Customer Reviews

The City & the City

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book last year in hardback, and have recently read it a second time. It really was my beach read last year, the first book I read laying by on the beach on vacation. It was different, and more of a mystery story than I expected. The premise is unique - two cities existing in the same physical space that overlaps somehow. And that exist in our modern world. You are left wondering about how the separation happened, how it is maintained, and what is the complete story behind it. THAT is what demands a sequel, that I hope China will write one day. I am giving the story four stars instead of five because I really wanted more back story of the city, and the story could have been longer. However, it was the perfect size for a beach read, it does wrap up the mystery, and there are lots of directions the author can take if he wants to do another book with the same detective character.

Reading this book, you are plunged into this very strange concept of the two cites occuping same space right away. As the story develops, you learn how people living there deal with their unusual reality. The reader follows the main character, a police detective, as he investigates a murder. As he finds out more about the murder, the clues may lead to a bigger mystery and conspiracy. Finding out all the pieces of the puzzle as the detective does is part of the fun.

I adore China Mieville, his prose, his writing style and his unique concepts. I love most everything he has written. His books set in Bas-Lag are very intricate and complex and long. This book is NOT set in Bas-Lag, it is shorter than those novels, and a satisfying read by itself. Highly recommended.

One more recommendation: If you ever have the chance to hear the author in person, go see him. He is very gracious in person. He has a wonderful voice and I enjoyed hearing him read from one of his works when I had the chance to see him at a signing event.

This is very different from Mieville's other books, it is a simply detective story with a twist.

The detective story part is fairly straight forward, a woman is found dead and Borlú has to find out why with added political complications.

Where it gets weird is that there are 2 cities overlapping, certain sections of ground claimed by each and some shared and everyone trained to pretend they don't overlap.
This is a very odd idea and adds some unexpected twists to plot.

Borlú is the only character given any depth and in many ways he is the standard city detective character desperate to solve the crime, likeable and interesting. The other characters are all pretty standard background, forgettable.

The pace is good and we follow the case things get quicker and quicker and we are gradually given more information on the set-up in the cities and how they work.

The plot is convoluted and keeps you guessing, there are plenty of twists and turns.

The ending is good, not too clean but resolves all the main issues.
This doesn't have the same depth as some of his other books but it is a much easier read.

Drawing upon concepts from string theory in physics as well as from science fiction, fantasy and crime thriller, China Mieville's "The City & The City" is yet another exceptional literary achievement from him; one worthy of its 2010 Hugo Award for best novel (An honor shared with Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl".). It is especially noteworthy for being far less baroque in its writing than in Mieville's "Perdido Street Station". It is also a challenging, potentially difficult, read, simply for forcing readers to understand all the nuances with regards to reality that Mieville throws at them. But it is also a challenge worth taking since a writer of lesser literary talent than Mieville would be unable to concoct such a riveting blend of alternative reality science fiction, crime thriller, and even fantasy, whose literary antecedents include work by the likes of Philip K. Dick and Franz Kafka. "The City & The City" is not just a most compelling work of fiction by a writer whose superlative literary craft rises with the publication of each new novel, it also reaffirms his status as one of the most important writers of our time.

In some remote corner of Europe, the cities of Beszel and Ul Quoma exist uneasily side by side; two adjoining cities divided by language, culture, and their perceptions of reality. Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Beszel police Extreme Crime Squad confronts his most vexing criminal case, the murder of young American archaeology graduate student Mahalia Geary. A seemingly routine case that will introduce him to conspiracy theories and conspiracies that threaten to shatter forever, the uneasy coexistence of these two cities. Taking him on an arduous psychological and physical trek from his decrepit Beszel to the more vibrant, more cosmopolitan Ul Quoma, where, as a guest of Ul Quoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlu will search for clues from a decades-old archaeological dig to nightclubs and restaurants frequented by rabid nationalists intent on destroying the other city and by zealous advocates seeking unification of both cities. What he uncovers will have profound implications for the futures of both adjoining cities and for his own, testing severely, his preconceived notions of reality.

I am a bit of a crime freak, and this is truly a modern and intelligent thriller. It is challenging and keeps the reader interested. If you liked 1984, you would like this!

"The City & the City" is a hybrid novel that mingles conventions and techniques from both the sci-fi and crime mystery genres. China Miéville creates a fascinating setting by having two cities share, essentially, the same space through whatever physics would allow such crosshatched yin-yang juxtaposition. In essence, the two cities are the main characters: the drab, stagnant, and dreary Beszel in one dimension and the colorful, lively, modern Ul Qoma its sister.

Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad, a world weary gumshoe who overcomes what he might lack in reading hunches with keen attention to detail and logical analysis of evidence is the only character who is really fleshed out. That's almost too bad because Borlú winds up feeling more like a narrative device than a person. The rest of the cast, except perhaps the Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt who reluctantly partners with Borlú and Beszel constable Corwi who eagerly throws in with him, seem paper thin and wispy.

The conceit of the book, two interlocked, intertwined cities that occupy one topology policed by the mysterious Breach who relentlessly and ruthlessly prosecute anyone who ventures from one to the other except through sanctioned portals is a great idea. But the constant grind of having to "unsee" what lies just across the boundary must wear heavily on the inhabitants of the cities. Reading about it tended to after awhile.

Sometimes the very names of the other characters proved irksome: Mahalia and Yolanda, to name two, just seemed like the wrong names for the setting, as though Miéville chose those names to make some point about victims in his created world.

The plot seems straightforward, though what is motivating Borlú to take some of the risks and make some of the choices he does is not clear. But by the end of the book, I was pretty much lost as to what had happened and why. Sure I had the general details, but I could not weave together my own coherent version of what happened and why. Further, the supposed social commentary about class, society, and politics that some critics espouse doesn't really come through in my opinion.

For me, three stars for a great idea undermined by a confusing plot and vague characters.