Railsea [Hardcover]

"'Fiction of the new century' Neil Gaiman 'Mieville's work is thrillingly imaginative... immensely witty and utterly unforgettable' Scotland on Sunday 'One of the most imaginative young writers around in any kind of fiction' Guardian 'Mieville's imagined societies may be fantastic, but they are utterly coherent... wonderfully infectious' " --Daily Telegraph

'China Miéville's powerful adventure is a delight... What kind of novel might someone produce if he had been influenced by writers such as Joan Aiken, the Awdrys, Daniel Defoe, Ursula Le Guin, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, the Strugatsky Brothers and Spike Milligan? The answer is Railsea, China Miéville's latest book, a wildly inventive crossover/young adult fantasy with elements of SF and trains, lots of trains, all done with the kind of brio of which most writers can only dream... Yet for all this, the book's chief glory is its prose. Every sentence is packed with wit, strange but appropriate neologisms, and jostling clusters of consonants that are there for no other reason than sheer delight in language...Once I'd tuned into the rhythm, it wasn't long before I was happy to let the story rattle along on its rails with me clinging desperately to the caboose.' --Guardian

'Through his young protagonist's eyes, Miéville presents a future world that is wondrous and believable in equal measures, while never easing the pace of a runaway train ride of a novel.' --Independent on Sunday

'The plot is typically adventuresome, especially as the book is aimed at the young adult audience, but it has pleasures for the adult reader as well. The extended witty deconstruction of Moby-Dick is probably the funniest thing Miéville has ever written.'
--The Scotsman

"'Fiction of the new century' Neil Gaiman 'Mieville's work is thrillingly imaginative... immensely witty and utterly unforgettable' Scotland on Sunday 'One of the most imaginative young writers around in any kind of fiction' Guardian 'Mieville's imagined societies may be fantastic, but they are utterly coherent... wonderfully infectious' --Daily Telegraph

'At heart it is a gripping adventure yarn in the mould of Kidnapped, Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe, with a lively mix of reversals of fortune, break-neck escapes, narrow scrapes and even an abnormally intelligent animal sidekick' --Financial Times

'This is an exuberantly imagined new-weird novel which offers a mash-up of Moby Dick and steampunk. Ostensibly written for the young-adult market, it s clever, playful and bizarre enough to satisfy the many not-so-young adult fans of the extraordinary China Mieville.' --Daily Mail

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 are extraordinary. But no matter how spectacular it is, travelling the endless rails of the railsea, Sham can't shake the sense that there is more to life. Even if his philosophy-seeking captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-coloured mole she’s been chasing – ever since it took her arm all those years ago. When they come across a wrecked train, at first it's a welcome distraction. But the impossible salvage Sham finds in the derelict 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. Praise for China Miéville: ‘Fiction of the new century’ Neil Gaiman ‘Miéville’s work is thrillingly imaginative … immensely witty and utterly unforgettable’ Scotland on Sunday ‘One of the most imaginative young writers around in any kind of fiction’ Guardian ‘Miéville’s imagined societies may be fantastic, but they are utterly coherent . . . wonderfully infectious’ Daily Telegraph