This book was nothing like I was expecting, as a winner of an Arthur C. Clarke Award I was expecting a cracking good Sci-Fi story, I was really disappointed. The Sci-Fi aspect is dull and repetitive, how many times can you mention that somebody has to unsee something that exists in another city? Plenty loads according to this book.

The last line of the blurb mentions Philip K. Dick and Raymond Chandler and that is spot on. There is the futuristic feeling from Dick, the poor, the punks, sinister policing and the rich controlling everything. Heavy influences from Chandler are there too in the fantastic detectives Tyador Borlú and Qussim Dhatt, some real gritty guys. You witness them slowly unravel a very complex case, up against tough odds. Just to prove how good a detective story this is, Borlú's boss kept shouting at him to get the job done in try Dirty Harry tradition.

Once I got past my "Sci-Fi" issues I thoroughly enjoyed this, a complex murder mystery that kept me guessing.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/10/07/the-city-the-city-by-china-mieville/