Un Lun Dun

Un Lun Dun (2007), a young adult fantasy novel by British author China Miéville, follows Deeba Resham in her quest to save Un Lun Dun—a shadow city formed of London’s waste—from the evil Smog. As well as portraying an inverted London, the novel also goes out of its way to invert YA fantasy tropes: Un Lun Dun’s “chosen one” turns out not to be; its ancient prophecies are mostly wrong, and in the end, common sense rather than magic saves the day. The novel—Miéville’s first for young readers—was awarded the 2008 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book, establishing the author as a major new voice in YA fiction. He has since won numerous prizes, including three Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

Deeba and her friend Zanna (short for “Susannah”) are worried about a series of strange occurrences in Zanna’s life. Strange people keep telling her she is “Schwazzy,” but she has no idea what this means. One day, on the school playground, Zanna notices a fox staring at her. It bows before scurrying away. A dark cloud attacks her, and she decides to stay at Deeba’s house for a bit. One night, a broken umbrella crawls bat-like up the wall of the house to peer through the window at Zanna. The friends follow the umbrella to a strange basement, where Zanna turns an ancient wheel. The sounds of London above them vanish.

When they emerge from the basement, Zanna and Deeba find themselves in Un Lun Dun (or “UnLondon”), a mirror world inhabited by the things ordinary Londoners discard. The girls are attacked by a pile of sentient rubbish. They are saved by a boy named Hemi, who, in turn, is chased away by a tailor, Obaday Fing, who explains that Hemi is a ghost trying to possess them. As they talk, Fing realizes that Zanna is the “Schwazzy,” the chosen one prophesied to rid Un Lun Dun of the Smog, an evil cloud of polluted gases.



The Smog’s agents are already hunting for Zanna, so Fing takes Zanna and Deeba to the Propheseers. On the way, the girls learn the history of the Smog. It was created in London, whence it was banished by a team of weatherwitches called the “Armets” using a magical weapon known as the “Klinneract.” Like everything else rejected by Londoners, the Smog ended up in Un Lun Dun. The Book—a talking volume belonging to the Propheseers—predicts that the Schwazzy will banish the Smog from the mirror-city.

As they arrive at the Propheseers, they are attacked by stink-junkies, people who have become addicted to the Smog’s fumes. Zanna is knocked unconscious, and the Smog closes in. Brokkenbroll, the master of “unbrellas” (broken umbrellas) arrives with Benjamin Unstible, a Propheseer who had been thought dead. The two of them repel the Smog with a new unbrella-based technique. Deeba takes Zanna back to London, still unconscious. When she wakes, Zanna has no memory of Un Lun Dun.

Wanting to return to Un Lun Dun, Deeba begins researching it on the Internet. She works out that the “Armets” is RMets, the Royal Metereological Society, and the “Klinneract” the Clean Air Act, a historical Act of Parliament which reduced air pollution in London. As she delves into these parallels, she uncovers evidence that Unstible is secretly working for the Smog. She becomes desperate to find a way back to Un Lun Dun, finally discovering a ladder of books in her local library which takes her to the mirror city.



In a part of Un Lun Dun called Wraithtown she encounters Hemi again, who helps her to confirm that Unstible did indeed die. Deeba and Hemi reveal their discovery to Brokkenboll, who kidnaps them: he, too, is working for the Smog. Unstible turns out to be the Smog itself, inhabiting Unstible’s reanimated body. Before the Smog can devour Deeba and Hemi, they escape.

No one will believe the truth about Unstible and Brokkenboll. Deeba seizes the Propheseers’ talking book, and she and Hemi, together with her pet milk carton Curdle, set off to complete the seven stages of the prophecy themselves. Soon recognizing that all seven stages will take too long, Deeba decides to skip to the end. The Propheseers’ book tells them that the Smog only fears “Nothing and the UnGun.” Since many of the book’s prophecies are addled, everyone assumes this means “Nothing but the Ungun.”

Deeba seizes the UnGun from Webminster Abbey, and her old friends decide to believe her version of events. Under the banner of “the Unchosen One,” Deeba’s army marches on the Smog. At a crucial moment, realizing that the prophecy is actually correct, and she defeats the Smog by loading the UnGun with nothing.



Un Lun Dun contains a strong environmental message and was hailed as “a compelling tale of heroism” by “[a]cclaimed fantasist” Miéville (Kirkus Reviews).