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King Rat (1998 novel)
Encyclopedia
King Rat is the debut novel
by China Miéville
. Unlike his Bas-Lag
novels, it is not a New Weird
story but an Urban Fantasy
, set in London
during the late 1990's. It follows the life of Saul Garamond after the death of his father and his meeting with King Rat. As King Rat takes Saul under his wing, the young man is quickly embroiled in a centuries old rivalry.
The title character is partially based upon the folklore about rat kings.
Saul begins to follow and learn from King Rat about exploring the secrets of London, from the rooftops to the sewers. Being half rat, his two primary abilities are being able to eat anything, even garbage, and squeezing into holes and shadows impossible for other creatures. Meanwhile, Saul's friend Natasha Karadjian, a drum and bass
musician, begins to write and record new music with a flautist
named Pete. Two of their other mutual friends, Fabian and Kay are unnerved by this stranger but find it hard not to like the music the two are making. These friends are also being pursued by the police for any information on Saul's whereabouts. Several short days after following King Rat, Saul learns some new trouble is beginning in the secret kingdom of rats, a whispered return of the Ratcatcher.
This prompts King Rat to start making his own moves by gathering allies in the forms of Anansi
, the spider king, and Loplop
, the bird king. As it turns out the Ratcatcher is also the Spidercatcher and Birdcatcher as well, a common enemy. So, King Rat relates the story of living in Hamelin, the last time he really was king. But he was displaced, of course, by the Pied Piper of Hamelin and his flute. It is revealed that now the Piper travels the world seeking pests so he may kill for the fun of it. The three animal kings end the story by swearing revenge.
Even with his new found powers, Saul is not free and is forced to stay in a shadows by King Rat. Saul cannot however forget his friends and his past. He visits Kay but the two no longer understand each other. This also leads to Pete, being reveled as the returned Piper, finding Kay and performing a gruesome murder. Meanwhile, the animal kings' plans begin to fall short and each drifts from one other. Saul begins to push his new boundaries and explore London on his own. During this time, he meets Deborah, a vagrant. Together they return to Saul's former flat, where he finds his father's old notebook. Here finds an entry about an attack on his mother from the year of his birth. He realizes he is not King Rat's nephew but his son, by way of rape and that everything since his father's death has been a set up by King Rat, who is also murdered his father.
Even while still soaking in these facts, Saul and Deborah are confronted by the Piper in the flat. He quickly kills Deborah and begins to fight Saul, who is saved by Loplop. The piper reveals that he cannot control Saul, like he can the others but that does not mean he will not try to. This is his reason for getting close to Natasha, to create a new kind of music had control humans as well. However, the Piper leaves a clue behind, his flute, which is found by the police.
Saul returns to the sewers to confront King Rat, leading to a falling out. He wants to go his own way and leave the Piper to the animal kings. Natasha and Pete have set up an act at club, Jungle, to debut their new music. Fabian is interrogated by the police again and he realizes that the flute belongs to Pete. He calls the police to meet him at Natasha's home but when they arrive no one is there.
After wandering for a few days, Saul meets up with Anansi, who informs him of Kay's death by the Piper. He begins to notice something is wrong in the sewer as well, as the rats have disappeared, their scratching replaced by a new sound, music. He traces the sound back to King Rat's throne room, which is piled high full of dead rats and both King Rat and Loplop are under control of the music by way of a ghetto blaster
. Saul shuts off the system and realized the title on the tape within is written in Natasha's handwriting, and also finds a poster for Natasha and the Piper's show. Saul knows it is a trap but he has to go in order to save his friends.
Soon, the Piper's night has come, and he knows what Saul knows about the music and control. Saul secretly moves into the club with his new rat allies and Anansi leading the spiders, all of whom are feeling battle ready. But the Piper was ready as well, and when Natasha takes the stage to spin her records
, he throws her a DAT
, which has his flute samples on it. This mix of his flute and her DJ skills will control Saul.
Both Saul and Anansi are no longer in control of themselves, both they and the crowd are under the Piper's spell. However, King Rat bursts from under the stage and attacks the Piper, but proves to be only a momentary distraction. With the musical fusion playing the entire club is under the Piper's control and all he wants to kill Saul, who will not dance for him. But as Saul listens something is wrong, the music does not mesh, instead of one flute, two flutes compete for the overlying sound.
This dissonance
causes Saul to regain control, and as the Piper attempts to strike the final blow to him, he sidesteps and begins a fight. At this, the Piper knows he cannot win so using his flute, he tears a hole in reality for his escape, just as he tore a hole in the mountain to hide the children of Hamelin. Again King Rat attacks, stabbing the Piper with his own flute. They fall into the tear, but King Rat jumps away, and suddenly the hole disappears, the Piper with it.
Saul and King Rat are unsung heroes of the club but the they both know they can never be a part of the world they just saved. King Rat still wants something from Saul, which is his kingdom back. Saul refuses to give in and knows that if the Piper returns, King Rat will still need him, so he can't be killed to restore complete order to the rat kingdom.
Saul then gathers his own band of rats and makes the declaration that King Rat is not the one true leader of all rats and he is not Prince Rat, but he is one of them, Citizen Rat.
praised King Rat as "a riveting, brilliant novel. . . . the inspired mingling of old mythic matter with the contemporary world, ... an utter delight."
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
by China Miéville
China Miéville
China Tom Miéville is an award-winning English fantasy fiction writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" , and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist Workers Party...
. Unlike his Bas-Lag
Bas-Lag
Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races...
novels, it is not a New Weird
New Weird
The New Weird is a literary genre that began in the 1990s and developed in a series of novels and stories published from 2001 to 2005. The writers involved are mostly novelists who are considered to be parts of the horror and/or speculative fiction genres but who often cross genre boundaries...
story but an Urban Fantasy
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
, set in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
during the late 1990's. It follows the life of Saul Garamond after the death of his father and his meeting with King Rat. As King Rat takes Saul under his wing, the young man is quickly embroiled in a centuries old rivalry.
The title character is partially based upon the folklore about rat kings.
Plot summary
Saul Garamond returns to the flat he shares with his father in London late one evening, skipping on greetings and heading straight to bed. In the morning he awakened by police pounding on the door, he is quickly arrested and appears to be the lone suspect in his father's murder case. After spending most of a day being interrogated and in a holding cell, Saul finds he has a mysterious visitor, who after a fashion introduces himself as King Rat. The two begin a one sided rooftop escape as King Rat carries Saul along. At the end of this journey, King Rat reveals to Saul that he is his uncle by way of Saul's mother being a rat and also that Saul has been set up to take the fall for his father's death.Saul begins to follow and learn from King Rat about exploring the secrets of London, from the rooftops to the sewers. Being half rat, his two primary abilities are being able to eat anything, even garbage, and squeezing into holes and shadows impossible for other creatures. Meanwhile, Saul's friend Natasha Karadjian, a drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
musician, begins to write and record new music with a flautist
Flautist
A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...
named Pete. Two of their other mutual friends, Fabian and Kay are unnerved by this stranger but find it hard not to like the music the two are making. These friends are also being pursued by the police for any information on Saul's whereabouts. Several short days after following King Rat, Saul learns some new trouble is beginning in the secret kingdom of rats, a whispered return of the Ratcatcher.
This prompts King Rat to start making his own moves by gathering allies in the forms of Anansi
Anansi
Anansi the trickster is a spider, and is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the Southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man...
, the spider king, and Loplop
Loplop
Loplop is the name of a birdlike character featured in prints, collages and paintings by artist Max Ernst. Loplop was an alter ego which Ernst developed and functioned as a familiar animal....
, the bird king. As it turns out the Ratcatcher is also the Spidercatcher and Birdcatcher as well, a common enemy. So, King Rat relates the story of living in Hamelin, the last time he really was king. But he was displaced, of course, by the Pied Piper of Hamelin and his flute. It is revealed that now the Piper travels the world seeking pests so he may kill for the fun of it. The three animal kings end the story by swearing revenge.
Even with his new found powers, Saul is not free and is forced to stay in a shadows by King Rat. Saul cannot however forget his friends and his past. He visits Kay but the two no longer understand each other. This also leads to Pete, being reveled as the returned Piper, finding Kay and performing a gruesome murder. Meanwhile, the animal kings' plans begin to fall short and each drifts from one other. Saul begins to push his new boundaries and explore London on his own. During this time, he meets Deborah, a vagrant. Together they return to Saul's former flat, where he finds his father's old notebook. Here finds an entry about an attack on his mother from the year of his birth. He realizes he is not King Rat's nephew but his son, by way of rape and that everything since his father's death has been a set up by King Rat, who is also murdered his father.
Even while still soaking in these facts, Saul and Deborah are confronted by the Piper in the flat. He quickly kills Deborah and begins to fight Saul, who is saved by Loplop. The piper reveals that he cannot control Saul, like he can the others but that does not mean he will not try to. This is his reason for getting close to Natasha, to create a new kind of music had control humans as well. However, the Piper leaves a clue behind, his flute, which is found by the police.
Saul returns to the sewers to confront King Rat, leading to a falling out. He wants to go his own way and leave the Piper to the animal kings. Natasha and Pete have set up an act at club, Jungle, to debut their new music. Fabian is interrogated by the police again and he realizes that the flute belongs to Pete. He calls the police to meet him at Natasha's home but when they arrive no one is there.
After wandering for a few days, Saul meets up with Anansi, who informs him of Kay's death by the Piper. He begins to notice something is wrong in the sewer as well, as the rats have disappeared, their scratching replaced by a new sound, music. He traces the sound back to King Rat's throne room, which is piled high full of dead rats and both King Rat and Loplop are under control of the music by way of a ghetto blaster
Ghetto Blaster
-Summary:The aim of the game is to find and collect ten tapes of dance music, get people to dance to them by blasting them with notes from your blaster, then delivering them to your record company. These ten music tracks were played by the game throughout...
. Saul shuts off the system and realized the title on the tape within is written in Natasha's handwriting, and also finds a poster for Natasha and the Piper's show. Saul knows it is a trap but he has to go in order to save his friends.
Soon, the Piper's night has come, and he knows what Saul knows about the music and control. Saul secretly moves into the club with his new rat allies and Anansi leading the spiders, all of whom are feeling battle ready. But the Piper was ready as well, and when Natasha takes the stage to spin her records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, he throws her a DAT
Digital Audio Tape
Digital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As...
, which has his flute samples on it. This mix of his flute and her DJ skills will control Saul.
Both Saul and Anansi are no longer in control of themselves, both they and the crowd are under the Piper's spell. However, King Rat bursts from under the stage and attacks the Piper, but proves to be only a momentary distraction. With the musical fusion playing the entire club is under the Piper's control and all he wants to kill Saul, who will not dance for him. But as Saul listens something is wrong, the music does not mesh, instead of one flute, two flutes compete for the overlying sound.
This dissonance
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
causes Saul to regain control, and as the Piper attempts to strike the final blow to him, he sidesteps and begins a fight. At this, the Piper knows he cannot win so using his flute, he tears a hole in reality for his escape, just as he tore a hole in the mountain to hide the children of Hamelin. Again King Rat attacks, stabbing the Piper with his own flute. They fall into the tear, but King Rat jumps away, and suddenly the hole disappears, the Piper with it.
Saul and King Rat are unsung heroes of the club but the they both know they can never be a part of the world they just saved. King Rat still wants something from Saul, which is his kingdom back. Saul refuses to give in and knows that if the Piper returns, King Rat will still need him, so he can't be killed to restore complete order to the rat kingdom.
Saul then gathers his own band of rats and makes the declaration that King Rat is not the one true leader of all rats and he is not Prince Rat, but he is one of them, Citizen Rat.
Main Characters
- Saul Garamond: Primary protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, a half human, half rat hybrid, due to being King Rat's son. Being hunted by the Piper, who wants to either control him or kill him. - King Rat: Title character, fallen king of the rats, father of Saul, and locked into a centuries long feudFeudA feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...
with the Piper. - The Piper: Primary antagonistAntagonistAn antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
, the famous Pied Piper of Hamelin, has returned to continue his feud with King Rat. He is searching for a way to control or kill animal and human hybrids like Saul. - Anansi: King of the spiders, an ally to King Rat, and mentorMentorshipMentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
to Saul, while he is still exploring his new powers. - Loplop: King of the birds, an ally to King Rat, saves Saul during his first disastrous confrontation with the Piper.
- Natasha Karadjian: Saul's friend from before his life changed, a drum and bass musician, she is being used by the Piper as a way to discover new music to control animal and human hybrids.
Reception
F&SF reviewer Charles de LintCharles de Lint
Charles de Lint is a Canadian fantasy author and folk musician. He is also the chief book critic for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction....
praised King Rat as "a riveting, brilliant novel. . . . the inspired mingling of old mythic matter with the contemporary world, ... an utter delight."
Award Nominations
| Award | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Bram Stoker Award Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented by the Horror Writers Association for "superior achievement" in horror writing. The awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot of the Active members of the HWA... , First Novel |
1999 | Nominee |
| International Horror Guild Award International Horror Guild Award The International Horror Guild Award is a recognition presented by the International Horror Guild to recognize the achievements of those who create in the field of horror and dark fantasy. Nancy A. Collins, the founder of the award, felt there was a need for an award granted by a large,... , First Novel |
1999 | Nominee |