With it being the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution you would expect to see many books written by professors and journalist, what is rare is a book written by an award winning fiction author. But that is what we get from China Mieville in his new book October. Let me just say this is not a work of fiction, as many people might be more familiar with his work in that field. This books is focused solely on the months of February to October 1917, and while there is a short introduction to the events of February 1917, the vast majority of the text is devoted to those months.

“The pitch-black early hours in the third year of war: a viciously cold winter.”

Mr. Mieville writes it in his own unique style, almost making it feel like a work of fiction with quotes from people put in like dialogue you would find in one of his books. Not to say that is a bad thing, it is just different than what one is used to in a history book. Mr. Mieville does a decent job bringing these people to life, and trying to do justice to a topic that has been written about many times before.

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