The City & the City
2009 • 336 pages
Ratings106
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings106
Average rating3.9
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE SEATTLE TIMES, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities. BONUS: This edition contains a The City & The City discussion guide and excerpts from China Miéville's Kraken and Embassytown.
Reviews with the most likes.
Second book by the author I quit after barely starting. His prose is definitely not my style. It only took a few seconds to known I would hate this book.
Beszel
Read 0:48/10:15 8%
This is a different kind of fantasy, a fantasy of dislocation and uncertainty, set in a near-contemporary time, in a place where two cities from different countries simultaneously occupy the same space (or do they?) and the events that bring the paradox into sharp relief and test the mettle of a police inspector and his ability to deal with the individuals who police the rule about not acknowledging one city while living in the other. Absolutely fascinating.
60 days later... fucking finally! I don't remember taking this long to read Perdido Street Station—but I don't know who to blame for it (me, probably; it's always my fault).
The City & The City is brilliant. China Miéville is brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, that I have no idea how to rate this book. I'm fairly tempted to give this a 4-star rating, but it would be unfair. It's not the novel's fault I took this long to read it. Five stars it is then, I think? Everything so neatly done, the writing is impeccable—it takes us exactly where it wants us to be, and it's amazing. As an aspiring author myself, China Miéville is both inspiring and terrifying.
One of the rare books that Nigel and I both really liked. He likes sci-fi and I like crime novels, and this was both. We listened to it as we drove across the country and thought the narrator was excellent, too.
