Railsea

China Miéville

Age 12 +

2013 Winner

Locus Award Best Young Adult Book

2013 Nominee

British Fantasy Awards Best Fantasy Novel

24 May 2012
9780230765368
384 pages

Synopsis

Savage giant moles, rail pirates, and explorers abound in China Miéville's thrilling young adult novel, Railsea.

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 and the other’s glory – are extraordinary. But no matter how spectacular it is, travelling the endless rails of the railsea, Sham senses that there’s more to life. Even if his captain can think only of her obsessive hunt for one savage mole.

When they find a wrecked train, it's a welcome distraction. But the impossible salvage Sham finds there leads to trouble. Soon he's hunted on all sides: by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham's life that's about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.

Fiction of the new century.
Miéville’s work is thrillingly imaginative . . . immensely witty & utterly unforgettable.
One of the most imaginative young writers around in any kind of fiction.