if one is familiar with the very often noticeable political tenor of Miéville's literature, as a whole), I also thought it fit rather perfectly.
More neutral or negative elements:
• King Rat still had very good prose – and the kind of prose that just really works for my brain, apparently – but it didn't reach the heights of thoughtful, or playful beauty some of his later works do.
• Miéville struck an overall satisfying balance between presenting non-human animals as they are, and indulging in a smidge of narratively useful anthropomorphising, but I wasn't a fan of the fact the story also posited a couple of things that fed into 'human exceptionalism' at times (especially since these weren't really based on actual truths about the animal world).
laeral's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
fiver07's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
yeahnaar's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Not mievilles best work, but still enjoyable. The writing is very good, but the concept is at times a bit weak and the jungle sub plot is a bit forced and immature. Still, by the end it all comes together in an exciting way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Violence
mattbowes's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
stardustrain's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
Mieville's debut novel that has hallmarks of his later style, but the pitfalls that mark it as early work make it subpar and lacking. The story is more than anything an unfaltering a love letter to London - specifically the grimy, grotty underbelly populated by lesser-loved urban fauna. Interesting premise, extremely promising ending, well-paced mystery with some Neverwhere-esque worldbuilding.
Unfortunately, though, the characters are bland and uninteresting and act more like set dressing on stage more interesting than they are. The book tries too hard to imitate the accents to make the dialogue actually compelling. It's most obvious pitfall, for me, was its blatant and egregious misogyny, where every female character's arc was transplanted from the 60's comic books. No agency, no relevance to the story beyond ties to the main character, no satisfying characterisation or arc. For a so-called radically leftist writer, Mieville's only radical element was how violently it hated every female character it introduced.
RIP E., Deborah and Natasha, you deserved a better book.
Unfortunately, though, the characters are bland and uninteresting and act more like set dressing on stage more interesting than they are. The book tries too hard to imitate the accents to make the dialogue actually compelling. It's most obvious pitfall, for me, was its blatant and egregious misogyny, where every female character's arc was transplanted from the 60's comic books. No agency, no relevance to the story beyond ties to the main character, no satisfying characterisation or arc. For a so-called radically leftist writer, Mieville's only radical element was how violently it hated every female character it introduced.
RIP E., Deborah and Natasha, you deserved a better book.
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
OK, first book, published when he was 26, probably written when 25. If it had been my first of his books, I might have said that this author has a chance to become first-class but isn't there yet.
There's a moderately good plot with plenty of "Eww!" and "Wow!" moments. There are some stretches of excellent writing.
But there's the inevitable police force, on which even the one half-intelligent guy has no clue whatsoever that there's any chance of anything supernatural going down. But maybe I'm judging that from a 2014 point of view, where there is finally a chance that a cop might say, "Hmm, looks like the work of a giant rat with substantial magical skills."
There's the desperate Bordertown-Doctorow compulsion for the author to prove that he's down with the Cool People of Jungle music. I happen to get Cockney rhyming slang, but I expect some readers were mystified by the amount of it, and the obscurity of some of them.
The ending is the usual, in which an apparently-invincible bad guy is taken out with relative ease in a fairly ordinary way. Many authors do this, and I suppose one can argue that the ending is about the characters, not weapons and killing methods.
Saul Garamond - I kept waiting for characters named Bodoni and Lucida - has a transition from normal to not-normal that seriously stretches the reader's suspension of disbelief, but it didn't quit go over the "oh, come on, really?" line.
Anyway ... if this is the only Miéville you've read, do please go and read Perdido Street Station (first in the weird Bas-Lag series), or Un Lun Dun or Railsea - both aimed at a younger audience but good for grownups too. Then read the rest.
There's a moderately good plot with plenty of "Eww!" and "Wow!" moments. There are some stretches of excellent writing.
But there's the inevitable police force, on which even the one half-intelligent guy has no clue whatsoever that there's any chance of anything supernatural going down. But maybe I'm judging that from a 2014 point of view, where there is finally a chance that a cop might say, "Hmm, looks like the work of a giant rat with substantial magical skills."
There's the desperate Bordertown-Doctorow compulsion for the author to prove that he's down with the Cool People of Jungle music. I happen to get Cockney rhyming slang, but I expect some readers were mystified by the amount of it, and the obscurity of some of them.
The ending is the usual, in which an apparently-invincible bad guy is taken out with relative ease in a fairly ordinary way. Many authors do this, and I suppose one can argue that the ending is about the characters, not weapons and killing methods.
Saul Garamond - I kept waiting for characters named Bodoni and Lucida - has a transition from normal to not-normal that seriously stretches the reader's suspension of disbelief, but it didn't quit go over the "oh, come on, really?" line.
Anyway ... if this is the only Miéville you've read, do please go and read Perdido Street Station (first in the weird Bas-Lag series), or Un Lun Dun or Railsea - both aimed at a younger audience but good for grownups too. Then read the rest.
tomgenue's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
chenin_and_stories's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
babiefats's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is Mieville's first published work. It was so much fun getting to experience a mind that truly does not exist within boundaries. The lyricism of the lines of the pages mixed with the dialect and voice of each character added to a story that couldn't be predicted from page to page.