Mark Gerrits

A great evocation of early adulthood when everybody but you seems to have figured life out and you are lacking any chill whatsoever. And all that made even worse by the university environment, a weird purgatory between school and “real life”. This definitely brought back memories.

The book's also about language and the narratives we form for ourselves. And it's a look back at a very particular moment in time, when the world wide web and email were just starting out (though this handled with a very light touch). But the main appeal of this novel is no doubt Selin, the narrator, and her deadpan wit. It was a real pleasure spending time with her (though maybe a bit too much time, the book was a tad too long for me).

Miéville's imagination is firing on all cylinder's in this one, his most inventive book yet. On top of that, it brims with a love for books and stories, and has a healthy dose of anti-authority woven throughout, as any good YA book should.

The plot is perfunctory at best but the behind-the-screens look into the world of the British immigration officers is fascinating and darkly comic.

I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, and see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine some real grounds for hope.

-- Ursula Le Guin, in her 2014 National Book Awards speech

Stephenson-lite but with some seriously funny bits.