The City & the City

by China Miéville

Paperback, 336 pages

English language

Published April 26, 2010 by Del Rey.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-49752-9
OCLC Number:: 436030058

(186 reviews)

When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma.

But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one.

As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which …

10 editions

nekokat reviewed The City & The City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & The City' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This book is phenomenal. It's basically perfect.

Miéville constructs the world of the two cities around one operative metaphor, one fantastic element -- one that is utterly unbelievable, yet so deeply-ingrained in the fabric of the two cities that you begin to take it for granted yourself. He illustrates how the divide between the two cities plays itself out, in small ways and large, skillfully exploring the consequences and building up the reader's understanding, bit by bit. By the time Miéville's finished with you, you've internalized the taboo, almost as if you've in fact become an inhabitant of Besźel or Ul Qoma.

This is vital because the ending, the way it all plays out, only makes sense from within the metaphor, even as it illustrates the tenuousness of it all.

This is one of those books that will make you see the world differently, in a way that cannot be …

Jordyn reviewed The City & The City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & The City' on 'GoodReads'

5 stars

I've read The City & the City twice now, and find that I come back to its imagery over and over again in my mind and in conversation. In fact, I originally gave it four stars and returned just now to bump it up to five. This book is one of the few that can be called science-fiction but that also transcend – or maybe just completely fulfill? – the genre. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

outofrange reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The city & the city' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I didn't know anything about the author and might have put the book down as a run-of-the-mill murder mystery, but it was my only book over a holiday trip and I kept coming back. Slowly it seeped in - this is lovingly crafted detective noir novel with one strange, nearly impossible premise. The more I read the better I liked it, all the way to the end.

ranjit reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The city & the city' on Goodreads

5 stars

enjoyed this so much that as soon as I finished, I started over from the beginning.

Scopique reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & the City' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Oy. Finally finished this one after a few months on hiatus. I really liked Mieville's other books that I've read so far. I ended up liking this one, but the style of it was just a bit dense because the characters speak and think in stream of consciousness...which is ironic, because it's really how real people sometimes speak and think.

The concept is pretty decent: two cities, somewhere in what might be Eastern Europe, occupy the same physical space, but they don't get along. Citizens can see activity in the other space, but it's illegal to acknowledge that it was seen. Spend too much time staring into the other city, or accidentally (or purposefully) step into the other space, and the transgressor is taken away by Breach, a CIA-like organization tasked with keeping the boundaries of the two cities apart.

The plot revolves around the possibility of a THIRD city lying somewhere unseen, and what happens to people who believe in it's existence. A young exchange student is murdered in one city and dumped in the other, which begins an investigation that must span both cities, and which leads to the question of the existence of this mysterious third city, whether it exists or not, and if it does, who might want it to stay hidden.

There's a lot of made-up politics here, combined with a police investigative drama, which is really secondary to the characters of Ul Quoma and Beszel, the two overlapping cities. Pretty much every scene deals with the cooperative police inspectors having to walk a fine line between getting the answers they need, and violating the divide between the cities and invoking Breach. It's a good read for those who like their urban environments as first-rate characters, although the odd cadence of the language of the characters and the prose itself in some places might lead to less immersion then an idea like this one deserves.

Scott reviewed The City & The City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & The City' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Being a linear-thinking individual, I had a lot of trouble envisioning the world created by Mieville. It was an engaging story. Most appreciated how it made me reflect on the ways and the things that people choose to see and un-see in this world.

Michael @ Knowledge Lost reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & the City' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

If [a:Raymond Chandler|1377|Raymond Chandler|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1206535318p2/1377.jpg] and [a:Philip K Dick|5178267|Philip K Dick|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] wrote a book together it would be very similar to [b:The City & the City|4703581|The City & the City|China Miéville|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266894982s/4703581.jpg|4767909] (if you throw a little [a:George Orwell|3706|George Orwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1175614486p2/3706.jpg] into the mix). [a:China Miéville|33918|China Miéville|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1243988363p2/33918.jpg] 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’t help you along with this part of the journey; in this aspect it can be a very hard book to read.

But stick to it! The City & The City has a lot to offer; a complex mystery in a homage to Chandler, a foreign country with strike …

Chungledown Bim reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & the City' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Just not into it. Seems like a half-thought-out fever dream turned into a hasty book. I wanted China to redeem himself after (despicable) UnLunDun but unfortunately Perdido St Station is a long way away from this one.

Ilirwen reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & the City' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I've known about this book for a couple of years and hesitated to read it. I was afraid it would be a disappointment. In a a way it was, but that's not because this wasn't an extremely well written story. It was fascinating and original. However - I suppose I'd been expecting to find out a little more. I can't say any more without spoiling the plot to someone who hasn't read the book yet. It's supposed to be a fantasy story, but I think it works well as a mystery too. Impressive creation. The language was excellent. I think I'd like to read more by China Miéville, in fact, if he ever writes a sequel, I'd definitely want to read it.

unicorndeburgh reviewed The City & the City by China Miéville

Review of 'The City & the City' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A fast paced, noir police procedural novel that just happens to take place in a fantastical city. Or, rather, in two impossibly conjoined cities somewhere in the vicinity of the former Yugoslavia. It sets up all sorts of resonances about cultural conditioning, belonging to groups, and long-cherished political resentments. It also performs the neat trick of making you cheer against the side that actually makes the most sense.