History Literature / UnLunDun

* HalfHumanHybrid: Hemi is half-ghost. [[{{Squick}} Don't think about it too much.]] [[DiscussedTrope Deeba openly questions this]], and Hemi explains ghosts [[DoubleEntendre can get physical]] for mating.

* MainliningTheMonster: Used by the monster itself, there are Smog addicts that wear special helmets to distill their narcotics of choice out of the substance of the Smog.

* Cumulonemesis: The Smog, it's more than capable of suffocating people or animating their dead bodies. However, it's big enough to be its own ecosystem whose inhabitants work with its agenda.

* AbnormalAmmo: The [=UnGun=]. Very abnormal, to the point that it probably doesn't even have bullets. To elaborate, it takes whatever you stick in the chambers and magnifies whatever it is. In Deeba's words, whatever it's loaded with, it uses well. For example, a shard of brick in the chamber will create a building as a prison, and a hair will cause smombies to literally explode with hair. [[spoiler:And then [=UnFires=] when it's empty, acting as a huge vacuum; hence, the Smog is afraid of nothing ''and'' the [=UnGun=].]]

* MobileFishbowl: Skool walks around in a diver's suit full of water. [[spoiler:Skool is a sentient school of assorted aquatic creatures, mostly fish. It's that kind of book.]]

%%* NewWeird: For kids.
* NighInvulnerable: The Smog, of the Made of Air variety.

%%* PluckyComicRelief: [[spoiler: Deeba's]] intended role.

* StrangeSecretEntrance: [=UnLondon=] is accessed through an assortment of these.
%%* SuperSargassoSea: It's set in a world where lost objects go.

* DungeonBypass: Deeba decides there's no time for that in the search for the [[spoiler:[=UnGun=]]], after spending a day trying to get the Featherkey, the first of seven steps, and skips right to the end of the line.

* AbnormalAmmo: The [=UnGun=]. Very abnormal, to the point that it probably doesn't even have bullets.
** To elaborate, it takes whatever you stick in the chambers and magnifies whatever it is. In Deeba's words, whatever it's loaded with, it uses well. For example, a shard of brick in the chamber will create a building as a prison, and a hair will cause smombies to literally explode with hair.
*** [[spoiler:And then [=UnFires=] when it's empty, acting as a huge vacuum; hence, the Smog is afraid of nothing ''and'' the [=UnGun=].]]
* BadassBookworm: Extreme librarians!

* SuperSargassoSea: It's set in a world where lost objects go.
* TheChosenOne: Zanna. But the trope is played with - this book is the TropeNamer for TheUnchosenOne, after all.
** TheUnchosenOne: Deeba. Also the TropeNamer.
* CityOfAdventure: [=UnLondon=].
* DecoyProtagonist: Zanna.
* DownTheRabbitHole: Or, in Deeba's case, Up the Wordhoard Pit.

* EmbarrassingFirstName: Suzanna, who prefers Zanna.

* FetchQuest: The hunt for the [=UnGun=].
* HalfHumanHybrid: Hemi is half-ghost. [[{{Squick}} Don't think about it too much.]]
** [[DiscussedTrope Deeba openly questions this]], and Hemi explains ghosts [[DoubleEntendre can get physical]] for mating.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: Deeba falls for this.
* HurricaneOfPuns: The [[PunnyName Punny Names.]]
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Subverted with the Klinneract. Played straight with the [=UnGun=].

* NewWeird: For kids.

* PluckyComicRelief: [[spoiler: Deeba's]] intended role.

* RousingSpeech: Given by Deeba in Chapter 81.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: There are two: [[spoiler:Brokkenbroll]] in the abcity and [[spoiler:Minister Rawley]] in the real world.

* TheChosenOne: Zanna. But the trope is played with - this book is the TropeNamer for TheUnchosenOne, after all.
* TheUnchosenOne: Deeba. Also the TropeNamer.

* {{Trickster}}: Hemi begins the story as a thief with questionable motives.

* CatsAreMagic: 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

* FantasticRacism: The story features largely irrational racism between living beings and ghosts, specifically, the ghosts supposedly steal bodies. Woe to the only known half-breed: everybody mistrusts him. All the more noticeable as the inhabitants of the eponymous city otherwise display extraordinary diversity and tolerance.
* FetchQuest: The hunt for the [=UnGun=]

* HurricaneOfPuns
* InfinityPlusOneSword: Subverted with the Klinneract. Played straight with the [=UnGun=]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler: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.]]

* MobileFishbowl: Skool walks around in a diver's suit full of water. [[spoiler: Skool is a sentient school of assorted aquatic creatures, mostly fish. It's that kind of book.]]
* {{Mooks}}: Stink-junkies, unbrellas, binja, utterlings, etc.

* NighInvulnerable: The Smog, of the Made of Air variety

* OffTheRails: Starts when TheChosenOne [[spoiler: 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 [[FetchQuest fetch quests]].]]

* OurGhostsAreDifferent

** As he explains in the book, he's a bus conductor; he conducts himself with dignity, conducts his passengers safely on their journey, but there is a third thing those who take the oath learn to conduct: [[spoiler: electricity]]
* SixthRangerTraitor: [[spoiler: 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.]]

* SpoilerOpening: Of a sort with the North American cover. Blonde Zanna is the DecoyProtagonist, and while the girl on the cover is obscured, she looks Asian enough for people to deduce that it's actually Deeba, who is the real main character. (The original UK cover just shows a binja among flowers and buildings.)

* ThemeNaming Other "mirror cities" like [=UnLondon=] have names like No York, Parisn't, Baghdon't and Lost Angeles.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: There are two; [[spoiler:Brokkenbroll]] in the abcity and [[spoiler:Minister Rawley]] in the real world.

* CityOfAdventure

* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: or Smombies. Dead bodies animated by the Smog inside them.

* DecoyProtagonist

* NewWeird

* PlotCoupons Played straight, then subverted. 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.

* ShockAndAwe Conductor Jones. Note the conductor part.

* AbnormalAmmo The [=UnGun=]. Very abnormal, to the point that it probably doesn't even have bullets.

* TheWormThatWalks: Early in the book we hear, in passing, of a [[KingdomofLoathing guy made of bees]]. Also [[spoiler:Skool, though he's more fish than worm.]]

* AbnormalAmmo The [=UnGun=]. Very abnormal.
** To elaborate, it takes whatever you stick in the chambers and magnifies whatever it is.

* ShockAndAwe Conducter Jones. Note the conductor part.

* FantasticRacism: Between the living and the ghosts.
** Specifically, the ghosts supposedly steal bodies.

* OneParagraphChapter: The chapter entitled "The Powerful Resurgence of the Everyday" consists entirely of the sentence "Of course, she was wrong."

* OffTheRails: Starts when TheChosenOne [[spoiler: 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 [[FetchQuest fetch quests]].]]
* OurGhostsAreDifferent
* [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Our Zombies Are Puppets For Sentient Smog]]

* OffTheRails: Starts when TheChosenOne [[spoiler: 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 FetchQuests.]]

* ScrewDestiny: Successfully by the BigBad in removing TheChosenOne from the equation. Would have succeeded, had Deeba not become TheUnchosenOne.

* ThemeNaming Other "mirror cities" like [=UnLondon=] have names like Parisn't, Baghdon't and Lost Angeles.

* PaintingTheFourthWall: Some minor usage: