Un Lun Dun - Television Tropes & Idioms

A fantasy novel for Young Adults by China Miéville.

UnLondon is the shadow of the city it is named for, one of many abcities that collect the mildly obsolete detritus left behind by the citizens of London. UnLondon, and other cities like it, are places where the broken and neglected discover new purpose. It is a world in danger. The Smog threatens to choke the life out of every living thing it can find, to feed itself and drown the world in darkness.

Enter Zanna and Deeba, two ordinary girls who find themselves in UnLondon after a string of events lures them there. Zanna is the abcity's chosen one, the Shwazzy, who will ultimately destroy the Smog and save UnLondon. Unfortunately, the Smog knows this as well as the good guys, and injures Zanna before she can fulfill her destiny. Deeba, the Funny Sidekick, takes on the quest meant for Zanna. Helped by an abandoned milk carton and talking book of prophecy, Deeba must save the abcity and get back to regular London before everybody back at home forgets she even existed.

This book inverts, subverts and plays straight every prophecy trope in existence and is even the Trope Namer for The Unchosen One.

Tropes:

Abnormal Ammo The UnGun. Very abnormal.
- To elaborate, it takes whatever you stick in the chambers and magnifies whatever it is.
  - And then UnFires when it's empty, acting as a huge vacuum; hence, the Smog is afraid of nothing and the UnGun.
Badass Bookworm: Extreme librarians!
But Now I Must Go: Subverted. After the final battle, Deeba is given the decision to go home or stay (since eventually her friends and family would forget her prolonged staying via phlegm effect), and decides to go home. Then, she surprises everyone by saying she'll visit often, chiding them for failing to realize how easy it is to cross between the worlds.
Cats Are Magic: Subverted. Cats are the most stupid and least magical of all animals. Dogs, foxes, fish and various birds are shown to be sapient and able to cross the boundaries between worlds, but cats are too concerned with looking cool to learn anything of value
City of Adventure
Decoy Protagonist
Down the Rabbit Hole: Or, in Deeba's case, Up the Wordhoard Pit.
Embarrassing First Name: Suzanna, who prefers Zanna.
Everything's Deader with Zombies: or Smombies. Dead bodies animated by the Smog inside them.
Fantastic Racism: Between the living and the ghosts.
- Specifically, the ghosts supposedly steal bodies.
Fetch Quest: The hunt for the UnGun
Half-Human Hybrid: Hemi is half-ghost. Don't think about it too much.
- Deeba openly questions this, and Hemi explains ghosts can get physical for mating.
Have You Told Anyone Else?: Deeba falls for this.
Hurricane of Puns
Infinity+1 Sword: Subverted with the Klinneract. Played straight with the UnGun
Killed Off for Real: Diss was washed/flushed away when fighting Parakeetus Claviger and Rosa, while not dead, was captured by a Black Window. Deeba honors their memory by naming their ɹɐɔ the "Diss&Rosa".
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Zanna, after being attacked by a Stink-Junky and having the some Smog enter her lungs. The Smog gets out, but her memories go with it.
Linked List Clue Methodology: Defied.
Off the Rails: Starts when The Chosen One gets bonked over the head and loses her memory of all this, then invoked by Deeba because she deduced (correctly) there's no way to stay on the rails and they didn't have time for Fetch Quests.
Our Ghosts Are Different
Our Zombies Are Puppets For Sentient Smog
Mooks: Stink-junkies, unbrellas, binja, utterlings, etc.
Mook Face Turn: Words don't always do what you want them to do.
New Weird
Nigh Invulnerable: The Smog, of the Made of Air variety
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Trash Bins + Ninja = The best pun ever!
Non-Human Sidekick: Curdle the milk carton.
Painting the Fourth Wall: Some minor usage:
- Mr. Speaker speaks in small caps.
- The boat used in the final battle is the frame of a car turned upside down; hence, it's called a "ɹɐɔ." Lampshaded: "A ... rack? I can't say it."
  - "Easiest way is to bend over and say car."
Plot Coupons Played straight, then subverted hard. Deeba gets the first plot coupon, then realizes that it would waste time and people to get the 5 unnecessary ones, so she goes straight to the UnGun. Double-subverted when Deeba realizes she actually needed the plot coupons, but she is able to work around that.
Plucky Comic Relief: Deeba's intended role.
Prophetic Fallacy: Mistakes in the prophecy result in the one thing the Book thought a misprint actually being correct.
Punny Name: Pretty much the whole point of the book. Abcities, utterlings, Binja, the UnLondon-I, the Black Windows (who live in Webminster Abbey), the list goes on.
Roof Hopping: Subverted by the Slaterunners: "You thought there were houses under the roofs? That would be madness! Just because we want to live free doesn't mean we shouldn't consider safety."
Rousing Speech: Given by Deeba in Chapter 81.
Screw Destiny: Successfully by the Big Bad in removing The Chosen One from the equation. Would have succeeded, had Deeba not become The Unchosen One.
Shock and Awe Conducter Jones. Note the conductor part.
Sixth Ranger Traitor: Lecturn. To be fair, she DID know Deeba was right, that Brokenbroll needs to be stopped and came to join her with an army of binja, but she caved in fast when believing all hope was lost and gave away the UnGun to him.
Space Whale Aesop: Though it's by no means the main theme of the book: "Don't pollute, or else the smog will evolve sapience and take control of people's minds, making them destroy a fantasy world and then ours."
Theme Naming Other "mirror cities" like UnLondon have names like Parisn't, Baghdon't and Lost Angeles.
The Unchosen One: Deeba. Also the Trope Namer.
The Worm that Walks: Early in the book we hear, in passing, of a guy made of bees. Also Skool, though he's more fish than worm.
Trickster: Hemi begins the story as a thief with questionable motives.
Villain with Good Publicity: There are two; Brokkenbroll in the abcity and Minister Rawley in the real world.