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The City and the City

by China Miéville (Goodreads Author)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 15,000 ratings · 2,284 reviews

Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad finds deadly conspiracies beneath a seemingly routine murder. From the decaying Beszel, he joins detective Qussim Dhatt in rich vibrant Ul Qoma, and both are enmeshed in a sordid underworld. Rabid nationalists are intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists dream of dissolving the two into one.

Hardcover, 312 pages

Published May 26th 2009 by Del Rey (first published 2009)

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Feb 27, 2013 Nataliya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hugo-nebula, 2012-reads, mieville-is-awesome, locus-winner, location-is-the-true-protagonist

Wow. Okay, I'm definitely fangirling for China Miéville. I love his limitless imagination, the skill to effortlessly make an unbelievable premise feel real, and ability to turn any setting and place into a true protagonist.

SOME SPOILERS MAY HAVE CREEPED IN SOMEHOW, SO BE WARNED

This is my first non-Bas Lag novel, set in the (more or less) real world. But no reason to worry - this remains as much of "weird fiction" as anything else by His Chinaness. As Miéville tries to write a novel in every genr...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Ceridwen, of course

Shelves: 2010, books-about-books, in-by-of-england, mystery, reviewed, fantasy-sci-fi

China Miéville is Ceridwen's boyfriend, and you know what it's like when you meet the boyfriend of one of your friends?

First, she calls you up, all giddy. I've met someone new! He's so great. Then there is an hour of blah, blah, blah in which your friend gushes about all his good qualities and you think about painting your toenails or doing the laundry, or you look longingly at the book you put down when you answered the phone. At some point, she says, I can't wait for you to meet him.

You proba...more

104 likes · like · see review

Mar 06, 2011 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: speculative, urban-fantasy, weird, fantasy, sci-fantasy

I see why so many people are underwhelmed by The City and The City, China Miéville's strange and wonderful homage to the mystery genre and his mother.

It is because while The City and The City is both of those things, it is also -- and more powerfully -- a love letter to his fans and an act of oeuvre snobbery of the first order.

What Miéville has done is to build a story upon his favourite themes, and to require that his audience is familiar with other occurrences of these themes in his work to fu...more

67 likes · like · see review

Jun 20, 2011 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: award-nominee-hugo, multiple-award-nominee, award-nominee-nebula, signed-first-or-limited-edition, audiobook, sff-detectives, weird-and-new-weird, 2006-2010, science-fiction, mystery, crime, award-nominee-arthur-c-clarke, award-nominee-locus, award-nominee-world-fantasy, award-winner-arthur-c-clarke, award-winner-hugo, award-winner-locus, award-winner-world-fantasy, multiple-award-winners, award-nominee-british-sf, award-winner-britsh-sf, 6-star-books, all-time-favorites

AN AMAZING, EARTH-SHATTERING MAKE UP ~~SEXUAL~~ READING EXPERIENCE!!

6.0 stars. We all know that relationships have there ups and downs and that spats are going to happen even to the strongest of them. Well a few months ago, after having a couple of incredible years with China Mieville’s books, (i.e., Perdido Street Station and The Scar and ), both of which are among my ALL TIME FAVORITES...suddenly turmoil. The cause of the turmoil was Un Lun Dun, which I just did not like and thought was UGH-LAME-...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Cecily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: miscellaneous-fiction, dystopian, sci-fi-or-futuristic

Mieville is the sort of author I expect and want to like, but I didn't feel the love with "The Scar" (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...). This second foray into his works was far more rewarding, and my third, Embassytown, was even more so (there are some interesting parallels, too, which I've outlined in my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...).

I enjoyed the concept, the wordplay, and the impossibility of categorisation: it's a detective story, but it's set in a world that is...more

24 likes · like · see review

Jan 28, 2012 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, speculative, sci-fi, mieville, better-every-time, cities, exceeded-my-expectations, goodreads-author

My first reread of The City The City was an experience as convoluted as the grosstopography of Beszel and Ul Qoma. A chapter read, four chapters listened to; three chapters read, two chapters listened to; and on. Teaching this book in a town in a different province than the town I live in, across a straight, over a bridge (my adopted country's longest, the adopted country that plays such an important role in the piece, which is itself a nation sandwiched between nations in our always); a soccer...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Jacob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mieville, 2013, i-own, mystery-crime-adventure-etc, 2011, 2008-2009

January 2009 (Before)

Don't want to sound shallow, but...that shade of blue (referring to this cover) really doesn't make me think of China Miéville. The UK editon looks much better.

(Although it does kinda grow on you, so I'll stop complaining)

---

June 2009 (First)

Obvious fact #1: China Miéville likes cities. A lot. Urban geography, borders and boundaries, the politics and character of city-states that exist on rails, on ships, beneath towering bones. Here, Miéville gives us the cities of Besźel a...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews, read-2010, reviews-5-stars, mieville

Urban Recall

I read this almost 12 months ago, which makes it difficult to recall and recount the tone of the writing.
However, I would like to make some general comments about the novel.

An Abstract High Concept Novel

In one sense, it is an abstract high concept novel.
What does this mean?
It's high concept in the sense that it takes a basic concept and explores it in detail.
And it doesn't stray very far away from that concept.
It's not "Snakes on a Plane".
It's far more abstract than that.

The C...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, fantasy, dystopia, noir, mystery

So glad this one reeled me in and threw me up on the bank all spinning with dizzy pleasure. I was headed for disappointment 100 pages in. The fantasy of the setting was intriguing at first: two cities of distinct cultures in some fictional Near East country coexisting in the same place in pieces and patches with their residents trained to “unsee” each other and forbidden to interact. But I started to get a headache with its impossibilities. Was this just some intellectual game?

Yet leave it to b...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Ademption rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: british-literature, speculative-fiction, novels

First off, China Mieville is very brainy and gives good vocabulary. I can see why Ceridwen is dating him as a literary boyfriend.

The plot revolves around a detective investigating a murder in a city shared by two distinct nations. One society, Ul-Ooma, seems to be Turkish, Middle Eastern, Chinese, or North African. The other society, Besel, seems gray, depressive, and borrows words that are vaguely slavic. So, maybe Besel is council estate England and Bulgaria.

The two cultures share exactly the...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Catie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2011

I think that this is the absolute worst choice for someone who’s never read China Mieville. Like me. All I have to say is: it’s a good thing that I have an endless store of patience and I like being confused. In audiobook terms, it took eight miles, three loads of laundry, four bathrooms, and a huge batch of vegetable korma for me to start liking this book. My interest was sparked by his creative, highly detailed world building, and my brain was completely engaged by the dozens of philosophical...more I think that this is the absolute worst choice for someone who’s never read China Mieville. Like me. All I have to say is: it’s a good thing that I have an endless store of patience and I like being confused. In audiobook terms, it took eight miles, three loads of laundry, four bathrooms, and a huge batch of vegetable korma for me to start liking this book. My interest was sparked by his creative, highly detailed world building, and my brain was completely engaged by the dozens of philosophical tangents that this world initiated in me. Oh, and there’s also a murder mystery, but that feels more like window dressing for some Very Big Ideas.

This book begins like so many other murder mysteries – with a young, beautiful, dead girl in an alley. Of course everyone assumes that she’s a prostitute, and of course, she ends up having a much larger story to tell. Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad is one of the first to arrive at the scene. He soon begins to suspect that the murder is a precursor to a much more significant crime: breach. In Beszel, the people are conditioned from childhood to “unsee” and not perceive in any way the people of Ul Qoma, a city which occupies some of the same geographic space as Beszel and is distinguished only by the learned habits of the citizens and the architecture and language endemic to each area. To see, acknowledge, or cross over into Ul Qoma from Beszel is a taboo – the severest of crimes, policed by a shadowy and seemingly all powerful force named for the crime itself. But when it is revealed that breach has in fact not taken place, Inspector Borlu must investigate the murder, which necessitates a journey through Beszel, Ul Qoma, and all the places in between.

Somewhere around halfway through this book, the foreground of the murder mystery faded for me and the backdrop of the cities took center stage. This book made me think about the ways that we all define ourselves and our homes, and how they have very little to do with geographic location. It made me think about all of the social constructs and taboos that aren’t in place because of logic or natural inclination, but because of generations of training and conditioning. It made me think about how easy it is to see the absurdity of these behaviors as an outsider, but how impossible it is to see them from the inside. It made me think about revolution: how complicity and pack mentality can keep a belief in place, but how minds are inevitably opened and changed one at a time. It made me think about how some people go out looking to have their beliefs undermined and others hold violently to what they have, but most of us fall into neither category. And this book made me think about how lonely and debilitating it can be to have even the most illogical of beliefs dissolved away. Once your eyes are opened, you can never go back to the way you were.

So yeah, with all of these thoughts swimming around in my head (and really, I’m pretty sure that I didn’t even scratch the surface of this thing), it’s easy to understand why I found the murder plot and even the main character to be a bit flat. So, if you are new to China Mieville, I would suggest starting somewhere else (I’ve already checked out Perdido Street Station and Un Lun Dun to attempt a catch-up) and if you already love China Mieville, then you will probably get way more out of this book than I did! I highly recommend it for current fans, or people who like to be thrown in the deep end.

Perfect Musical Pairing

Radiohead – Little by Little

If a hypothetical cave-dwelling friend of mind had never heard anything from Radiohead, and wanted an introduction, I would never give her the latest album. For Radiohead fans, The King of Limbs is another complex, haunting work of genius. But I can see how the uninitiated might find it dense and strange. This song speaks to the nature of growth and change: it must be accomplished in small steps, and we must not be afraid to take them. The lyrics also relate to the way that this book grew on me – little by little.

Also seen on The Readventurer.(less)

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May 10, 2011 Dan Schwent rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-and-mystery, new-weird, the-survey-monkey-haul, 2011

Tyador Borlu of Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad is assigned to the murder case of an unknown woman. To find her killer, Borlu must go to the neighboring city of Ul Qoma and team with Qussim Dhatt of the Murder Squad. Can the two detectives from different cultures figure out who the victim is and why she was killed?

Wow. The core premise of The City & The City requires some explaining but I think I'm up to the task. Remember those perceptual illusions you were so enamored with when you were a kid...more Tyador Borlu of Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad is assigned to the murder case of an unknown woman. To find her killer, Borlu must go to the neighboring city of Ul Qoma and team with Qussim Dhatt of the Murder Squad. Can the two detectives from different cultures figure out who the victim is and why she was killed?

Wow. The core premise of The City & The City requires some explaining but I think I'm up to the task. Remember those perceptual illusions you were so enamored with when you were a kid? Like the old woman/young girl:

Okay. Instead of images of an old woman and a young girl, picture instead two cities that overlap. People from one city are trained from birth to unsee/unsense people and buildings in the other city. Still with me? Now picture a murder mystery set in one of the intersections between the two cities. Yeah, it was one mindbender of a read.

While The City & The City is firmly in the new weird genre, it's also a gritty crime story, which makes it substantially more accessible than many of Mieville's works. Tyador Borlu and Qussim Dhatt are the bickering cops that secretly grow to respect one another as they unravel a mystery than snakes back and forth between the two neighboring cities. Kind of like Jim Belushi and Arnold in Red Heat, except good.

The thing that makes The City & The City work is that the cities are quite different from one another. While Ul Qoma and Beszel aren't as detailed as New Crobuzon, they are both distinct entities. While the idea of being in one city or the other is really odd, Mieville does a good job of explaining it and making it seem plausible. How often do you actually remember what homeless people look like, for example.

The concept of the Breach is also part of the glue that holds the story together. Part police force, part bogey man, the Breach enforce the unseeing/unsensing of the other city, keeping people from going back and forth between cities with impunity.

There's not a lot else I can say without ruining key plot points. If they were to make a movie of one of China Mieville's books, this would be the one. I kept seeing Ewan MacGregor and Jason Statham as the cops. It reminds me of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles at times, Neverwhere at others, and Jeff Vandermeer's Finch at still other times. I didn't like it quite as much as Finch but it was still spectacular. For fans of both detective fiction and the new weird, it's definitely a must-read. 4.5 out of 5.(less)

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Mar 07, 2011 Ninja Sock Puppet added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Schroedinger

Shelves: deep-shit, mrs-ceridwen-jerusalem, stolen-from-ceridwen

My wife and I have an open marriage. We're both free to see other people with remarkably few restrictions or repercussions. Occasionally it causes problems, but we work through them like any other committed married couple and we've been happily married for nearly thirteen years now.

Another man might get jealous of his wife's lovers, but not me. Most of the problems arise when she cheats on them with yet other lovers, poor romantic sods who have no idea they're not the only one, and they're not...more

36 likes · like · see review

Aug 08, 2011 Adam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature-fantastique

Mieville in his Bas Lag books took the gothic secondary world fantasy of Peake and M. John Harrison added complexity worthy of THomas Pynchon, a vocabulary matching Gene Wolfe and Cormac McCarthy, and grotesque imagery of Bosch and Ernst; and created a series that may have the cultural impact of Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy. This book features not even a hint of that. He must have lost his favorite thesaurus with all the sticky notes in the right place. If this was handed to me without a cover Mievil...more

10 likes · like · see review

Oct 23, 2011 Bill Kerwin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: detective-mystery, fantasy

The premise is extraordinarily interesting and meticulously developed. The question propounded: what if two opposed cities existed side by side (with more than an occasional overlap) but were separated, not by an actual wall like East and West Berlin, but by the deeply enculturated habit of deliberate ignorance, a studied denial of the other, a fierce determination not to see? The central dilemma: when a murder is committed in one city, and the body is dumped in the other, how do the detectives...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Richard by: Borderlands-Books.com

Shelves: bookclub, fantasy, detective-and-mystery, fantasy-urban, my-best-reviews

When I finished this I first gave it four stars, but as I thought about it and pondered what I had to say here, that rating kept nudging up. Oddly, I think I liked this book more than it deserves.

First, the obligatory synopsis: Miéville has presented us with a fable set in contemporary times. The novel is a murder mystery and police procedural: a young woman has been killed in Besźel, and the story is told from the perspective of the investigator of the crime. Besźel is a struggling city, appare...more

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May 25, 2012 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction, library-books, speculative-fiction

I was kind of blown away by this. Hadn't read any of China Mieville's books. I did love it. It had this twisted plot...weird concepts (two cities co-exist within the same space on an Earth that is for all intents and purposes this one, except for that one difference). The cities exist in I think Yugoslavia or somewhere like that. There is a murder a dead body found in one of the cities and our hero Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad must investigate. He suspects that the murder involves som...more

8 likes · like · see review

Oct 24, 2011 Ian Graye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews, reviews-5-stars, mieville

14 likes · like · see review

Dec 03, 2012 Allen Blair rated it 5 of 5 stars

My first, and absolutely best, China Mieville book. I had started looking into speculative fiction, weird fiction, call it what you will, and read an NPR review of Embassytown by China. I couldn't get it at the library, but saw this one and when I read the first few pages, was hooked immediately. The story, of a city within a city is a mind-bender but one that works well because China has a mastery of characterization and tells a brisk-paced mystery better than many of that genre's writers. I wo...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, mystery-psych-thrill, fiction, mieville

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is unlike any I have read before and I glad to have come across it. It forced it's way through my eyes, into my imagination, forced me to sit and ruminate and conceptualize in ways I probably would not have bothered to before. The City and the City is potentially categorized in multiple genres, one of which being a police procedural(which, call me naive but I have never even heard of police procedural as a genre. I know. I know). I was intrigued most by the element that I had most trou...more This book is unlike any I have read before and I glad to have come across it. It forced it's way through my eyes, into my imagination, forced me to sit and ruminate and conceptualize in ways I probably would not have bothered to before. The City and the City is potentially categorized in multiple genres, one of which being a police procedural(which, call me naive but I have never even heard of police procedural as a genre. I know. I know). I was intrigued most by the element that I had most trouble categorizing and that which I viewed as THE purpose of the entire book: the existence of two distinct cities, occupying the same physical space, at the same time, but with differing societal/economical/cultural norms. It took me a while to wrap my head around the concept; I am still not even sure if I envisioned what the author intended. Once I thought I had fully grasped the way Beszel and Ul Qoma operated and coexisted, I began questioning myself and finding new details that did not fit the mold of my little box of understanding. In the end, I settled for a semi-comprehension and just allowed that maybe I was being a bit pedantic.
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the story. It wasn't that the police procedural element was that creative so much as I was just really impressed with Mieville's writing style in general. Honestly, I struggled the first 60 or so pages in just becoming acclimated to the word usage. But once I did, the pages were turning faster and the story was flowing seamlessly. I especially was intrigued by the idea of Breach: an almost supernatural, spooky, omniscient, elusive power that hides in the shadows and spaces in between the two cities policing the citizens who may intentionally or unintentionally break the age-old ingrained rules intended to keep the cities distanced. I would have eaten up more chapters regarding breach, the inner workings and history of interaction (or lack thereof) with the two cities. My only problem with the book was that this almost supernatural, spooky, omniscient, elusive power turned out not to be those things at all. (Well, maybe omniscient and elusive, but for sure not supernatural). As pointed out in the back of the book in an interview with the author, the revelations regarding Breach are "a bit deflating." It seems this was intentional on Mieville's part, a purposeful attempt to bring the book away from a fantastic element to a realistic and logical one. I get this and understand his choice in doing so. However, I still found myself a little disappointed when certain characters did not live up to my expectations and instead came across as lame. I would have been more blown away to see a less logical approach to the conclusion of the book. That's not to say that I was disappointed in the book overall, just that particular aspect.
This was my first experience with China Mieville (and probably not the last). Once I realized what I was reading and just let the prose roll over me, I really enjoyed the book and found that I could not put it down. All in all, it was an excellent read; one that I would not hesitate to recommend. (less)

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Jan 02, 2013 Weasel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-person, mystery, science-fiction

Reread rating: 3.75 Rereading this after two years and some months, I am underwhelmed. It was a solid 5 on my first read, and I distinctly remember loving it. But as I said somewhere or other, this basically a mystery set in a thought experiment. A small southern european city divided into two overlapping city-states, where the citizens walk the same physical streets, dutifully "unseeing" the inhabitants of their sister cities, a mental habit they are trained in from childhood. The penalty for "...more

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Dec 09, 2009 Architeuthis rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2000s, china-mieville, fiction-that-speculates

Inspector Borlu of Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad investigates the murder of a woman whose body was found naked at a park, a mattress thrown on top of it. At first he believes it to be a local prostitute. However, as he investigates, things quickly get more complicated, and more dangerous for Borlu.

While the body was found in the city of Beszel, Borlu realises the murder was done in the city of Ul Quoma. Ul Quoma is a city which occupies the same physical space as Beszel, but is 'unseen' by Beszel...more Inspector Borlu of Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad investigates the murder of a woman whose body was found naked at a park, a mattress thrown on top of it. At first he believes it to be a local prostitute. However, as he investigates, things quickly get more complicated, and more dangerous for Borlu.

While the body was found in the city of Beszel, Borlu realises the murder was done in the city of Ul Quoma. Ul Quoma is a city which occupies the same physical space as Beszel, but is 'unseen' by Beszel citizens. Likewise, those in Ul Quoma unsee the buildings and the people of Beszel. Anyone in Beszel caught interacting with Ul Quoma has committed breach, and will be taken by Breach, a silent and invisible police unbeholden to either city. No one comes back from breach.

As Borlu continues to investigate the murder, he discovers the woman was involved with unificationists who want to unite the two cities into one. She also was fascinated by Orciny, a theoretical third city hidden in the forgotten areas between Beszel and Ul Quoma. As he continues to dig deeper, he is pulled deeper and deeper into an elaborate conspiracy.

This isn't as convoluted as I've probably made it sound. Mieville's city fetish goes totally crazy this time around, and he's ended up with something very innovative.

After hearing the synopsis of this book, I thought the idea sounded cool but I didn't think he'd really be able to pull it off. He does, and it's fascinating. The book remains a murder mystery throughout, while still being an exploration of the strange bi-city, although the mystery of the murder lags behind the mystery of what's really going on in the city (and the city and the city). You end up with something a little closer stylistically to The Bourne Identity than Sherlock Holmes for much of the book. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing.

Is it as good as the Bas Lag books? No. The characters are underdone and the conclusion lacks the savory finish of Perdido Street Station or The Scar. I don't feel it's QUITE a four-star book because the plot and the characters lag so far behind the setting. The story here is nothing the least bit new, and the main character has very little personality. The word 'detective' alone probably conjures everything you need to know about this guy. So, without the setting, this book would be utterly blah.

But the setting is, like I said, innovative and brilliant. If you're new to Mieville, I wouldn't suggest starting here. But, if you're already a fan, this is Mieville doing what he's good at. And his creativity is off the chain, as usual.(less)

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Aug 16, 2009 Shanon rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dfc-1, 2009

My head is spinning after reading this book. Bear with me while I try to explain. Two fictional cities somewhere in Europe exist on the SAME land. How that works – no idea! But these two cities dislike each other SO much that they are not even allowed to acknowledge the citizens of the other city – wait it gets more confusing – they have to ‘unsee’ each other which I guess is worse than not acknowledging them. At one point a phone call was placed from one city to the other (mind you same area) a...more My head is spinning after reading this book. Bear with me while I try to explain. Two fictional cities somewhere in Europe exist on the SAME land. How that works – no idea! But these two cities dislike each other SO much that they are not even allowed to acknowledge the citizens of the other city – wait it gets more confusing – they have to ‘unsee’ each other which I guess is worse than not acknowledging them. At one point a phone call was placed from one city to the other (mind you same area) and they said they were calling internationally – what? They use the same roads and have to ‘unsee’ other drivers and pedestrians. Tourists are expected to spend 2 WEEKS learning the customs and rules before being allowed in either city. Citizens can visit the other city but must go through a sort of training program and have to stay in a hotel – not their own home just down the street. Should someone break a law that divides the two cities they commit breach and these violations are handled by ‘The Breach’ – an organization that I’m not even going to try to explain because my head is still riding the spiral slide into confusion. The whole thing is absurd really.

My biggest gripe about this book is that it is often times labeled as fantasy. There is no fantasy in the book – only FICTION. It is set in two realistic – while outlandish – modern cities. Because of this incorrect label I fear many people will read this book, as I did, with mistaken expectations. I was expecting and hoping for a fantasy story and I did not get it.

WAIT – this is a murder mystery and I haven’t even mentioned that little fact yet. Unfortunately, the mystery gets overlooked for the world building in the book as well – especially during the first 3/4ths of the book.

If you are looking for a book about an interesting & complex community there can be no better. I’m sure there are parallels we can make to our own lives and I will surely think about the imaginary dividing line between the two cities and how we create divisions amoung ourselves as well more. The story was okay.
(less)

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Mar 12, 2011 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: conspiracy, crime, fantasy, mystery, urban-fantasy, hugo-winner, nebula-nominee, world-fantasy-winner, locus-winner, male-author, 2000s, 2009, book-club-scifi-and-fantasy

This was a very interesting book. The start was hard to get through. It felt like the author was talking about things I should already know, talking like I was a citizen of the same city. But eventually it all came together and from there the story excelled. The twistedness of the two cities, unseeing and unhearing, is at times a lot to wrap your ahead around but makes for such an alien environment in something so human.

The plot itself was great and I didn't see the way it would turn out. It's...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to say about this book. I had read some great reviews here on Goodreads and that peaked my interest. Then to read that this is considered sort of a pulp crime novel or noir style mystery I got visions of a futuristic Sam Spade. It had its own subtle sci-fi twist in the underlying plot but it wasn’t enough to deter me from reading it. Since I have become a member of Goodreads I have tried new styles and types of books. I wanted to make sure I went into this with...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Carlos rated it 4 of 5 stars

He leído dos de sus libros y puedo decir sin prevención que me gusta mucho Miéville. Es un tipo con una imaginación muy distinta y que ve planteamientos originales, casi psicodélicos. Da igual que sea en CF, como en EmbassyTown, como en esta The City and the City.

No sabría definir bien esta novela. La podría llamar igual novela negra con un giro fantástico, como thriller con especulación sociológica o teoría de la percepción. Me ha gustado mucho lo creíble que es un planteamiento que con sólo d...more

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Miquel Codony Buenísima reseña.

Yo sí le puse 5 estrellas pero estoy de acuerdo en todas sus apreciaciones y creo que Miéville tiene espacio para mejorar. También es...more
27. Juni, 02:17 Uhr

Carlos Sin ser ni de lejos tan conocedor de lo fantástico como tú, estoy totalmente de acuerdo en que Miéville es lo más alentador que he leído en mucho tiem...more
27. Juni, 03:16 Uhr

Feb 07, 2011 William Thomas rated it 3 of 5 stars

So, I first heard of China Mieville through a Neil Gaiman review of Perdido Street Station. I thought the review was exceptional and wanted to read Mieville's work. I found reviews on this site to be somewhat polarizing. He is either beloved or dismissed. I, however, with this book, found myself in the exact middle of spectrum and when I finished this book I said, "Meh." It was no great shakes and I do not for the life of me understand the Hugo Award for it.

If you take Michael Chabon's The Yidd...more So, I first heard of China Mieville through a Neil Gaiman review of Perdido Street Station. I thought the review was exceptional and wanted to read Mieville's work. I found reviews on this site to be somewhat polarizing. He is either beloved or dismissed. I, however, with this book, found myself in the exact middle of spectrum and when I finished this book I said, "Meh." It was no great shakes and I do not for the life of me understand the Hugo Award for it.

If you take Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union and intersperse Richard K Morgan's Market Forces, you get China Mieville's The City and The City. But don't let those comparison's fool you. This book is bits and pieces of both but not as good as either.

China Mieville's allegory in this book is either so thick that I can't understand it or so thin that it isn't even there. What was it? Is this supposed to be an allegory for East and West Berlin? I know that Mieville is a card carrying communist, so maybe that makes sense. Is it a metaphor for the first and third world? Where they both exist in plain view but are mostly hidden from one another? Is this supposed to be a comedy? Or a tragedy? About the Middle East? About Israel? I don't know. I couldn't put my finger on it. And that bothered me. Because not knowing if this was an allegory for anything makes me care about it far less than if it were. Without the base of metaphor, this book is absolutely meaningless.

When I say meaningless, I don't say without merit. It has some very interesting ideas, utilizes a sharp and very intentional form of prose, and reads like an Eric Ambler or Henning Menkell international thriller more than a pulp novel. Not that I'm a fan of international intrigue in my novels but I can see their merit and their worth. Without an intentional allegory, this gets packed away as lesser science fiction, if it can even be said that it is science fiction. Which I am not completely convinced it is.

You see, he never explains the physics of the cities. He never lays it out that these are two separate cities existing in the same space. He actually says that you can see everything from both cities. You can see streets and people and could even walk in them and talk to them. So there is no physical impossibility or improbability. The only thing that would make this science fiction is the fictional places and even then, it doesn't hold up. So I'm not even sure of that, either.

This might be the most ambiguous novel I've ever read. Ambiguous to the Nth degree. And it seems purposefully so, which is even more infuriating.

I don't really know what else to say about this book except that it was exceptionally average on the whole. It had none of the charisma of Yiddish Policeman and it had none of the action or observations of Market Forces. For a novel that reads like a very bland international spy story it has none of the drive. It has no poetry. It has none of the wit or hard edges of a noir novel.

So wait, why does this get three stars? To add to the ambiguity of the whole thing I guess.
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Mar 27, 2011 Martha rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've also been a fan of what I call (usually just in my own head, for my own purposes) anthropological or social science fiction. LeGuin is the master. As the true daughter of anthropologists, she turns a social scientists' eye towards the worlds she builds and, in doing so, tells us much about our society. Sheri Tepper is similar. The science, such as it is, is not important. The ability to move between worlds, planets and times is just a device to explore the social issues that intrigue Tepper...more I've also been a fan of what I call (usually just in my own head, for my own purposes) anthropological or social science fiction. LeGuin is the master. As the true daughter of anthropologists, she turns a social scientists' eye towards the worlds she builds and, in doing so, tells us much about our society. Sheri Tepper is similar. The science, such as it is, is not important. The ability to move between worlds, planets and times is just a device to explore the social issues that intrigue Tepper - religion, misogyny, hierarchy, and power. Similarly, The City and the City is a social fantasy. Other than its foundational premise, it really isn't a fantasy novel. Instead, as many reviewers point out, it follows the form of a police procedural. It can be read in many ways and certainly contains many metaphors. At the moment, however, I find myself considering it as rather savvy social commentary about how we all live in different spheres of reality and how social norms not only construct but enforce that separateness. The city I love and have called home for nearly 20 years is surely not the same city a Somali immigrant lives in, or as someone who grew up here and lives in their grandparents' house, or as an Ojibway family, or as a homeless teenager. Perhaps I occasionally glimpse the other Cities, but how much do I or can I really perceive? Furthermore, the characters in Mieville's novel are hyperaware of the social strictures that enforce the separate Cities and consciously adhere to them, to the point of punishing those who challenge the rules. As a queer person, I *am* aware of some of these rules and I do consciously alter my behavior to conform to them or challenge them. Usually, however, I can operate on a daily basis oblivious to these strictures and rules because of my privilege as a white, middle class person. The question is, do I decide to ignore the strictures, accept them, enforce them or challenge them? Can I decide not to unsee people in other spheres at least some of the time?(less)

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Sep 18, 2011 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Michael by: Kim

Shelves: hugo-award, nebula-award, mystery, conspiracy, crime, favourites, science-fiction, magical-realism, detective, 2000s

If Raymond Chandler and Philip K Dick wrote a book together it would be very similar to The City & the City (if you throw a little George Orwell into the mix). China Miéville calls his novels fantasy/weird fiction and this is no different, though I think I would consider it more Science Fiction. There is a complex plot full of twists and turns in an even more complex couple of cities. These cities are confusing and very hard to navigate, you feel like a complete alien in them and China doesn...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Sarah Keliher rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read2010, sf-fantasy-general, sfthatdoesntsuck, bestof2010

Most totalitarian governments eventually figured out that the most efficient sort of mind control is the kind that is self enforced, and that self censorship, carefully instilled, is the most effective way to control public discourse. A similar form of self policing occurs today, despite our free societies. Urban anonymity coupled with the internet allows us to only associate with the like-minded (as many other people have more gracefully pointed out already). No longer forced to congregate with...more Most totalitarian governments eventually figured out that the most efficient sort of mind control is the kind that is self enforced, and that self censorship, carefully instilled, is the most effective way to control public discourse. A similar form of self policing occurs today, despite our free societies. Urban anonymity coupled with the internet allows us to only associate with the like-minded (as many other people have more gracefully pointed out already). No longer forced to congregate with random strangers, we can spend all of our time - virtual or otherwise - with people who share our affection for superhero costumes or radical politics or hardcore industrial music - while filtering out the vaguely distasteful mass of humanity streaming around us. It can sometimes feel as if the elements of urban life exist on separate planes, close but not quite touching.

But what if this schism was somehow made actual, either by ancient and unknown devices or by the force of our collective belief? And here we get into the heart of The City and The City. The perceptual contortions and self-censorship required by such a setting is just one of the deeply unsettling ideas Mieville explores. Or toys with, is maybe a better way to put it, because this is a surprisingly fast-paced read, full of thrills and shivery chills. The story’s big ideas are handled with a light touch, and never bog down the main plot - a gripping, gory murder mystery, fraught with conspiracies, corrupt government officials, and militant terrorist cells, and filled with the creeping, paranoid weight of constant surveillance. The heroes - two hard-boiled, expletive spouting, cynical police officers, straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel - make a strangely endearing counterpoint to the seriousness of the subject matter, providing a needed dash of wry humor.

I originally got an advance copy of this book way back in - I think - the winter of 2008. It looked intriguing, but I really wasn’t a big fan of Perdido Street Station, and I was a little reluctant to give this one a try. Now I’m sorry I waited so long. If you’ve had doubts about Mieville, set them aside and grab this book - now out in paperback, for your convenience! - and dive in. Prepare to stay up all night, be very late to work, and ignore your phone - I hardly ever stay up all night to finish a book anymore (getting old? maybe) but this I really couldn’t put down.

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About China Miéville

A British "fantastic fiction" writer. He is fond of describing his work as "weird fiction" (after early 20th century pulp and horror writers such as H. P. Lovecraft), and belongs to a loose group of writers sometimes called New Weird who consciously attempt to move fantasy away from commercial, genre clichés of Tolkien epigons. He is also active in left-wing politics as a member of the Socialist W...more

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