Un Lun Dun (novel)

Un Lun Dun (novel)
Attribution
Author	China Miéville
Cover artist	China Miéville
Publication information
Publisher	Del Rey Books
Release date	January 2007
Pages	522 (UK)

Un Lun Dun is a young adult fantasy novel by China Miéville, released in 2007. The title is derived from 'UnLondon,' the name of the alternate realm where the book is set. It also contains illustrations by Miéville. It was first released in January 2007. The novel also won the 2008 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book.

Plot summary

Un Lun Dun follows best friends Zanna and Deeba, who stumble into UnLondon, a bizarre mirror-world of London. Zanna is believed to be the Shwazzy, a prophesied hero meant to defeat the evil sentient Smog. However, when she fails in her first battle and is sent home with no memory, Deeba discovers that the prophecies were misinterpretations and that UnLondon’s supposed saviors, Brokkenbroll and Benjamin Unstible, are actually aiding the Smog.

Determined to stop the threat herself, Deeba returns to UnLondon and, with the help of allies—including a ghost boy, a talking book, and an unconventional weapon called the UnGun—defies fate as the Unchosen One to defeat the Smog and save the city.

Characters

• Deeba: Since Deeba takes Zanna's place as the saviour of UnLondon, she is called "the Unchosen One." On Zanna's first day at Kilburn Comprehensive, Deeba is able to make her laugh, something most people can't do. She likes to do things her own way, and is not a stereotypical hero. Along the way, she is joined by her pet milk carton, Curdle, a half-ghost named Hemi, and a talking prophecy book that often gets information wrong.

• Zanna: Zanna has the title "the Shwazzy," which is related to the French adjective "choisie," meaning "chosen". She hates her given name, "Susanna," but she hates "Sue" even more. She is tall and striking, with blond hair, but she always tries to stay in the background. This doesn't work very well. When she is attacked by a Stink-Junkie, a servant of the Smog, in UnLondon, she breathes in Smog and falls ill. Zanna is sent back to London by Brokkenbroll, leader of unbrellas, with her memories of UnLondon erased forever.

• Hemi: Hemi is a half-ghost, the result of a union between an UnLondoner and a dead Londoner. While normal ghosts cannot speak in a way that non-ghosts can hear them, Hemi can speak to both ghosts and non-ghosts. He has trouble fitting in because both ghosts and non-ghosts despise him for being a 'half-breed'. Most inhabitants of Wraithtown do not have to eat. Since Hemi does, he's taken to stealing or "extreme shopping," as he calls it.

• Benjamin Unstible: Was killed by Smog but brought back to life and possessed by Smog. While possessed, he was credited with developing a formula for making the unbrellas Smog-proof. In reality Brokkenbroll controlled the unbrellas and they were part of Smog's plan to take over UnLondon

• The Smog: The Smog is a living radioactive cloud that was created by a different mixture of chemicals in the air of London. It thinks of no one but itself and consuming new gases to add to its mixture. It is also hungry for knowledge and absorbs any information contained in books that are burned and their smoke added to the mixture. The Smog attacked London years ago but was beaten by the "Klinneract", which was really the 1956 Clean Air Act; it then seeped into UnLondon and is now trying to take over UnLondon. Working for it is Brokkenbroll, the leader of unbrellas, or broken umbrellas from London. It creates servants from its Smog, such as Smombies (corpses re-animated with Smog), Smoglodytes (disfigured creatures made from Smog), and Stink-Junkies (humans forced to be addicted to the Smog).

• The Book: The Book is full of prophecies that often end up wrong, or so they think. It befriends Deeba but is first reluctant about Hemi. The one thing that he thinks is wrong about the prophesy of the Shwazzy is that it says, "The smog is afraid of Nothing and the Ungun." They think it is meant to say "The Smog is afraid of nothing BUT the Ungun."

• Giraffes: The giraffes are cannibals that use their necks to hang the skins of their victims.

• Obaday Fing: Obaday Fing is a tailor whose head is an enormous pin-cushion. He uses paper to make clothing and runs a stall in a market near Wraithtown

• Brokkenbroll: Brokkenbroll is the boss of the broken umbrellas.

• Conductor Jones

• The Propheseers

• Murgatroyd: The secretary of Elizabeth Rawley, the environment minister.

• Mr. Speaker

• Rosa

• Yorick Cavea

China Miéville's novels and other works