Reviews tagging 'Deportation'

Linn ja linn by China Miéville

6 reviews

rebecca_harley's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book has a really interesting premise, two cities occupying the same physical space "grosstopically" and how criminal jurisdiction is handled in these places. I've never read anything like it before and while it was confusing at first the worldbuilding was excellent. 

The main drawback I would say is that none of the characters were particularly interesting or likeable, except the victim, in my opinion.

I also felt the ending was a little anti-climactic if I'm being honest.

As a bonus I liked the formatting. Each new chapter starts at the top of the next page, no wasted space!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Car accident

Minor: Drug abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Deportation

ixris's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Mieville's police procedural has a spare, dry voice and a small love affair with the letter Z that made my early progress very slow. The twisting bureaucracy can lead only one place, and while the ending is satisfying, I found it ultimately very pat. An extremely imaginative pair of cityscapes, though, and definitely worth what felt like a slog in the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, and Deportation

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I thought the setting was fascinating, and the way the thought processes of the characters navigating the city are handled was really well done. However the actual mystery wasn't that interesting or surprising, and I felt like the story kind of fell apart once more information about

Breach

was revealed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Car accident, and Murder

Minor: Racism, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

fermentedsorcerer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Incredibly elegant and exciting plot with a mystery that makes it hard to put down. There’s nothing else like this book, it’s perfect. Easily in my top 10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Deportation

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Alcohol

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Antisemitism

chalkletters's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I’ve had a daunting tome of a novel by China Miéville sitting on my literal to-be-read shelf for a number of years. The City & the City is not that book, though I read an ebook edition so can’t really comment on its thickness, intimidating or otherwise. Going in, I knew almost nothing about The City & The City or China Miéville, but another bookclub member had praised the introduction for helping elucidate what on earth is actually going on.

China Miéville’s fantasy concept is certainly unique. While there’s little to no actual magic involved to stop it, Beszél and Ul Qoma don’t feel like places that could exist in the real world. At the same time, The City & the City is a relatively straight-forward police procedural, with familiar detective characters and quibbles over jurisdiction.

Even after the introduction making things explicit right off the bat, The City & the City is a dense read. There’s no skipping merrily along, eating up entire chapters at one gulp. There’s a lot going on, multiple characters and factions to follow, strange rules and customs which have no equivalent in the real world. As a murder mystery, it never really feels like the reader is being invited to attempt to solve the crime. Indeed, it would be difficult for anyone not a native of Beszél or Ul Qoma to do so.

The satisfaction of the ending, then, doesn’t come from the revelation of the murderer. Instead, watching Taylor Borlú walk into a whole new life is bittersweet, but hopeful. China Miéville conveys the sense that this world will continue to live and breathe and grow, even after the reader has closed the book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation