The City and The City by China Miéville
The City and the City can be seen as a departure for China, but I really think it continues his “city as character” writing style.
His other works all feature the location as a significant, defining element. His “trilogy” of Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council all take place in Bas-Lag, while Un Lun Dun, his young readers book, features London and “Un Lun Dun”. The City and The City is no different in that capacity, featuring the cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma. that nearly share an identical footprint and intersect and are highly patrolled to control “breaching” this boundary.
The story focuses on a murder and the pursuit of capture. The dual-city makes for odd-politics when these types of things happen. The resulting story is a straight up “who dunit” throughly mixed with a wacky city existence set in a version of our world. The pacing is right on for a mystery, and the vocabulary high, as typical for Mieville’s writing.
China Miéville
There are times where Inspector Tyador Borlú, the lead character, is a bit thin, as we really only focus on him solving the mystery and not his story. We are given glimpses into who and what he is but not a lot. I wish he had more “character meat” on him but the plot is thrilling and help make up for this.
Because one of my other favorite writers reviewed this, I need to include this.
Reviewing the book for The Guardian, Michael Moorcock concludes:
| “ | As in no previous novel, the author celebrates and enhances the genre he loves and has never rejected. On many levels this novel is a testament to his admirable integrity. Keeping his grip firmly on an idea which would quickly slip from the hands of a less skilled writer, Miéville again proves himself as intelligent as he is original.[2] |
The ending is thrilling but you gotta pay attention. There are a lot of names rolled out and all of them are designed around the culture of the cities. The very end suggests the series could continue, but most likely like many mystery series; it would be one offs within this “world” featuring the further adventures of .
Tagged: book review