A compelling and thorough narrative of the Russian Revolution of 1917, primarily beginning with the end of the Russo-Japanese war and the rise of Bolshevism against defencism in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), follows the ousting of Tsar Nicholas II, and ending with the overthrow of the Provisional Government by the Bolsheviks who by October 1917 had gained popular support. 

In my opinion, Mieville does not superimpose their biases on this narrative, but is refreshingly conscientious and forthright in his analysis of the Revolution. Towards the end the author takes the time to blunt arguments that the path from Lenin to Stalin was inevitable, and that the Revolution is a bright spot in revolutionary history because it had the potential to be good, bloody though it was. 

"Those who count themselves on the side of the revolution must engage with these failures and crimes. To do otherwise is to fall into apologia, special pleading, hagiography - and to run the risk of repeating such mistakes. It is not for nostalgia's sake that the strange story of the first socialist revolution in history deserves celebration. The standard of October declares that things changed once, and they might do so again." (317)