King Rat

Set against the backdrop of London’s underground and its rising Drum and Bass scene, King Rat by China Miéville is a modern day fairy tale that follows Saul Garamond, a young man who finds himself in prison after his father’s murder. He is there on suspicion of having committed the murder, where his father was launched out of the window of their apartment.

Saul and his father had a tumultuous relationship, always struggling to find common ground. His father, a staunch socialist, was dead set on educating Saul in the ways of his leftist leanings. For Christmas, he would give Saul Leninist texts. He was fixated on the inequalities of society and the plight of the working class. Saul was never moved by his father’s cause, and so they learned to live alongside one another with tolerance, but nothing more. By the end, Saul and his father were barely on speaking terms. Still, Saul couldn’t fathom killing his father, although he was arrested for the crime immediately following its occurrence.

As Saul is trying to figure out his next move, he receives a surprising visit and manages to escape from prison with the help of King Rat, a half man half rat creature that lives in the sewers and thus carries a terrible odor with him. After escaping his holding cell, King Rat brings Saul to the highest rooftops of London so they may speak privately. It is then that he explains to Saul an entirely new version of his family history, breaking the news that Saul is, in fact, part rat. He tells Saul that the Rat Catcher murdered his father, framing Saul for the murder. The Rat King tells Saul that he will help him to become strong enough to defeat this enemy.



This ignites curiosity in Saul, propelling him on a mission to uncover the whole truth of his family history. Saul realizes that neither his father nor King Rat has given him accurate information, but rather their versions of his history were tales spun to recruit him to their cause in fighting their common enemy, the Pied Piper.

This is the same Pied Paper from Hamelin who had promised to rid his town of rats by playing his flute and luring the rodents into the river with his hypnotic melody. King Rat was in Hamelin and witnessed this murder of his people. He was under the spell of the Piper just as much as the other rats, powerless to rise up to defend them. The public never quite forgave him for failing to step in, and he has been trying to make up for it ever since. King Rat never forgot about this event, his own near drowning and the murder of many of his people. He vowed to seek vengeance against the Pied Piper, making it his life’s mission to get rid of him.

Saul realizes that he has inadvertently become part of King Rat’s plan for revenge. His friend and Drum and Bass producer, Natasha, also gets tangled up in the situation. While mixing some beats in her apartment, she notices a strange man playing his flute down on the street below. She is surprised to find that she actually enjoys the sound of the strange man’s flute mixed with her own beats. The Piper suggests that he and Natasha collaborate in a performance. Initially, the idea repulses her because she finds the Piper to be very creepy; she doesn’t trust him, thinking that he has ulterior motives for wanting to get close to her.



However, she finds herself powerless to resist the man’s persuasive nature and the melody of his flute. She eventually agrees to work with the Pied Piper; at this point, he adds the power of Drum and Bass music to his arsenal. In this way, the Pied Paper transfixes London’s underground hip-hop heads, turning them into his unwitting army.

Throughout the novel, Saul has to fight to save his city from the powers of the Pied Piper while coming to terms with the unraveling of his own family history and gaining an understanding of who he really is. Meanwhile, the city is running wild and new murders are being reported every day.

When Saul steps onto the scene, he poses a particular threat to the Pied Piper. Because Saul is only half rat, he is not swayed by the powers of the Piper’s flute in the same way. This causes the Piper to have a particular vendetta against Saul, who now has to watch his back as he tries to outsmart the super villain. Ultimately, breaking away from the influential forces of both the Rat King and the Pied Piper, Saul identifies who the true enemy is and how he can defeat him.