What a delightful book. Recommended, especially if you like city stories and/or kick-ass girl characters. Deeba is going down on my all-time favorites list. I love her spirit, her agency, her creative thinking. Lots of other great characters, too.

I like stories that take the idea of The Chosen One and turn it on its head, and Deeba is certainly that: taking the bits and pieces of prophecy when they're helpful, ignoring them when they aren't, and always thinking on her feet. Sometimes, you really do just need to try something and see if it works. UnLondon is a great universe, too. I particularly love the concept of all the junk we discard making it to the other side and turning into something new, useful, and sometimes strange.

China Mieville does some wonderful things with language and words, creating an argot for the UnLonders that feels like a new language, almost but not quite our own. I love that words become characters, and Deeba's interaction with the Propheseers' book, and the metaphor made real when a library becomes a literal bridge to another world! Definitely a language- and book-lovers' tale.

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