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Railsea
Railsea | China Miéville
“Other names besides [Herman] Melville’s will surely come to mind as you read this thrilling tale—there’s Dune’s Frank Herbert. . . . But in this, as in all of his works, Miéville has that special knack for evoking other writers even while making the story wholly his own.”—Los Angeles Times   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. Spectacular as it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain thinks only of hunting the ivory-colored mole that took her arm years ago. But when they come across a wrecked train, Sham finds something—a series of pictures hinting at something, somewhere, that should be impossible—that 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.   NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   “[Miéville] gives all readers a lot to dig into here, be it emotional drama, Godzilla-esque monster carnage, or the high adventure that comes only with riding the rails.”—USA Today   “Superb . . . massively imaginative.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)   “Riveting . . . a great adventure.”—NPR   “Wildly inventive . . . Every sentence is packed with wit.”—The Guardian (London)
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review
Jari-chan
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

My second Mieville, and now he's really made it to my list of favourite authors. He again wrote a unique story, something totally different from everything else I've read so far. The worlds he creates are worth exploring, the way he writes makes it easy for us to get lost there. This might be dangerous, but totally worth it â¤

@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
28 likes1 comment
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CorgiBooks
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

I mean this has been a long time coming but I‘ve finally read it and wow are the visuals incredible. What a clever interpretation of the classical moby dick tale; it captures the notion of hunting for philosophy without it feeling hamfisted or awkward. So so good

CorgiBooks I do kind of wish it touched more on how the past socioeconomic climate led to the railsea, since there‘s a mention that it was due to greed caused by railing companies, but other than that the world building is really good 4y
3 likes1 comment
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Auntynanny
Railsea | China Miéville
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Mehso-so

I didn't love this book the way I expected to. It was very original and the world-building was fascinating. I'm not even really sure what else I wanted from it, but I just wasn't blown away. I definitely plan to read more of his books, though.

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Creadnorthey
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Just good rollicking fun- boarders on YAL with a playful Mad Max on rails feel. Why there is no movie of this yet seems unbelievable almost as unbelievably awesome as Miéville‘s world!

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Creadnorthey
Railsea | China Miéville
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China Mieville has done it again- trapped in a steam-punk world and giving myself over to it hook, line and sinker. Ahhh, the taste of a good book.

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Creadnorthey
Railsea | China Miéville

Didn‘t realize this was YA. Or at least it seems to be- can anyone confirm?

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MirrorMask
Railsea | China Miéville
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Mehso-so

I read the book for my Sci Fi /Fantasy book club, which is probably the only reason that I finished it. I listened to the audiobook, which was definitely the wrong way to read this one. The world building made no sense to me, and I couldn't picture an earth covered in rails. I haven't read Moby Dick, but I could understand how this book could be considered a retelling. The captain is chasing a giant mole for the majority of the book.

70 likes1 stack add
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

I thought this was going to be lesser-Miéville, just a YA riff on Moby Dick with a train hunting an albino mole on an ocean of rails...

& that‘s what it is for awhile, with a dose of the weird Russian sci-fi of the Strugatskys. But it reads like Mad Max: Fury Road as coming-of-age drama with a warm beating dieselpunk heart.

This was perfect from that first bloodstained night all the way to the Heaven that waits at the End of the Line.

JazzFeathers Oh, this sounds so interesting! Not easy to find good dieselpunk stories out there. 6y
68 likes7 stack adds4 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville
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Have I mentioned that I love this book with my whole heart and soul? Because, yeah.

AiBBot It was sooo good. 6y
59 likes2 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville
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The book explains its exclusive use of ampersands.

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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville

“Troose always nodded. He always had. Including at silences, as if it was imperative that he & the world be in accord about everything, including nothing.â€

Moray_Reads Loved this one â™¥ï¸ 6y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk @Moray_Reads Going in I already knew I was going to love it and somehow I am loving even more than I thought I would! 6y
40 likes2 comments
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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville
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This is a pretty magnificent way to start a book.

Dig those ampersands.

Swe_Eva Magnificent words from a magnificent author. 💜 6y
Swe_Eva And the ampersands are there for a reason... 😠6y
54 likes2 comments
blurb
TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville
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Fare ye well, mediocre Star Wars novel. I‘m #starting my 9th China Miéville novel and it promises to be spectacular.

2BR02B China never disappoints. 6y
vivastory @2BR02B You speak the truth! 6y
47 likes2 comments
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Brie
Railsea | China Miéville
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My #JanuaryTBR. I usually shoot for 10 books a month and this month I selected some that have been sitting on my #tbr shelf for literal years. I think this year I want to focus on books that‘ve been gathering dust.

britt_brooke Nice stack of books! I need to focus on this, too. 7y
Cinfhen I really liked 7y
jhod Kate Atkinson is always a good read! 7y
See All 7 Comments
Kimzey Some great ones there! Behold the Dreamers and Dreaming in Cuban are in my TBR list also! 7y
2BR02B Railsea has been on my TBR for ages. 7y
PNWBookseller85 Lexicon is fantastic. One of my favorites. 7y
78 likes7 comments
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BookishMouse
Railsea | China Miéville
Bailedbailed

My girlfriend and I were buddy reading this and we both hit 100 pages in and we‘re still totally lost. We both really struggled to picture the world that Miéville was describing and left each chapter largely confused. I also found the use of & instead of the word and was really jarring and took me out of the text. It‘s a real shame because I love the concept.

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annieftbooks
Railsea | China Miéville
Pickpick

I really liked this book. I loved the world building and i think that's the real protagonist in this story. The characters were fine, but the world building was amazing. As i said, I really think that the #Railsea is the protagonist. The characters show us the captain's obsession, Sham's dream, the world's ambition... But all of that revolves around the railsea. I don't know, i really loved the concept and it was pretty original to me 💗

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annieftbooks
Railsea | China Miéville

Maybe i don't love this book *yet* but i'm really enjoying it. I wish i had more time to read 😢

At the moment i think #railsea has a very original plot â­

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TobeyTheScavengerMonk
Railsea | China Miéville
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This is China Miéville's YA remix of Moby Dick on an endless sea of train tracks #wherethewildthingsare giant moles to be precise. Young Sham ends up on a massive train with an obsessed captain hunting down the albino mole that took her arm.

I haven't read it yet, but I'm gonna. #90sinJuly

heikemarie Ooh, I wanna know how it is when you're done! 7y
readordierachel I should really read some Mieville. All his books sound fantastic. 7y
aeeklund That sounds amazing. 7y
Leelee.reads You had me at "albino mole that took her arm." ? 7y
Cinfhen Sounds like a fun summer read 😱💕😂 7y
76 likes8 stack adds5 comments
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thebeercolonel
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Look, it's Miéville and thus bae obvs. Rollicking good fun and clever.

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Bibliogeekery
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

âœˆï¸ Planes: All Inclusive by Farzana Doctor (#queerbooks)
🚂 Trains: Railsea by China Mieville (#ya)
🚗 Automobiles: Nevada by Imogen Binnie (#transbooks)

#photoadaynov16 #planestrainsandautomobiles

8little_paws Nevada is one of my all time favorites!! Terrific book. 8y
Bibliogeekery @8little_paws it's SO great, isn't it? 8y
BooksForYears I've heard RAILSEA compared to MOBY DICK 🚂🳠8y
See All 6 Comments
Bibliogeekery @BooksForYears interesting!! 8y
WOCreads Yass Farzana Doctor!!🙌📚 8y
Lindy A trifecta of great books! 👠8y
84 likes6 comments
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Fuzz
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

Interesting world building & some fun characters. I finished this one in a day.

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Seonjoon
Railsea | China Miéville
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Pickpick

5? I spent a month last summer reading Miéville's backlist, and Railsea was one of my favs. Think a steampunk Earthsea Trilogy with a stylish sense of humor. (My partner's reading it while we wait for our flight to Tampa. ?â›±???)

shawnmooney As you know, it's on my list! 8y
Seonjoon @shawnmooney I hope you enjoy it! Miéville is one my fav authors. I still have a few of his short story collections I haven't read, but his novels are great. 8y
16 likes7 stack adds2 comments
blurb
shawnmooney
Railsea | China Miéville
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$5 book sale find #11:
Gradually becoming aware of this author's existence. If fact, upon reading the back cover, I now know that China Mieville is a man!

Seonjoon Mièville is one of my favorite authors; I spent most of last summer reading his backlist. Railsea was a favorite! 8y
shawnmooney @Seonjoon That's great! And he's quite a prolific writer, no? 8y
6 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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rjpatt
Railsea | China Miéville
Pickpick

Good read! A steampunk adventure tale inspired by Moby Dick. Good world building.

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rjpatt
Railsea | China Miéville
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First line: "this is the story of a bloodstained boy."