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A review by norrell
King Rat by China Miéville
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This has been my first foray into China Miéville’s fiction, and I thought - Might as well pick up his debut, especially given the fact I had been hankering for some gritty urban fantasy for quite some time. And I’ve got another thing to admit - for the past six years I’ve been convinced I’d love Perdido Street Stationand New Crobuzon in general, so I’ve been putting it off to the best of my abilities. Again, this made the decision to pick up King Rat all the more easy.
The setting is London, but it’s a character as well. Miéville seems very invested in architecture and its secrets in King Rat, constantly (well maybe not all the time, but at least a noticeable amount) likening the insides of building to bowels while animating London as a sort of being through his language. One that is indifferent, but breathing none the less. This was one of the aspects I quite enjoyed - a particular interest in urban landscape, names of streets and buildings flying around, all in a chaotic hodgepodge of graffiti and kebab places. If you want effective urban fantasy, might as well try to take it up a notch, even if it doesn’t exactly succeed all the time.
The second thing I appreciated - the language. Now, Miéville is often talked about in respects to his verbose style and the fact that many believe the man simply writes with five open thesauruses at his writing desk, going about it like a focused mad scientist. In King Rat, this specific quality isn’t as pronounced but even from the debut I could sense that Miéville has an ability I cherish in writers - he knows how to pick the right words for the situation, words that might’ve been stretched to phrases and phrases that could’ve been mere two words but whose placement simply makes sense.
The dialogue can at times feel laboured and clunky, I must admit, sometimes overly edgy or bri’ish but I’m choosing to look past it because all of that adds to the weird clunky charm of the novel. A highlight of the dialogue was King Rat’s flow of old and new slang firmly set in London, old and new.
The characters were mostly distinguished by a few key traits, sometimes moving like puppets because the contrivance and plot told them to. But in general, they were enjoyable to read about although a bit lacking. Aside from Saul and King Rat and the twist which interconnects them, all of which made their relationship and the characters themselves weirdly nuanced but also wonderfully, self-righteously stubborn, other characters - Saul’s friends and the landscape of other animal monarchs - were interesting enough and gave the impression of existing before and after the story. That is something that I in general find delicious - unresolved relationships and things left hanging in the air, peppered with a few plans or directions not wholly fulfilled by the end.
The final two things I enjoyed - the plotting and inspiration. The plot doesn’t hinge upon wild twists of fate and circumstance, which I’ve kind of grown tired off, but simply makes sense if you pay even the least attention. Although some might find that unrewarding, and I get that, it is just what I needed at the moment. For the inspiration - King Rat is a sort of loose retelling that features characters from myth and and an artist's alter-ego. To be frank, I think Miéville could’ve benefited from going for the weirder still, focusing more on the fable-like quality of this world he had created, but alas, this was not the case.
If you read primarily for characters - maybe skip this one, if you read primarily for plot - maybe give King Rat a go. But mostly read it for the vibes and atmosphere. In general, just from the reputation, I will say this probably isn’t in Miéville’s top 6 novels in terms of artistry, character and plotting but it is enthusiastic about itself and grimy enough to faintly remind me of a weird, vivid cross-section of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and the comic-book series Fables. The novel is still noticeably a debut, although a good one at that, but maybe don’t read if you’re a huge fan of Miéville’s and expect mind-boggling brilliance at the door-step.
If anything, King Rat, with its grubby fingers, bears an omen of a very promising author who was still honing his craft.
The setting is London, but it’s a character as well. Miéville seems very invested in architecture and its secrets in King Rat, constantly (well maybe not all the time, but at least a noticeable amount) likening the insides of building to bowels while animating London as a sort of being through his language. One that is indifferent, but breathing none the less. This was one of the aspects I quite enjoyed - a particular interest in urban landscape, names of streets and buildings flying around, all in a chaotic hodgepodge of graffiti and kebab places. If you want effective urban fantasy, might as well try to take it up a notch, even if it doesn’t exactly succeed all the time.
The second thing I appreciated - the language. Now, Miéville is often talked about in respects to his verbose style and the fact that many believe the man simply writes with five open thesauruses at his writing desk, going about it like a focused mad scientist. In King Rat, this specific quality isn’t as pronounced but even from the debut I could sense that Miéville has an ability I cherish in writers - he knows how to pick the right words for the situation, words that might’ve been stretched to phrases and phrases that could’ve been mere two words but whose placement simply makes sense.
The dialogue can at times feel laboured and clunky, I must admit, sometimes overly edgy or bri’ish but I’m choosing to look past it because all of that adds to the weird clunky charm of the novel. A highlight of the dialogue was King Rat’s flow of old and new slang firmly set in London, old and new.
The characters were mostly distinguished by a few key traits, sometimes moving like puppets because the contrivance and plot told them to. But in general, they were enjoyable to read about although a bit lacking. Aside from Saul and King Rat and the twist which interconnects them, all of which made their relationship and the characters themselves weirdly nuanced but also wonderfully, self-righteously stubborn, other characters - Saul’s friends and the landscape of other animal monarchs - were interesting enough and gave the impression of existing before and after the story. That is something that I in general find delicious - unresolved relationships and things left hanging in the air, peppered with a few plans or directions not wholly fulfilled by the end.
The final two things I enjoyed - the plotting and inspiration. The plot doesn’t hinge upon wild twists of fate and circumstance, which I’ve kind of grown tired off, but simply makes sense if you pay even the least attention. Although some might find that unrewarding, and I get that, it is just what I needed at the moment. For the inspiration - King Rat is a sort of loose retelling that features characters from myth and and an artist's alter-ego. To be frank, I think Miéville could’ve benefited from going for the weirder still, focusing more on the fable-like quality of this world he had created, but alas, this was not the case.
If you read primarily for characters - maybe skip this one, if you read primarily for plot - maybe give King Rat a go. But mostly read it for the vibes and atmosphere. In general, just from the reputation, I will say this probably isn’t in Miéville’s top 6 novels in terms of artistry, character and plotting but it is enthusiastic about itself and grimy enough to faintly remind me of a weird, vivid cross-section of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and the comic-book series Fables. The novel is still noticeably a debut, although a good one at that, but maybe don’t read if you’re a huge fan of Miéville’s and expect mind-boggling brilliance at the door-step.
If anything, King Rat, with its grubby fingers, bears an omen of a very promising author who was still honing his craft.