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Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Macmillan (2 Sep 2005)
ISBN-10: 1405048301
Category(ies): SF/Fantasy
Miéville is one of the most political authors working in British SF&F today. This collection of stories is frequently informed by that - and he uses his native London (yes, that name is a London one: me old china is cockney slang, with mate rhyming to china plate, and abbreviating down to China) as the backdrop for many of these stories.
As to the stories themselves: I found them to be a mixed bunch. I wasn't keen on the title one, but I found Reports Of Certain Events In London a rather fine, if possibly unsustainable, caprice, and really adored the novella The Tain, which gave an interesting counterpoint to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
Some good, some not. On balance, good, but tastes will probably vary.
