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King Rat
King Rat is incredibly similar to Gaiman's American Gods and Neverwhere -- I've purposefully not looked into the chronology of publication so I don't want to assert who was influenced by whom, but some significant elements of Neverwhere -- London as a setting, the critical presence of rats, a malevolent, almost-unkillable foe -- and American Gods -- a protagonist who loses someone dear to him very early in the work (Shadow loses his wife in AG, while Saul loses his father), and who struggles through a new understanding of his role in the world, a new appreciation for the fact he was born for a specific destiny, and a rebellion against his father. Hell, one character actually appears in both American Gods and King Rat.
There's probably a very strong correlation between people who liked American Gods and Neverwhere and people who'll like King Rat. At the same time, King Rat's tone is incredibly different -- it's not a derivative of Gaiman's work as much as it is a close family relation. It's almost totally bereft of humor, unlike Neverwhere, and not quite as awash in a palpable sense of loss as American Gods (especially given Shadow's ongoing relationship with his wife). Unlike the other two books, I found this one a little slow to get into, reading five pages here, ten pages there, until it finally hooked me.
King Rat's story revolves around Saul Garamond, who comes home one night to find that someone has killed his estranged father -- and the police think it's him. Garamond is broken out of prison by the title furtive character, who lost his dominion over the rats in the Hamlin catastrophe, and who introduces himself as Saul's uncle. So yes, the protagonist of King Rat is, in fact, Prince Rat (who is half man and half rat).
The rest of the book is the detailing of the conflict between the Rat, Bird, and Spider people and the pied piper of Hamlin who, in fact, turns out to be quite evil and fond of killing things.
Music is at the core of King Rat, from the basic most powerful talent of the nemesis, to the particular defenses of Saul (since he's a halfling, neither human-snaring music nor rat-snaring music alone could get him), to the interweaving of Saul's story with that of Natasha, a friend of his and a jungle-music DJ. Parts of the book, discussing the music arrangement and the role of bass in the actual communication of emotion to an audience, felt like they might be lost a little on a reader who hasn't been awash in that rhythm in a club. Thankfully for the vast majority of slashdotters, that's not a huge part of the book and even if you've never gone clubbing, held a rhythm, or danced your ass off, you're not likely to be alienated by it.
Mieville decided to end the book and the conflict in a way that felt more ambiguous than it could have been. While I applaud any author who doesn't bow and scrape to the convention that if you have a battle between good and evil, evil must be completely vanquished by the end of the work, I couldn't help feel that Mieville ended the book in such a way at least partially so a sequel could be written, featuring largely the same characters. It left me uneasy and on the verge of feeling a little cheated.
So that's the downside. On the upside, I found Saul's characterization engaging, interesting, and real. Saul is not as good of a man as we all would like to be, but he's probably as good as most of us get to be. Especially in the beginning, he's pretty wretchedly whiny. He's not exceedingly brave, or truthful, or kind. He's just ... a guy, with some special powers due to his parentage, thrust into a reality that is wildly different from his own, and he does his best to adapt to it. Saul's friends, Natasha Fabian and Kay, can't be drawn with as fine of a stroke because the book isn't about them, but they're still interesting and nuanced. Pete, the piper of Hamlin, is rather less complex. He's evil. He's strong. He is, in Jules' immortal terms, a bad motherfucker. With a flute.
Darn decent book, I'd say. If you liked Neverwhere (and can stand urban fantasy that isn't funny), or American Gods (and can stand urban fantasy that isn't set in the U.S.), you owe it to yourself to check it out.
China Mieville's official website was down last time I checked -- you may have more luck finding stuff about him at his unofficial home page.
You can purchase King Rat from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
.. has been a long standing problem with everyone. This book is not unique in the way that the outline is so cliche, but it still underlines a big point. It has been extremely rare to find books with completely original themes recently, you seem to have the framed school, the lawyer school, etc. What has happened to the Chuck Palahniuks of the world? Even his books have become too samy samy.. is it me, or do we need another Wodehouse to rise up?
tim
At first, I thought he was cool... but the novelty of his work is quickly wearing off. American Gods didn't turn my crank, and his much lauded "American from a British perspective" was bull, even a Canuck like me can see that. The fairy tale about Star and Wall (I forget the name) came out pretty bland. Maybe I'm just not a fantasy person, but IMHO he should stick to comic books. Still, Good Omens was wonderful, easily topping much of Pratchett's solo work.
Oh well, YMMV.
If you like modern, urban fantasy, then check out Tim Powers' Fischer-king series (its not officially called that, but thats what I consider it). Start with 'Last Call' and then work you way up. The whole series predates Gaiman's work by many a year, and I have no idea if the similarities of style and type of story are due to coincidence or influence. Actually, I enjoy just about everything I've gotten my hands on from Tim Powers, including 'Anubis Gates' and 'The Drawing of the Dark' (which could be considered part of the Fischer Kind series, just set in the past by several hundred years).
I will say this though - many of the books have a similar, almost formulaic feel to the main character. The details may be different, but the fact that they just lost someone they love in the begining of the novel tends to be eirily similar. That said, its not always there, and the details of whom, how and why are always very different.
man is machine
I don't want to assert who was influenced by whom, but some significant elements of Neverwhere -- London as a setting, the critical presence of rats, a malevolent, almost-unkillable foe...
I assert they were all influenced by Michael de Larrabeiti's The Borribles , which was published in 1976. I'm probably wrong -- it's been years since I read this, and I was quite young when I did -- but I vividly remember London and rats. The Borribles was the first of a trilogy, all of which have been out of print for a long while; however, while Googling for the link, above, I made the happy discovery that they have been reissued (ISBN: 0330490850).
I've been a fan of China Mieville since his now-impossible-to-find story "The Tain". He's part of a non-movement in F&SF which owes a lot to Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock and similar. Largely British, mostly urban, and set in worlds where reality's gears are missing a few teeth.
If you like King Rat you'll probably enjoy his other books (Perdido Street Station and The Scar) and books by authors like...
Tim Powers, Jeff Vandermeer, Ian MacLeod, Neil Gaiman, Johnathan Carroll, Alan Moore, M. John Harrison, Forrest Aguirre, Jeffrey Ford, and Jasper Fforde. Mary Gentle, Gene Wolfe, and Borges will almost certainly also appeal.
And of course, if you have $200 just lying around doing nothing you will want to get a copy of the Codex Serafinianus just to squick yourself.
The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
It's not just a Disney thing. Stories for or about children usually start by freeing the child from the presence of the parents. At least if the parents are the sort who do their job - which is to protect their kids from the sorts of dangerous and traumatic events that make for really good stories :-)
The fish out of water is one of the most common storytelling tropes. One of the first things the author has to do is remove the water.
The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
cragen
ps. Lest ye think this is new, I think the first Hyperion book, conveniently named "Hyperion", came out around '89.
Your mileage may vary...
Perdido Street Station was weird, imaginative, and thought-provoking, but ultimately (IMHO) sort of boring and pointless. I recommend it, but I didn't feel that it lived up to the hype. I am looking forward to reading The Scar.
I loved 85% of American Gods. Unfortunately, the 15% that I didn't like was the resolution. Yes, it had one. Yes, I understood it. For some reason I just wasn't satisfied by it, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. I wasn't bored by it (the book or the ending), but I felt that a book so strongly resonant about, well, American gods, would ultimately have something profound to say. I got my hopes up when the gods of the modern world got center stage, but the resolution of the story was, alas, not very interesting to me.
Overall, I liked Pratchett's Small Gods, which shares a similar philosophy about deities, much better.
-- stream of did I lock the front door consciousness
Also, at the end, it was not science itself that was flawed, but the people in charge of it. That kind of reminds me of why religions suck in the real world...and perhaps that was the point.
But yes, the book was many times better.
==-----==
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
I adore China Mieville's work. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a convention last year. He's a brilliant, interesting guy who writes brilliant, interesting novels.
I'm a bit disappointed that the reviewer downplayed the drum'n'bass aspects of King Rat. It's part of why I love the novel. It's rare that an author can so strongly render a subculture that revolves so much around music. The musical fusion that is drum'n'bass is fascinating, both from a dancing point-of-view and from a headphone music point-of-view. When I read King Rat, I found it exciting that the novel ended up hinging on the interplay between rhythm and melody, and that the importance of rhythm - so often under-appreciated in Western music - was essential to the plot.
I've read all three of Mieville's published novels. I prefer Bas-Lag (the world of Perdido Street Station and The Scar. I believe the forthcoming Iron Council also takes place in Bas-Lag) to the London of King Rat. But I enjoyed the time I spent there in reading the novel and would highly recommend it. And if people who read King Rat take the time to discover drum'n'bass, especially the best stuff from the 90s, then even better.
Think like a person of action, act like a person of thought. --H. Bergson