Description
"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 & 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, & salvage-scrabblers. & 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 & brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick that confirms China Mieville's status as "the most original & talented voice to appear in several years" (Science Fiction Chronicle)"--Provided by publisher.… (more)
Collection
Publication
Del Rey (2012), 384 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member TheLostEntwife
I've read a lot of books, but none of them have been nearly so enveloping as Railsea by China Miéville. What do I mean by "enveloping?"
Well, let's take the ampersand for starters. Throughout the book (& this review, because I love it so much) China inserts the ampersand for each "and," & it's
Also, there is the narrator. I'm not sure who exactly is narrating the book, but suffice it to say the narrator keeps things interesting. You know those books that jump around between three different sets of characters & always jump right when things are really heating up for the one that has you completely sucked into? The narrator acknowledges that is happening in a way - but still you have to wait & you may have to read a few short pages of the narrator musing on the state of the world in the process. It's very cool - that's all I have to say about that.
This story is part Moby Dick, part Treasure Island, part Robinson Crusoe. There are characters with strange names, a strange world filled with dangerous creatures (I always thought moles were freaky). There's a strange caste structure & instead of sticking to a specific genre, China moves between Steampunk, Post-Apocalyptic, & Dystopia - mixing all three into a wonderful stew of adventure goodness.
Before you dive into this unique, incredible story though let me warn you - it's taxing to the brain. I had to take several breaks before diving back in because my mind was having to work so hard to adjust to everything. This is classified as a Young Adult book, but frankly I haven't worked so hard reading a "Young Adult" book since I picked up Ender's Game.
Well, let's take the ampersand for starters. Throughout the book (& this review, because I love it so much) China inserts the ampersand for each "and," & it's
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there for a reason - which is explained once the story is about 3/4ths of the way through. It's alternatively very, very cool & very distracting, but it works for what it was intended to do & is a constant reminder of how different things are.Also, there is the narrator. I'm not sure who exactly is narrating the book, but suffice it to say the narrator keeps things interesting. You know those books that jump around between three different sets of characters & always jump right when things are really heating up for the one that has you completely sucked into? The narrator acknowledges that is happening in a way - but still you have to wait & you may have to read a few short pages of the narrator musing on the state of the world in the process. It's very cool - that's all I have to say about that.
This story is part Moby Dick, part Treasure Island, part Robinson Crusoe. There are characters with strange names, a strange world filled with dangerous creatures (I always thought moles were freaky). There's a strange caste structure & instead of sticking to a specific genre, China moves between Steampunk, Post-Apocalyptic, & Dystopia - mixing all three into a wonderful stew of adventure goodness.
Before you dive into this unique, incredible story though let me warn you - it's taxing to the brain. I had to take several breaks before diving back in because my mind was having to work so hard to adjust to everything. This is classified as a Young Adult book, but frankly I haven't worked so hard reading a "Young Adult" book since I picked up Ender's Game.
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LibraryThing member FrancescaForrest
I loved everything about this book so profoundly that I hardly know where to begin. So, bullet style:
The scenario: a world where most of the earth is covered by a confusion of rails, off which you must not venture or you'll be devoured by tunneling, burrowing creatures, while overhead there's
The characters: protagonist Sham, a none-too-enthusiastic doctor's apprentice aboard a moling train (moling trains are like whaling ships); Captain Naphi, a female Ahab in pursuit of her "philosophy," the great white mole Mocker Jack; the mysterious siblings Shroak, the salvor Sirocco, plus pirates, the ferronavy of Manihiki, rail angels, Daybe the daybat--oh. So many marvelous characters.
The plot: a wrecked train, found incidentally by the moling train Medes, on which Sham serves, turns out to have clues to a route to the end of the known world, a place, so legend says, of great sorrow--or perhaps endless wealth. Such knowledge endangers all who possess it and drives Sham's decisions and his adventures.
The language: Oh, the language. I had to establish a special blog just to put quotes from this magnificent book. The humor: In small ways and big ones, the story elicits smiles (as when, for example, Captain Naphi asks someone to get to the point: "Do please," said Captain Naphi, "expedite this journey relevance-ward"--that's a phrase I'll have to adopt myself, I think.)
The postmodern style and references: could have been annoying if they were the focus of the book, but they're not: they're woven in so perfectly that they are merely, and completely, a delight.
Honestly, there needs to be a way to unlock a secret sixth star for books one really, really REALLY loves--and then I'd give this one that sixth star.
The scenario: a world where most of the earth is covered by a confusion of rails, off which you must not venture or you'll be devoured by tunneling, burrowing creatures, while overhead there's
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breathable air and then a layer of poisonous upsky, in which fly monstrous creatures from other worlds. The characters: protagonist Sham, a none-too-enthusiastic doctor's apprentice aboard a moling train (moling trains are like whaling ships); Captain Naphi, a female Ahab in pursuit of her "philosophy," the great white mole Mocker Jack; the mysterious siblings Shroak, the salvor Sirocco, plus pirates, the ferronavy of Manihiki, rail angels, Daybe the daybat--oh. So many marvelous characters.
The plot: a wrecked train, found incidentally by the moling train Medes, on which Sham serves, turns out to have clues to a route to the end of the known world, a place, so legend says, of great sorrow--or perhaps endless wealth. Such knowledge endangers all who possess it and drives Sham's decisions and his adventures.
The language: Oh, the language. I had to establish a special blog just to put quotes from this magnificent book. The humor: In small ways and big ones, the story elicits smiles (as when, for example, Captain Naphi asks someone to get to the point: "Do please," said Captain Naphi, "expedite this journey relevance-ward"--that's a phrase I'll have to adopt myself, I think.)
The postmodern style and references: could have been annoying if they were the focus of the book, but they're not: they're woven in so perfectly that they are merely, and completely, a delight.
Honestly, there needs to be a way to unlock a secret sixth star for books one really, really REALLY loves--and then I'd give this one that sixth star.
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LibraryThing member SandDune
Described by China Mieville as a novel for all ages Railsea seems to me to be a young adult novel in the true sense of the words, rather than a children's book which has been given a YA label to appeal to 10 to 12 year olds desperately trying to prove that they are teenagers. Neither the vocabulary
What really interests me in a fantasy novel is the world that the author creates and it's frequently a desire to understand that world that keeps me turning the page rather than the plot. For me China Mieville does this to perfection. The world of the Railsea (which might be the Earth in a distant future after an apocalyptic event - or perhaps might not) is an incredibly constructed world where an apparently neverending tangle of train tracks covers dusty plains: a world where the earth between the tracks is a hugely dangerous place full of predatory animals. Packs of dog-sized naked mole-rats and great southern moldywarpes the size of small islands pursue earthworms as thick as a man's arm and are themselves pursued by the moling trains which ride the rails. If it is the Earth it is changed out of almost all recognition:
'There are two layers to the sky & four layers to the world. No secrets there. Sham knew that, this book knows that & you know it too...
We're talking about the fourfold of the world. There is the subterrestrial where the digging beasts dig... The railsea, sitting on the flat earth, that is the second level... Extending forever... The lands & the countries & the continents are level three.... & over & above all that, where the peaks of the larger lands reach, protrude through the miles of breathable downsky into the upsky, above the borderline, are the cloggy, cloggy high-lands. On which poison-mist-&-dodgy-air-obscured levels creep, scurry & stagger cousins of the upsky flyers, poison-breathing parvenu predators.'
But as well as the world-building Railsea has a plot worth paying attention to. Clearly inspired by Moby Dick it tells the story of the orphan Sham (or Shamus Yes ap Soorap to give his full name), an unenthusiastic apprentice doctor aboard the moling train Medes, whose captain is obsessed with finding the gigantic ivory coloured moldywarpe who was resonsible for her losing her arm. Sham is less clear on the direction his life should take, but has an fascination with arche-salvage - the searching out of incomprehensible and ancient remains from the wrecks that scatter the railsea and from the earth itself. But the finding of a much more modern train wreck containing the body of its former captain sets Sham on a course to discover what it is he truly wants to do.
Altogether, a marvellous book which has confirmed China Mieville as one of my favourite authors.
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used or the construction of the book talks down to the intended audience: it's the subject matter and the age of the main protagonist which marks this out as a YA novel rather than any overt simplification.What really interests me in a fantasy novel is the world that the author creates and it's frequently a desire to understand that world that keeps me turning the page rather than the plot. For me China Mieville does this to perfection. The world of the Railsea (which might be the Earth in a distant future after an apocalyptic event - or perhaps might not) is an incredibly constructed world where an apparently neverending tangle of train tracks covers dusty plains: a world where the earth between the tracks is a hugely dangerous place full of predatory animals. Packs of dog-sized naked mole-rats and great southern moldywarpes the size of small islands pursue earthworms as thick as a man's arm and are themselves pursued by the moling trains which ride the rails. If it is the Earth it is changed out of almost all recognition:
'There are two layers to the sky & four layers to the world. No secrets there. Sham knew that, this book knows that & you know it too...
We're talking about the fourfold of the world. There is the subterrestrial where the digging beasts dig... The railsea, sitting on the flat earth, that is the second level... Extending forever... The lands & the countries & the continents are level three.... & over & above all that, where the peaks of the larger lands reach, protrude through the miles of breathable downsky into the upsky, above the borderline, are the cloggy, cloggy high-lands. On which poison-mist-&-dodgy-air-obscured levels creep, scurry & stagger cousins of the upsky flyers, poison-breathing parvenu predators.'
But as well as the world-building Railsea has a plot worth paying attention to. Clearly inspired by Moby Dick it tells the story of the orphan Sham (or Shamus Yes ap Soorap to give his full name), an unenthusiastic apprentice doctor aboard the moling train Medes, whose captain is obsessed with finding the gigantic ivory coloured moldywarpe who was resonsible for her losing her arm. Sham is less clear on the direction his life should take, but has an fascination with arche-salvage - the searching out of incomprehensible and ancient remains from the wrecks that scatter the railsea and from the earth itself. But the finding of a much more modern train wreck containing the body of its former captain sets Sham on a course to discover what it is he truly wants to do.
Altogether, a marvellous book which has confirmed China Mieville as one of my favourite authors.
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
Sham Yes ap Soorap becomes the Doctor's assistant on the moletrain "Medes" and gets to take part in a great moldywarpe hunt, which in turn creates a chance for him to help out some fellow orphans, and he may just have found the route across the great railsea to Heaven itself. An homage to Moby
I particularly liked the segues between the points of view that are directed by a strangely archaic narrator who also has a wicked sense of humor and who remarks how numerous are the details of the great train and its functions, but how extraordinarily tedious it would be to describe them all (Moby Dick, anyone?).
A derivative work, but at the same time a very typical Miéville in originality, and with some extra humor thrown in, it means that although it's not technically a YA book, it does allow a younger reader to be part of the sometimes bloody tale. It's not my absolute favorite in the Miéville oeuvre, mainly because although the world-building is good, it's not quite as luscious, as "treacly," as in his other books. It is, however a story full of battles and pirates and monsters and quests and friendship, and it is well worth the read when you have a hankering for a good old ripping yarn.
Note: The ampersands may be tedious to read, but they do have symbolic value and deserve the trouble.
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Dick, undoubtedly, since Captain Naphi has Captain Ahab's obsession in her hunt for the great mole Mocker-Jack, but more than that, it's an adventure tale of old, reminiscent of Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe, with some Oliver Twist and a dash of Mad Max added in for good luck. I particularly liked the segues between the points of view that are directed by a strangely archaic narrator who also has a wicked sense of humor and who remarks how numerous are the details of the great train and its functions, but how extraordinarily tedious it would be to describe them all (Moby Dick, anyone?).
A derivative work, but at the same time a very typical Miéville in originality, and with some extra humor thrown in, it means that although it's not technically a YA book, it does allow a younger reader to be part of the sometimes bloody tale. It's not my absolute favorite in the Miéville oeuvre, mainly because although the world-building is good, it's not quite as luscious, as "treacly," as in his other books. It is, however a story full of battles and pirates and monsters and quests and friendship, and it is well worth the read when you have a hankering for a good old ripping yarn.
Note: The ampersands may be tedious to read, but they do have symbolic value and deserve the trouble.
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LibraryThing member bragan
Railsea is set in a world -- I want to say "a post-apocalyptic world," but maybe that's not quite right. Maybe it's just a very old world in which a lot of stuff has happened. Anyway, it's set in a world where the oceans are railroads. Literally. Instead of water, there are miles and miles of train
Basically, it's a sea story, but with trains. Which is a ridiculous, insane idea and should not work, but Miéville is an absolute master of taking surreal ideas like this and shaping them, somehow, into detailed, real-feeling worlds, and this one is no exception. The bizarre, fascinating setting isn't the only selling point here, either. The plot is full of exciting, suspenseful adventure. The narration has a clever, self-aware quality to it that could, in lesser hands, have seemed painfully arch, but instead works beautifully. Also, it riffs on Moby-Dick in some thoughtful, playful ways that I found utterly delightful (although, lest you get the wrong idea, the novel is by no means a Melville pastiche). Miéville slyly sneaks in a few other entertaining literary references, too, from the obvious to the obscure. And the ending... the ending was nothing I expected at all.
I've enjoyed all the Miéville novels that I've read (which includes the Bas-Lag trilogy, The City & the City, and Kraken), but I think this one may be my new favorite. What a ride!
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tracks, splitting and joining and looping in on themselves everywhere. And people take to these rails, among other things, to hunt giant moles. Whale-sized giant moles. Basically, it's a sea story, but with trains. Which is a ridiculous, insane idea and should not work, but Miéville is an absolute master of taking surreal ideas like this and shaping them, somehow, into detailed, real-feeling worlds, and this one is no exception. The bizarre, fascinating setting isn't the only selling point here, either. The plot is full of exciting, suspenseful adventure. The narration has a clever, self-aware quality to it that could, in lesser hands, have seemed painfully arch, but instead works beautifully. Also, it riffs on Moby-Dick in some thoughtful, playful ways that I found utterly delightful (although, lest you get the wrong idea, the novel is by no means a Melville pastiche). Miéville slyly sneaks in a few other entertaining literary references, too, from the obvious to the obscure. And the ending... the ending was nothing I expected at all.
I've enjoyed all the Miéville novels that I've read (which includes the Bas-Lag trilogy, The City & the City, and Kraken), but I think this one may be my new favorite. What a ride!
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LibraryThing member erikschreppel
China Mieville is one of those authors that you really can't catagorize. Some books are easier to explain than others. Railsea is not one of those books. I can't easily explain the plot, but I can say that Mieville is just an outstanding writer. And this book is no exception.
LibraryThing member PghDragonMan
I still think Perdido Street Station is the best work from China Mieville. With Railsea, he clearly redeems himself for Embassy Town and comes close to reaching that same level as Perdido Street Station. One of the more intriguing literary devices Mieville uses in this work to help elevate it is
I thought the play on Moby Dick as a bit overdone. Despite that, I found the world Mieville crafted very interesting. Imagine a desert world where rails are laid ad infinitum between islands of rock over sandy desert soil housing out sized bugs and other critters, just waiting to eat anything they can seize. That is the world of Railsea.
Very well done dialog, well-crafted characters and a fairly good plot set in a first-class science fiction world all add up to a well-deserved four stars for Railsea.
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talking to the reader. This is the type of device that you will either love or hate. I loved it; it made the book seem a much more personal experience for me.I thought the play on Moby Dick as a bit overdone. Despite that, I found the world Mieville crafted very interesting. Imagine a desert world where rails are laid ad infinitum between islands of rock over sandy desert soil housing out sized bugs and other critters, just waiting to eat anything they can seize. That is the world of Railsea.
Very well done dialog, well-crafted characters and a fairly good plot set in a first-class science fiction world all add up to a well-deserved four stars for Railsea.
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LibraryThing member misericordia
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The Minihiki FerroNavy Has Declared the Document “RAILSEA” as work of Fiction
Minihiki Ferro Navy Office of communication has declared the circulating document “RAILSEA” as a working of fiction. The incidents taking place are completely un-true. The document now being
Where the best works of fiction make themselves believable by including true facts the Navy does stipulate the following items: There may or may not have been a member of the crew of the Mole Train Medes Sham Yes A Soorap. In the document “RAILSEA” he is portrayed as a citizen of Streggeye & as such Minihiki Navy has no record of him. Further inquires about his existence should be directed to the Streggeye console. (The blockade of the console is an unfortunate coincident & total unrelated to events in the document “RAILSEA”.) The train Medes did or does exist & is or was commanded by captained Naphi. The captain is register with the Streggeye Molers’s Benevolent Society. Her register philosophy is in fact a giant “white” or “ivory” mole. These are just the kind of facts that make the story interesting & believable.
However the following items are strictly un-true & border on treasonous. There is no missing FerroNavy train. The Navy does not issue Letters of Marque to Pirates. There is no such thing as demi-salvage.
This document “RAILSEA” has been release at this time to undermine support of new taxes and tariffs funding the building of the new FerroNavy Train “Moledoom”. Further discussion of the document are classified and not for public review.
The Minihiki FerroNavy Has Declared the Document “RAILSEA” as work of Fiction
Minihiki Ferro Navy Office of communication has declared the circulating document “RAILSEA” as a working of fiction. The incidents taking place are completely un-true. The document now being
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widely circulated claims to be a telling of the adventures of one “Sham Yes Ap Soorap” of Streggeye. Copies of the document are now banned. Anyone in possession of a copy is order to turn it over to the nearest Ferro Navy office. Where the best works of fiction make themselves believable by including true facts the Navy does stipulate the following items: There may or may not have been a member of the crew of the Mole Train Medes Sham Yes A Soorap. In the document “RAILSEA” he is portrayed as a citizen of Streggeye & as such Minihiki Navy has no record of him. Further inquires about his existence should be directed to the Streggeye console. (The blockade of the console is an unfortunate coincident & total unrelated to events in the document “RAILSEA”.) The train Medes did or does exist & is or was commanded by captained Naphi. The captain is register with the Streggeye Molers’s Benevolent Society. Her register philosophy is in fact a giant “white” or “ivory” mole. These are just the kind of facts that make the story interesting & believable.
However the following items are strictly un-true & border on treasonous. There is no missing FerroNavy train. The Navy does not issue Letters of Marque to Pirates. There is no such thing as demi-salvage.
This document “RAILSEA” has been release at this time to undermine support of new taxes and tariffs funding the building of the new FerroNavy Train “Moledoom”. Further discussion of the document are classified and not for public review.
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LibraryThing member tronella
(As usual with Mieville) I bought this for my Dad (for his birthday) and then he lent it to me when he'd finished it (when he visited for my graduation). I really enjoyed this one. Not quite as much as The Scar or The City & The City, but it's definitely up there amongst the best of his works.
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It's... Moby Dick, but with trains and moles instead of boats and whales? Sort of? But also a lot of other awesome things, including the usual excellent world-building details that are what keep bringing me back to Mieville's books. Show Less
LibraryThing member Vivl
I'm so pleased to have enjoyed my first China Miéville. I saw him talk at the Perth Writer's Festival, sharing the bill with Margaret Atwood, and was charmed by his intelligence and humour. Yet I was wary, as his writing was recommended by a friend who has very different tastes to me in
Perhaps I was lucky to have picked up a cross-over adult/young adult work (it has been issued with different covers to appeal to the two markets). Rather than the grim and confronting universe I'd been led to expect, I found myself drawn into an engaging, rollicking, steam-punkish adventure (after a slightly slow first chapter), all tied together with excellent writing, in turns thought-provoking and hilarious.
Oh yes, the other reason I was wary: I really did not enjoy Moby Dick, which I read for 19th Century American Lit at uni. Allegories and me don't get on. This being in part a reworking of Melville's classic gave me pause for thought. Happily, Miéville turns Melville on his head in so many ways and cheekily takes the piss out of the ponderous 19th century allegorical novel. Hurrah!
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science/speculative fiction. He is a fan of pure "idea" fiction and considers any lingering on human emotion or reaction to be sentimentality. I enjoy interesting ideas but need an emotional base/context. Railsea gave me everything I could wish for.Perhaps I was lucky to have picked up a cross-over adult/young adult work (it has been issued with different covers to appeal to the two markets). Rather than the grim and confronting universe I'd been led to expect, I found myself drawn into an engaging, rollicking, steam-punkish adventure (after a slightly slow first chapter), all tied together with excellent writing, in turns thought-provoking and hilarious.
Oh yes, the other reason I was wary: I really did not enjoy Moby Dick, which I read for 19th Century American Lit at uni. Allegories and me don't get on. This being in part a reworking of Melville's classic gave me pause for thought. Happily, Miéville turns Melville on his head in so many ways and cheekily takes the piss out of the ponderous 19th century allegorical novel. Hurrah!
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LibraryThing member mtrumbo
A loose re-telling of Moby Dick set in an alternate world that is made of toxic land, endless rails, and oversized burrowing animals. The book started strong but meandered in the middle and by the time it got interesting again I had already checked out.
LibraryThing member eeio
it was hard to get into it at first but i came to love it. in fact it felt quite short. the world of the book feels almost as vast as the world of say, perdido street station, many things are just hinted at but i wanted to explore it more.
the play of words the latter chapters introduce, where the
it's a nice, very compelling adventure story. the overall arc almost feels like a big joke but it manages to stand on its own.
the play of words the latter chapters introduce, where the
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narrator uses the rail lines as a metaphor is pretty amusing. it's a nice, very compelling adventure story. the overall arc almost feels like a big joke but it manages to stand on its own.
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LibraryThing member VikkiLaw
Starts off slow, but, less than a third of the way in, I found it virtually impossible to put down. I actually felt kind of bereft when I finished the last page.
LibraryThing member montsamu
Quite a fun ride, and richly stratified -- moldyworps all the way down! -- with some really choice bits of language, but I'm not getting the Mievillian critique of power which some of the publisher teaser text seemed to imply was in here. There's enough "there" there to get some (upper end) middle
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grade readers to do some outside the hierarchy thinking, though. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauren.castan
I love reading his books just for the ideas - so original and so provoking. Even when, as often happens, I feel as though there is allegory and metaphor aplenty I am completely not getting, I acknowledge the fault is in me, and not in the work.
Not everyone's cup of tea, but I look forward to every
Not everyone's cup of tea, but I look forward to every
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new one I pick up. Show Less
LibraryThing member suzemo
This is the second Miéville book I've read, and while I adored The City and The City, after reading several reviews for this book, I decided to skip it.
Then it got chosen for a book club and I read it anyway.
And I'm not entirely unhappy that I read it. It was a really easy read for me. I love
Yeah, it was good. Yeah, I love that this guy is totally egalitarian (especially with regards to sexual politics). I love the completely insane sh*t he does (Moby Dick... with moles? And you make it work? You sir - I would have your puppies), but his main character was a boring, uneventful boy.
I give people a lot of sh*t for only worshiping books (like Ender's Game, The Lightning Thief, etc.) that feature the one special boy who really isn't just like all of the other kids. I understand that there is a huge appeal to thinking that you aren't normal, just like everyone else... so I should love this book because it's an ordinary boy who runs amok of extraordinary people, places and circumstances, but I don't. Maybe because I like and appreciate normal, but I don't like boring.
I did like the daybat, though.
Then it got chosen for a book club and I read it anyway.
And I'm not entirely unhappy that I read it. It was a really easy read for me. I love
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Miéville's prose. I love what he does. I absolutely worship at the feet of his world-building abilities. But, I just could not get "in" to this story.Yeah, it was good. Yeah, I love that this guy is totally egalitarian (especially with regards to sexual politics). I love the completely insane sh*t he does (Moby Dick... with moles? And you make it work? You sir - I would have your puppies), but his main character was a boring, uneventful boy.
I give people a lot of sh*t for only worshiping books (like Ender's Game, The Lightning Thief, etc.) that feature the one special boy who really isn't just like all of the other kids. I understand that there is a huge appeal to thinking that you aren't normal, just like everyone else... so I should love this book because it's an ordinary boy who runs amok of extraordinary people, places and circumstances, but I don't. Maybe because I like and appreciate normal, but I don't like boring.
I did like the daybat, though.
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LibraryThing member gregandlarry
Fascinating world. I was hesitant to read another Mieville after the disappointing previous book, but I am glad I did. This story definitely has characters and well as all the other Mieville hallmarks.
LibraryThing member dgold
Wow. Bit of a slow starter, mainly due to the sheer immensity of the imagination needing time to find expression, but after about thirty pages this just sank its harpoons into my mind and refused to let go.
Moldywarpe, ferronaval, philosophy, blood rabbit & &. Even the description of that last is
Simply wonderful in every way, the tale of Sham ap Soorap, the moletrain Medes and the orphaned Shroake siblings deserves a far wider audience than that the YA label can achieve. This book is handily as imaginative as Perdido Street Station, as politically aware as The Scar or Iron Council, and it is as accessible as The City & The City.
One aspect which needs, nay deserves, highlighting in appreciation is the role of female characters. There is no gender-roling here, none of the weak damsels needing rescue, or strong men growing into protectors. There are just people, trying to get by in a hard and difficult world.
In a word: outstanding.
Moldywarpe, ferronaval, philosophy, blood rabbit & &. Even the description of that last is
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worthy of inclusion in literature, never mind the rest of the book. Simply wonderful in every way, the tale of Sham ap Soorap, the moletrain Medes and the orphaned Shroake siblings deserves a far wider audience than that the YA label can achieve. This book is handily as imaginative as Perdido Street Station, as politically aware as The Scar or Iron Council, and it is as accessible as The City & The City.
One aspect which needs, nay deserves, highlighting in appreciation is the role of female characters. There is no gender-roling here, none of the weak damsels needing rescue, or strong men growing into protectors. There are just people, trying to get by in a hard and difficult world.
In a word: outstanding.
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LibraryThing member gaisce
Disclaimer: I received this book from Del Rey!
That said, a giveaway is probably the guaranteed way I would have read Railsea, because it has been described on the jacket as "a brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville's Moby Dick" and I have a long and sordid enmity with that book. It's not just
So whose influence won out? Melville's sail-winded epic or Miéville's dry (in environment and wit) reimagining?
For me, China Miéville made me enjoy the world he built, made me appreciate the literary origins it came from and made me think about the changes he made, which means he was handily the victor. But this novel is not for everyone. It is a genre book and an odd swirl of bildungsroman, meta commentary, and wild reworkings of a dystopian world. It works best for the proper audience, so here's a basic list of which side readers might fall into.
You might not enjoy Railsea if:
a tight plot and the development of interpersonal relationships are necessary for your interest
when someone dumps you in a dystopian AU you cannot rest until you determine the hows and whys of this world make sense (trust me, that way lies madness)
an ampersand killed your family and the very sight of it fills you with rage
You will love Railsea if:
China Meiville's style of linguistic worldbuilding that meanders rather than sprints towards its destination is your thing
giant killer mole rats vs harpooner trains are super cool, you don't need to know the how or why only that it's GIANT KILLER MOLE RATS VS HARPOONER TRAINS
you enjoy some sly digressions of philosophy and metanarrative comments that are much less serious than Melville, Miéville's predecessor
In general, Railsea works because its world and narrative operate the same way; both adding a genuineness to the other. There are paths that often sidetrack and diverge only to connect later on, but they never feel lost or out of the author's control. Like Melville, there are chapters detailing the system behind this world of infinite rails and giant tunnel animals. There are some explaining history, language, myths, and a few sly winks of meta narrative. For example, some chapters start as digressions that other plot threads are still ongoing but it is not their time to come back. After four chapters delaying the B plot of the Shroake twins in favor of our protagonist's fate, then saying, in all sincerity "It's is, in fact, yes, Shroake O'Clock" makes you realize that the narration may be sincere, but not entirely serious.
Like Mobdy Dick there is a captain obsessed with a mythical white beast and a young man out of place who becomes our protagonist. I feel Sham ap Soorap is defined by his lack of definition, he doesn't want to be on a mole hunting train, he doesn't want to be a doctor's assistant, and even the times he decides to take charge of his wishes seem half-baked and aimless. This works for the story, but it is admittedly harder to be invested in his welfare. China Miéville's characters more inhabit the world and are defined by their circumstances than their personalities define the way the world is examined. The one best characterized is Captain Ahab's proxy--Captain Naphi. Her obsession with Mocker-Jack has the intensity of the original source, even when Miéville deconstructs itlike the part at the end where we find out her arm was never taken by Mocker-Jack, but she pretended it was in order to justify her single minded pursuit .
Railsea is a story of finding purpose, but not specifically in any one person, goal, or even giant mole rat. In a market where most YA novels are fast paced POVs detailing worlds gone wrong, this novel takes long ways around. If you find the journey enjoyable it's a worthwhile read. You don't go into it trying to get answers about how an ecosystem can sustain itself full of train tracks, dry spaces and giant subterranean dwellers, we don't know if aliens inhibit the poisonous sky, and the end is a settling open ended pause rather than a tightly wrapped bow. You do not have to love Moby Dick to love it (thank goodness for me!) but the language and the small nuances are the points that draw you in the way Melville brought maritime culture to America in the past. Drink up me hearties yo-ho.
Also, thank you China Miéville for not writing about the hunters skinning the giant mole's penis and putting it on like a cassock. That is a comparison I'm glad you left for Melville.
That said, a giveaway is probably the guaranteed way I would have read Railsea, because it has been described on the jacket as "a brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville's Moby Dick" and I have a long and sordid enmity with that book. It's not just
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me, many people hear "Herman Melville remastered" and take a brisk walk in the other direction. However, I know China Miéville a much lauded speculative/sci-fi master. And this is Moby Dick with trains and killer mole rats! I would not be a self-respecting sci-fi nerd if I didn't admit that idea intrigued me. So whose influence won out? Melville's sail-winded epic or Miéville's dry (in environment and wit) reimagining?
For me, China Miéville made me enjoy the world he built, made me appreciate the literary origins it came from and made me think about the changes he made, which means he was handily the victor. But this novel is not for everyone. It is a genre book and an odd swirl of bildungsroman, meta commentary, and wild reworkings of a dystopian world. It works best for the proper audience, so here's a basic list of which side readers might fall into.
You might not enjoy Railsea if:
a tight plot and the development of interpersonal relationships are necessary for your interest
when someone dumps you in a dystopian AU you cannot rest until you determine the hows and whys of this world make sense (trust me, that way lies madness)
an ampersand killed your family and the very sight of it fills you with rage
You will love Railsea if:
China Meiville's style of linguistic worldbuilding that meanders rather than sprints towards its destination is your thing
giant killer mole rats vs harpooner trains are super cool, you don't need to know the how or why only that it's GIANT KILLER MOLE RATS VS HARPOONER TRAINS
you enjoy some sly digressions of philosophy and metanarrative comments that are much less serious than Melville, Miéville's predecessor
In general, Railsea works because its world and narrative operate the same way; both adding a genuineness to the other. There are paths that often sidetrack and diverge only to connect later on, but they never feel lost or out of the author's control. Like Melville, there are chapters detailing the system behind this world of infinite rails and giant tunnel animals. There are some explaining history, language, myths, and a few sly winks of meta narrative. For example, some chapters start as digressions that other plot threads are still ongoing but it is not their time to come back. After four chapters delaying the B plot of the Shroake twins in favor of our protagonist's fate, then saying, in all sincerity "It's is, in fact, yes, Shroake O'Clock" makes you realize that the narration may be sincere, but not entirely serious.
Like Mobdy Dick there is a captain obsessed with a mythical white beast and a young man out of place who becomes our protagonist. I feel Sham ap Soorap is defined by his lack of definition, he doesn't want to be on a mole hunting train, he doesn't want to be a doctor's assistant, and even the times he decides to take charge of his wishes seem half-baked and aimless. This works for the story, but it is admittedly harder to be invested in his welfare. China Miéville's characters more inhabit the world and are defined by their circumstances than their personalities define the way the world is examined. The one best characterized is Captain Ahab's proxy--Captain Naphi. Her obsession with Mocker-Jack has the intensity of the original source, even when Miéville deconstructs it
Railsea is a story of finding purpose, but not specifically in any one person, goal, or even giant mole rat. In a market where most YA novels are fast paced POVs detailing worlds gone wrong, this novel takes long ways around. If you find the journey enjoyable it's a worthwhile read. You don't go into it trying to get answers about how an ecosystem can sustain itself full of train tracks, dry spaces and giant subterranean dwellers, we don't know if aliens inhibit the poisonous sky, and the end is a settling open ended pause rather than a tightly wrapped bow. You do not have to love Moby Dick to love it (thank goodness for me!) but the language and the small nuances are the points that draw you in the way Melville brought maritime culture to America in the past. Drink up me hearties yo-ho.
Also, thank you China Miéville for not writing about the hunters skinning the giant mole's penis and putting it on like a cassock. That is a comparison I'm glad you left for Melville.
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LibraryThing member SChant
Excellent as usual, imaginative with a more linear story than usual. Nods to the Strugatsky brothers "Roadside Picnic", Melvilles' "Moby Dick", and probably many others I didn't pick up on. Loved it.
LibraryThing member IAmChrysanthemum
I was hoping China Mieville could become my latest author obsession, but I sorta kinda hated this. For me, it was too much style, too little substance. I loathed the prose (ampersand abuse is a serious problem!) and at a third of the way through, I had no investment in the story or
Perhaps I'll try another of Mieville's works in a few months once this feeling of disappointment becomes less acute.
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characters.Perhaps I'll try another of Mieville's works in a few months once this feeling of disappointment becomes less acute.
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LibraryThing member pussreboots
Railsea is China Miéville's second YA fantasy. After adoring every last word and illustration in Un Lun Dun I was overjoyed to get an egalley for review. I think this is a time where expectations have outrun reality.
Sham (of a much longer name which I won't bother repeating here) works on mole
Moldywarpe to me sounds like a Flannimal — and while they can be fierce, they are often more crude and silly than deadly. Just as I was trying to get Ricky Gervais's creations out of my mind and focus on Mieville's book, there is an illustration of a naked mole-rat. Sure, it's large, hungry and dangerous but it's still a naked mole-rat. Forget Flanimals, now I'm thinking of Kim Possible and Ron's pet, Rufus — for the remainder of the book.
Just like Un Lun Dun, Railsea is metafiction. It plays with conventions and genre expectations. One way it does this is through the re-definition of common words like "philosophy" and the use of anagrams for character names. A little bit of this goes a long way. Here there is an over abundance.
Those puns in turn lead to parodies of Moby-Dick and Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate stories. Unfortunately Miéville is out of his comfort zone and can't keep pace with either Melville's humor or Stevenson's high seas hijinks.
& then there are the ampersands. Apparently these are intended to show the twists and turns of the Railsea. In an egalley where often we are given works still in the process of final edits, I took these ampersands to be stand-ins for and because looks unpolished and incomplete.
While most of the book blogosphere is falling down in adoration for Miéville's latest work, I just can't join in the fun. I want to but for me the book does not work.
Sham (of a much longer name which I won't bother repeating here) works on mole
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train. He'd rather work salvage but this is the job he could find. And so like Ishmael, he's stuck with an insane captain on an equally insane hunt. Except he lives in a barren world where the earth is covered with endless crisscrossing railroad tracks and the land beneath is teeming with bloodthirsty, man-eating creatures — like the dreaded moldywarpe.Moldywarpe to me sounds like a Flannimal — and while they can be fierce, they are often more crude and silly than deadly. Just as I was trying to get Ricky Gervais's creations out of my mind and focus on Mieville's book, there is an illustration of a naked mole-rat. Sure, it's large, hungry and dangerous but it's still a naked mole-rat. Forget Flanimals, now I'm thinking of Kim Possible and Ron's pet, Rufus — for the remainder of the book.
Just like Un Lun Dun, Railsea is metafiction. It plays with conventions and genre expectations. One way it does this is through the re-definition of common words like "philosophy" and the use of anagrams for character names. A little bit of this goes a long way. Here there is an over abundance.
Those puns in turn lead to parodies of Moby-Dick and Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate stories. Unfortunately Miéville is out of his comfort zone and can't keep pace with either Melville's humor or Stevenson's high seas hijinks.
& then there are the ampersands. Apparently these are intended to show the twists and turns of the Railsea. In an egalley where often we are given works still in the process of final edits, I took these ampersands to be stand-ins for and because looks unpolished and incomplete.
While most of the book blogosphere is falling down in adoration for Miéville's latest work, I just can't join in the fun. I want to but for me the book does not work.
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LibraryThing member g33kgrrl
Another enjoyable outing by Miéville. There are fascinating creatures such as giant ground-dwelling animals (do you ever want to encounter a mole-rat as big as an elephant? No? Then don't visit this world); intriguingly ridiculous concepts (moletrain captains expected to behave like Captain Ahab);
Don't be scared off by the first few pages that seem confusing - trust Miéville, push through, and enjoy the story.
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winning characters (see: all of them); and an intriguing twist at the end (of course!). Plus villains and train-battles and a brother-sister team of awesome. Don't be scared off by the first few pages that seem confusing - trust Miéville, push through, and enjoy the story.
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LibraryThing member JWarren42
A good novel, but not great. I was far more interested in the captain's quest, and fascinated by the concept of captains who KNOW that the giant animals they chase are symbolic, than Sham's story. I sort of wanted that book in full rather than glimpses of it as part of a different story.
LibraryThing member akswede
Good, just not great. I just didn't care about the plot all that much.
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2014)
Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (Finalist — 2012)
Locus Award (Finalist — Young Adult Novel — 2013)
British Fantasy Award (Nominee — Robert Holdstock Award — 2013)
SF Site Editor's Choice (2012)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2013)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2013)
Original publication date
2012-05