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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.
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
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation