This is a Young Adult novel by Miéville (whose adult works I have yet to read, but must). It has a completely whacky premise: a world in which there are no oceans, and where in their place is the endless ‘railsea’: a vast tangle of railroad tracks over which trains hurtle between islands of higher land, throwing switches on the run to change direction.

"This is the story of a bloodstained boy."

Thus we are introduced to Sham ap Soorap, a young man on board the moletrain Medes, whose captain is driven by an obsession to catch and kill a great white mole which has in the past severed her arm. Well, you get the idea. If the trick was only this recasting of Moby-Dick then there wouldn’t be much to the book. But Miéville spins out a much more interesting and complex story, full of sly references to books like Kidnapped, Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels.

I do like the way Miéville keeps breaking the ‘fourth wall’ and discussing what is going to happen with the reader. (Since I’ve just finished reading Barchester Chronicles, this reminds me a lot of Anthony Trollope doing the same thing). There’s a typographical quirk to the text too. Each and every instance of the word ‘and’ is replaced by the ampersand ‘&’. At first this annoyed me, but then I got used to it, and it does give an interesting feel to the story.

Lots of exciting adventure and interest. And in the end, there’s almost (stress almost) a justification revealed for the existence of the railsea. I really liked it. ( )

China Mieville seems to be a burgeoning #bookstagram darling so upon seeing this in the local #oxfambooks I thought I’d give it a bash. It tells the story of a world both similar and dissimilar to our own - the main difference being that instead of seas there are instead unfathomable crisscross rail tracks that Railsea inhabitants use to navigate their world. We are told the story of Sham Yes Ap Shoorap, an orphaned medic’s assistant on a moletrain (for this rail-ridden land is complete with all manner of beasts including giant moles which people hunt and kill) whose life changes dramatically when he happens to witness a picture of an unimaginable idea to a Railsea citizen - a single rail track - and so his adventure to find out what this seeming phantasm is, ensues.

Although readable and entertaining, this did nothing to slow my belief that fantasy isn’t my bag. Rather than be impressed at the inventiveness of Mieville’s world I spent most of my time preoccupied with frustrations about how unnecessary and far-fetched everything was (including the long, strange names). Perhaps it is more one for YA/fantasy loving readers but it was all too fantastical for the sake of being fantastical for me. His attempt to turn it into a moral metaphor of a future portent at the end also didn’t sit well as it felt a little like trying to make it more than it was.
I don’t doubt that for fantasy fans this will be a book they enjoy and take my criticism with a pinch of salt because I’m not his audience. And despite all my grievances towards it I still give it 3/5 so make if that what you will, haha! ( )

I go to China Miéville when I need mental healing from bad sci fi & fantasy. He's a Pulitzer level writer that chose to write weird stuff. Miéville only writes books that restructure my perception of literature or society. Everything starts from ground zero, as if no rules were created to define genre.

This less famous book equals any of his others in world building and has one of the best endings, a punchline 500 pages to set up.

I have to wonder if this Moby Dick inspired tale also contains an epic meta pun of his name sounding like Melville. ( )

Mieville does Melville.

OK long story short (too late!) its Moby Dick with trains instead of boats minus the whale hunting tutorials plus the City of Ember for spice.

China Mieville has created an excellent story in a fantastic world. However this imaginative outing is more clichéd than his past novels with a few too many chance happenings bringing the characters together in the end. He combines enough steam punk, diesel punk and cyberpunk to keep you guessing as to the era it supposedly takes place in while providing heavy flavours of Mad Max recklessness.


The big detractor is the marketing. This is not a youth or young adult novel. The complexity of the language and themes China deals with may be beyond the understanding of younger teenagers.

If I tell you what I liked about Railsea I'll spoil the fun for you. The beauty of this book lies in the little details of world building and the cheekiness of the authors fourth wall breaking interludes.

Reminded me of the manga BLAM! in a few places. Also as this is Mieville's second novel involving people living on trains it stands on stronger feet than his somewhat disappointing Iron Council. Certainly his strongest entry in a while.

Watch out for the ampersands Homo narrans. Good reading! ( )

I loved this book. As usual he plays around with language and style which might make it a more of a challenge for young adults. Hard to describe where this book fits. Part science fiction, fantasy, steampunk. The best Mieville book in years. ( )