A captivating read, Mieville illustrates the events of 1917 with vivid details and a special literary flourish, clearly an experienced novelist and now historian. It feels vividly present, and it helped me keep up with my Trotskyist reading group thanks to Mieville's appreciation for Victor Serge. Maybe the main thing that threw me out of the revolutionary trance Mieville invokes, is that he uses so many interesting and peculiar words that I have to constantly consult a dictionary!