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From Amazon
Amazon Best of the Month, June 2009: The city is Beszel, a rundown metropolis on the eastern edge of Europe. The other city is Ul Qoma, a modern Eastern European boomtown, despite being a bit of an international pariah. What the two cities share, and what they don't, is the deliciously evocative conundrum at the heart of China Mieville's The City and the City. Mieville is well known as a modern fantasist (and urbanist), but from book to book he's tried on different genres, and here he's fully hard-boiled, stripping down to a seen-it-all detective's voice that's wonderfully appropriate for this story of seen and unseen. His detective is Inspector Tyador Borlu, a cop in Beszel whose investigation of the murder of a young foreign woman takes him back and forth across the highly policed border to Ul Qoma to uncover a crime that threatens the delicate balance between the cities and, perhaps more so, Borlu's own dissolving sense of identity. In his tale of two cities, Mieville creates a world both fantastic and unsettlingly familiar, whose mysteries don't end with the solution of a murder. --Tom Nissley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Daring and disturbing . . . Miéville illuminates fundamental and unsettling questions about culture, governance and the shadowy differences that keep us apart.”—Walter Mosley, author of Devil in a Blue Dress
"Lots of books dabble in several genres but few manage to weld them together as seamlessly and as originally as The City and The City. In a tale set in a series of cities vertiginously layered in the same space, Miéville offers the detective novel re-envisioned through the prism of the fantastic. The result is a stunning piece of artistry that has both all the satisfactions of a good mystery and all the delight and wonder of the best fantasy.”—Brian Evenson, author of Last Days
“If Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler's love child were raised by Franz Kafka, the writing that emerged might resemble China Mieville's new novel, The City & the City." —Los Angeles Times
“China Mieville has made his name via award-winning, genre-bending titles such as King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. Now, in The City & the City, he sets out to bend yet another genre, that of the police procedural, and he succeeds brilliantly…. [An] extraordinary, wholly engaging read.” — St. Petersburg Times
“An eye-opening genre-buster. The names of Kafka and Orwell tend to be invoked too easily for anything a bit out of the ordinary, but in this case they are worthy comparisons.” — The Times, London
“Evoking such writers as Franz Kafka and Mikhail Bulgakov, Mr. Miéville asks readers to make conceptual leaps and not to simply take flights of fancy.”—Wall Street Journal
“An outstanding take on police procedurals…. Through this exaggerated metaphor of segregation, Miéville skillfully examines the illusions people embrace to preserve their preferred social realities.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“An excellent police procedural and a fascinating urban fantasy, this is essential reading for all mystery and fantasy fans.”—Booklist, starred review
“This spectacularly, intricately paranoid yarn is worth the effort.” — Kirkus, starred review
From the Hardcover edition.
"Lots of books dabble in several genres but few manage to weld them together as seamlessly and as originally as The City and The City. In a tale set in a series of cities vertiginously layered in the same space, Miéville offers the detective novel re-envisioned through the prism of the fantastic. The result is a stunning piece of artistry that has both all the satisfactions of a good mystery and all the delight and wonder of the best fantasy.”—Brian Evenson, author of Last Days
“If Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler's love child were raised by Franz Kafka, the writing that emerged might resemble China Mieville's new novel, The City & the City." —Los Angeles Times
“China Mieville has made his name via award-winning, genre-bending titles such as King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council. Now, in The City & the City, he sets out to bend yet another genre, that of the police procedural, and he succeeds brilliantly…. [An] extraordinary, wholly engaging read.” — St. Petersburg Times
“An eye-opening genre-buster. The names of Kafka and Orwell tend to be invoked too easily for anything a bit out of the ordinary, but in this case they are worthy comparisons.” — The Times, London
“Evoking such writers as Franz Kafka and Mikhail Bulgakov, Mr. Miéville asks readers to make conceptual leaps and not to simply take flights of fancy.”—Wall Street Journal
“An outstanding take on police procedurals…. Through this exaggerated metaphor of segregation, Miéville skillfully examines the illusions people embrace to preserve their preferred social realities.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“An excellent police procedural and a fascinating urban fantasy, this is essential reading for all mystery and fantasy fans.”—Booklist, starred review
“This spectacularly, intricately paranoid yarn is worth the effort.” — Kirkus, starred review
From the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Alternative Reality Crime Thriller from China Mieville,
By
This review is from: The City & The City (Paperback)
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.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
To See the Unseen,
By
This review is from: The City & The City (Hardcover)
This is my first China Miéville book but it's safe to say it won't be my last. The basic premise of this Sci-Fi mystery is the existence of 2 cities superimposed on one another in such a way that those who live in one city must not "see" those who live in the other city. The plot follows a detective who is investigating a murder which leads into contact with the omnipresent Breach who patrol the boundaries of cities and the complex network of the underworld -- people who believe in a third city existing between the 2 cities, unificationists, and various other unsavory characters.There is not question that Miéville's imagination is superb. The book and story remind me of other futuristic type movies like Blade Runner or Minority Report. It has the same intelligent design and innovations. It definitely could be made into a movie which would really bring to life the 2 cities. As a story though, I did feel that parts of the book were repetitious and laborious to get through, especially in the latter third of the book. Overall, "The City and The City" is a good read for anyone who is into mysteries or Sci-Fi thrillers.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
How incredibly intricate!,
By
This review is from: The City & The City (Hardcover)
Yet another incredibly imaginative and intricate concept. If you enjoyed other China Miéville books, you have to read this one too. When I started the book, I had to slow down to figure out if I was reading the sentences incorrectly or if the location of the action was really as outrageous as it seemed. When I finished the book, I felt like I had been exiled from the most interesting place in anyone's imagination. What a feat to make it so real, so believable.
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