Following the murder of his father by an intruder, Saul Garamond descends into the subterranean world of King Rat where he will be used as a pawn in much grander conflict.

China Mieville's exciting debut novel, King Rat, mixes a young man's search for identity with a pulse-pounding story of revenge and madness. When Saul Garamond's father is viciously murdered by an intruder, Saul falls into the care of King Rat, and into the subterranean world he inhabits. A world of rats, slime, and garbage, a world Saul was born to rule. But King Rat has plans for Saul, his special weapon in a war that goes back to a town called Hamelin....