A review by pc953
The City & the City by China Miéville

3.0

I really wanted to adore this book. I have been curious by Mieville for years now and thought this would be a good entry point into his works. From what I gather about the interviews at the end of the book The City & the City has a very different writing style and voice then his other works, that's promising for the rest of his catalogue.

This is a hardboiled detective story like the classics of chandler. It's main premise of taking place in two overlapping cities is fascinating. The concept of Breach and Oriciny is mysterious, riveting, and very cool. But it all kind of falls flat. The conclusion is a drawn out exposition, tidied up by narrative and not action. The main antongists have there reasons sure, but they don't seem to bear out in the fiction of the story only in the explanation of our main detective.

And despite my issues with the narrative I just found the voice and writing style really difficult to get through. Short statements and yet convoluted. I had to navigate the language used to navigate the story. And neither was really worth the effort.

That all being said it was a fascinating world and I really want to dive into more of his works, but sadly now with a little bit less excitement.