The City & the City

by Miéville, China
ISBN: 9780345497529
4.5 (2)
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Overview

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE SEATTLE TIMES, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

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 Borl of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borl 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, Borl 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 lies between these two cities.

  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Author: Miéville, China
  • ISBN: 9780345497529
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.32 x 0.74
  • Number Of Pages: 336
  • Publication Year: 2010

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  • An elusive urban parable by a modern master of the weird tale.

    Aidan N. - 3 years 4 months ago

    China Mieville is known to the fantasy and science fiction cognoscenti as a prolific writer who, in one short decade, produced one genre-defying novel after another, overturning convention and nearly drowning himself in accolades in the process. And yet, even in a body of work notable for it's idiosyncrasies, The City & the City stands out. The premise is deceptively simple: a police procedural set in a fictitious (but ambiguously Balkan) city. Or rather, two cities... except these neighbors share the same geographic space and the division between the two is not so much physical as mental. Citizens of one 'unsee' the other, each supporting the mass delusion that the other is not really there. It's a taut thriller that somehow manages to be both straight to the point and vague at exactly the appropriate times. As far as mysteries go, it may leave some heads scratching, but as a provocative meditation on how we all tend to selectively see and unsee elements of the cities we ourselves inhabit, it's nothing short of a masterpiece. It is also an excellent point of entry into the oeuvre of an important and dangerously imaginative modern writer.

    HPB Staff Review

  • An unexpected take on the crime fiction formula.

    Timothy H. - 5 years 10 months ago

    Two eastern European cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma, sit within, on top, and around each other. Their citizens are bound by law not to interact, watched carefully by Breach, the supernatural force that maintains the border. But when a woman's murder violates the separation, Inspector Tyador Borlu is put on the case and finds himself caught in an international conspiracy. For justice, he must contend with Breach and a slew of rebellious political groups, walking the delicate line between the city and the city.

    HPB Staff Review