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juushikaTitle: The City & The City
Author: China Miéville
Published: New York: Del Rey, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 312
Total Page Count: 84,114
Text Number: 241
Read Because: reviewed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yuki_onna, purchased from Borders
Short Review: The cities Besźel and Ul Qoma share the same geographical location, forcing residents of each city to carefully see and unsee the cities in turn. But when Detective Borlú investigates the murder of a young foreign woman, he must roam between the cities to discover if her murder is linked to the boundary that divides them. The City & The City is an uninspired but competent police procedural offering little special in the way of plot, characterization, or writing style. But its setting is unique, brilliant, and pushes a merely mediocre book to be worthwhile. I hoped for better and the premise could have been taken further, but still I recommend The City & The City because there's nothing else like it—and the originality it offers is fascinating.
The City & The City is one of those books that I didn't entirely enjoy, yet still recommend. I spent a lot of it just going through the motions of reading. I found the plot only vaguely interesting until halfway through the book, when it begins to speed up. It's a competent police procedural, unique only by virtue of its twin-city setting. The final reveal is hurried (not unusual for a murder mystery) and relies a bit too much on a sudden characterization change in the villain—which while not entirely unbelievable still annoys me. None of the characters are particularly interesting or well-defined to begin with, though. The Eastern European-styled environment also left me feeling cold, but that's a matter of personal preference. The writing style and dialog, heavy with sentence fragments and swearing intended to create a sense of urgency and a gritty, visceral feel, both come across as stunted. Miéville's a competent writer, to be sure, and his book is quite readable, growing moreso as the plot builds momentum—but I have higher expectations than mediocrity in my reading.
What makes The City & The City worthwhile, then, is the world in which it takes place. The concept of a city that has literally divided into two is brilliant. It keeps the tired plot fresh, it begs question of real-world analogies, and the mechanics of intentionally creating reality by seeing and unseeing in turn is a concept fascinating enough to hold the reader's interest throughout the book. Miéville also dangles the idea of a city between the cities; would that he had done more with it, because it's a magical concept which could only further explore the book's questions of manufactured reality and liminality. But better the idea exist as a phantom than not at all. All told, it's the city and the city, and what does or does not divide them, that makes The City & The City worthwhile. The many other aspects of the book which left me wanting are primarily a vehicle to explore the brilliant setting. It's on that basis that I recommend this book: it's good, not great, but has a concept unique enough to excuse those limitations.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
(Oh thank goodness, I can read Lost Souls now. I was waiting on it until I finished this review. The City & The City is good and all, but it didn't devour me whole. Lost Souls will. I look forward to it.)
Author: China Miéville
Published: New York: Del Rey, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 312
Total Page Count: 84,114
Text Number: 241
Read Because: reviewed by
yuki_onna, purchased from BordersShort Review: The cities Besźel and Ul Qoma share the same geographical location, forcing residents of each city to carefully see and unsee the cities in turn. But when Detective Borlú investigates the murder of a young foreign woman, he must roam between the cities to discover if her murder is linked to the boundary that divides them. The City & The City is an uninspired but competent police procedural offering little special in the way of plot, characterization, or writing style. But its setting is unique, brilliant, and pushes a merely mediocre book to be worthwhile. I hoped for better and the premise could have been taken further, but still I recommend The City & The City because there's nothing else like it—and the originality it offers is fascinating.
The City & The City is one of those books that I didn't entirely enjoy, yet still recommend. I spent a lot of it just going through the motions of reading. I found the plot only vaguely interesting until halfway through the book, when it begins to speed up. It's a competent police procedural, unique only by virtue of its twin-city setting. The final reveal is hurried (not unusual for a murder mystery) and relies a bit too much on a sudden characterization change in the villain—which while not entirely unbelievable still annoys me. None of the characters are particularly interesting or well-defined to begin with, though. The Eastern European-styled environment also left me feeling cold, but that's a matter of personal preference. The writing style and dialog, heavy with sentence fragments and swearing intended to create a sense of urgency and a gritty, visceral feel, both come across as stunted. Miéville's a competent writer, to be sure, and his book is quite readable, growing moreso as the plot builds momentum—but I have higher expectations than mediocrity in my reading.
What makes The City & The City worthwhile, then, is the world in which it takes place. The concept of a city that has literally divided into two is brilliant. It keeps the tired plot fresh, it begs question of real-world analogies, and the mechanics of intentionally creating reality by seeing and unseeing in turn is a concept fascinating enough to hold the reader's interest throughout the book. Miéville also dangles the idea of a city between the cities; would that he had done more with it, because it's a magical concept which could only further explore the book's questions of manufactured reality and liminality. But better the idea exist as a phantom than not at all. All told, it's the city and the city, and what does or does not divide them, that makes The City & The City worthwhile. The many other aspects of the book which left me wanting are primarily a vehicle to explore the brilliant setting. It's on that basis that I recommend this book: it's good, not great, but has a concept unique enough to excuse those limitations.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
(Oh thank goodness, I can read Lost Souls now. I was waiting on it until I finished this review. The City & The City is good and all, but it didn't devour me whole. Lost Souls will. I look forward to it.)
