“Un Lun Dun,” by China Mieville

FM's ratings:

1.      Premise 8

2.      Prose 7

3.      Plot 8

4.      Characters 7

5.      Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

I can recommend this book mostly due to its uniqueness and amazing colorfulness.  The premise is certainly original, even though the story-line strongly reflects the approaches of other authors who have written “for children” books.  The cover mentions similarities to “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland,” and I would agree that these comparisons are accurate.  The author acknowledges an indebtedness to Clive Barker (see the “Abarat” books) and C. S. Lewis (see the “Narnia” books), in a short afterward.  All these works share an aspect that adult readers might chafe at: a rapid-fire but rather random-seeming sequence of fantastic events designed to “hold the interest” of a young reader.  This one is not as gratuitous as many of the others, but one does occasionally wonder if all the clap-trap is necessary.  I know this begs the question of why an adult would read a work aimed at children to begin with.  My only defense is to say that I am often very pleasantly surprised by such books.  Mieville’s book definitely has its plusses.  And it certainly makes me curious to read the adult-oriented works by him.  I would just hope that the prose will be a little more sophisticated, and that the dialog isn’t peppered with the “trailer-trash” slang that Mieville is apparently reflecting from today’s British youth.  That was this book’s biggest drawback.

Here’s the June line-up! 

“Broken Skin,” by Stuart MacBride [6-4]

“Queen of the Night,” by J. A. Jance [6-11]

“The Blithedale Romance,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne [6-18]

“Murder, with Peacocks,” by Donna Andrews [6-25]

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)