Welcome to Trash Tuesdays. Watch out for the Binja.
I love China Mieville. My Masters thesis was based on three of his 'grown-up' novels. I love the way he builds worlds and characters. I love the way he manipulates words and convinces them to mean the same thing but in entirely new ways. I love the way he quietly gets you to think about government and the way you live, without being overtly preachy. Reading Mieville makes you think about life and language in entirely new ways. In Un Lun Dun Mieville abandons grown-ups for YA.*
Weird things are happening to 12 year old Zanna: Sycophantic graffiti, clouds in the shape of her face, animals bowing and strangers congratulating her on the street. Zanna is the Chosen One - chosen for what, no one is exactly clear, but she's Chosen, and that's enough for their support. But then something happens to Zanna and her best friend Deeba has to ditch her role as side-kick and become the Un-Chosen one.
The book is split into two halves. In the first is the story you think you expect. In the second is the story you need and ultimately, the one you wanted all along. When I reached the division I thought 'finally!' and my irritation with the book started to fade. Zanna is about as interesting as any stock 'chosen one', which is to say she isn't. Deeba, on the other hand, is who I'd back in a fight.* Like Deirdre last week, Deeba uses her own brain to figure things out, does her research and makes her own decisions based on her values. Strong Female Protagonist FTW! (Especially if she has a pet milk carton).
Un Lun Dun has an environmental message, and at times this gets a bit heavy handed. Maybe obvious is a better term than heavy- handed since I'm not sure the target audience would pick up on the same clues as an adult reader. I will say that for a book aimed at tweens and early teens, it's amazingly frank about the world around us and pulls very few punches.
Mieville draws on lots of my favourite books for this: Alice in Wonderland, the Narnia books, Neverwhere, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Wizard of Oz - the wonderful weirdness that saturates these books and makes them so good is here, but it's mixed with something seriously sinister. The coating on this book isn't sugar, it's a film of petrol.
On to the Brownian Points:
Day One: BR: 6/10. Enjoyed it but ticked off by the age adapted writing.
Day Two: BR: 7/10. Okay. Protagonists are actually 12. Age adapted writing not so bad in context.
Day Three: BR: 7.5/10. He-he - carnivorous giraffes!
Day Four and Five: BR: 8/10. Ninjas + Dustbins = binja = AWESOME.
Day Six: BR: 8.5/10 - I'd like a suit made out of books.
Day Seven: BR: 8.5/10. Carnivorous GIRAFFES!!!
Final Brownian rating: 8.5/10. Like so many of Mieville's books this one sticks with you. The longer I think about it, the more I like it. It's definitely different from his other work, but equally enjoyable. It didn't win the Locus Award for nothing.
Next week: Graceling by Kristen Cashore.
*A bit Y-er than I initially thought when I bought it which put me off for awhile, but it grew on me.
*Yes, even though she's 12.
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