Here’s a fascinating choice for a 4-part BBC miniseries —

According to GalleyCat, the BBC is going to make a four-part miniseries out of . . . China Mieville’s THE CITY AND THE CITY.

Pause to imagine that. A TV series. Of THE CITY AND THE CITY.

Remember how it was never actually one hundred percent clear just how the two cities coexisted? Remember how the city of Beszel had a kind of decaying urban Eastern European feel to it, compared to the much more prosperous and vibrant Ul Qoma? And how not seeing one or the other was kind of an act of will and yet seems sort of like a real thing, somehow?

That is what I mean when I occasionally say this book almost-but-not-quite worked for me. I could never quite get how the cities were really related, or not related, or blended, or not blended, or whatever. There was all this really seeing vs unseeing vs choosing not to see and it was all very evocative without ever actually being clear.

But I really enjoyed the book, though. I loved Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad, and come to think of it I was pretty fond of many of the other characters, too. I loved the strange setting even if — maybe a little bit because — I never actually understood it. And I enjoyed the mystery/thriller vibe very much, and liked the plot arc and the resolution.

So I hope the BBC version is fantastic. I can’t wait to see it.