Railsea

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Ningauble

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Amazon is listing a forthcoming YA novel called Railsea, to be published in 2012. No more information at the moment.
 
From Amazon UK:

On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory. But no matter how spectacular it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than traveling the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-colored mole she’s been chasing since it took her arm all those years ago. When they come across a wrecked train, at first it’s a welcome distraction. But what Sham finds in the derelict—a kind of treasure map indicating a mythical place untouched by iron rails—leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for. Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters, and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.

Here is a novel for readers of all ages, a gripping and brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick that confirms China Miéville’s status as “the most original and talented voice to appear in several years” (Science Fiction Chronicle).
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Read this a few weeks ago. Took me a while to get into it but once I did it was typical Meiville, you get drawn into the universe he creates. I won't tell you the ending but as usual it leaves things open for further development. Good book, he is definitely one of the most talented writers around at the moment in any genre
 
I wasn't sure about this one going in, but Railsea wound up being a fantastic read. A bit long-winded at times, but I love how he's always able to milk the most of the worlds he creates. Terrific stuff.
 
Oh, it's YA, that's why I'm having trouble getting into it...
 
Am I missing something with this? I decided to read China Mieville and started with this one. Is he being satirical? Right now it's reading like Grandpa in Your Pocket (A Cbeebies show with James Bolam that my kids watch).
 
AnyaKimlin said:
Am I missing something with this? I decided to read China Mieville and started with this one. Is he being satirical? Right now it's reading like Grandpa in Your Pocket (A Cbeebies show with James Bolam that my kids watch).
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This is a YA novel but I thought it was still good even so. Starting with the Bas Lag books is probably a better bet.
 
springs said:
I don't think it's a satire but I lasted 10 pages and handed it back to the library...
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I'm not sure how many pages I've done because it's on my Kindle. It seems like a really childish read and not a good one at that. I like YA fiction and even some junior fiction but this is just unpleasant and silly at the same time.
 
No I don't think it's satire. It's meant to be a homage to Moby Dick.

I find that with Mieville re reads are always better as you have to read it once to get your head around his brilliant ideas and language. When you're reading for a second time it's a lot more rewarding
 
Silver Owl said:
No I don't think it's satire. It's meant to be a homage to Moby Dick.

I find that with Mieville re reads are always better as you have to read it once to get your head around his brilliant ideas and language. When you're reading for a second time it's a lot more rewarding
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The frustrating thing for me is I love his writing style but can't get into any of his books. Too convoluted with a story that doesn't shout out to me.
 
I'm seeing very little of interest in the language - I mean Moldywarpe?? The world is feeling so grey and flat. Its been a real let down so far. I'm about a quarter of the way through and it is boring me stupid. The only reason I'm that far is because on the bus back from Glasgow I had no wireless to get another book.

If it was intended as a satire of a bad epic fantasy then it might have enough merit to keep me going. But maybe I'm missing something.
 
Fantastic idea that rolled along for the first third, bogged itself down in for the middle third and incomprehensible for the final third.

I understood the plot but he seemed to miss out huge chunks at the end. I felt like I was reading a book that had missed parts in the printing.
 
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