Book Review: Railsea by China Mieville

4/5 stars. A coming-of-age story about a young man’s search for his own identity amidst the Railsea and a mole train. The Railsea is a vast expanse of railway lines that support the mole trains. These trains hunt giant moles called Moldywarpes for food. The early part of this book is reminiscent of Moby Dick, as the trains are attacking the moles, and as we learn that every mole train captain has his/her own ‘philosophy’ – the hunt for that one mole that got away. The description and prose contained in this novel are exquisite. Mieville is a master wordsmith.

I learned, after I was about halfway through the book, that Mieville wrote this for a YA audience, but I did not feel that intention in the early part of the novel. I can see it later on, once the focus shifts away from the mole train, following our MC, Sham ap Soorap, on his adventures. This story seemed to be one thing but ended up being much different than I had expected. I greatly enjoyed the early part of the story. It was a bit dark, but it felt true to the life of a whale giant mole hunter. The description of the train, the rail, and the Railsea brought me fully into the story and I remained invested until the last third or so of the novel. Overall, I enjoyed this unique and weird tale and look forward to many more of China Mieville’s strange fiction!