318 pages
English language
Published April 16, 2000 by Tom Doherty Associates.
Something is stirring in London's dark, stamping out its territory in brickdust and blood. Something has murdered Saul Garamond's father, and left Saul to pay for the crime.
But a shadow from the urban waste breaks into Saul's prison cell and leads him to freedom. A shadow called King Rat, who reveals Saul's royal heritage, a heritage that opens a new world to Saul, the world below London's streets--a heritage that also drags Saul into King Rat's plan for revenge against his ancient enemy,. With drum 'n' bass pounding the backstreets, Saul must confront the forces that would use him, the forces that would destroy him, and the forces that shape his own bizarre identity.
A darker, more modern sequel to a classic fairytale, but with drum n' bass, set in the late 90s in London. I'm less familiar with London, but loved all the lovely descriptions of its personality and architecture. It has its own personality. All the characters are fleshed out, flawed, and feel like they have their own stories which would easily fill a few other novels.
Very good. China leads on a drum and bass exploration of the London underworld. If you've read Neverwhere, you'll get strong echoes of it throughout, but this is darker and makes some hard turns from the story you might expect.
It's also more obvious that this is early writing from China - there are some unfired checkov's guns, some cheats at the very end, but overall it's a great book.
