China Miéville

Nothing I write here is going to prepare you for your visit to the city, or the city. It’s enough to know that two cities exist, that they co-exist, but that they never intrude upon each other, even in the cross-hatched space that they ostensibly share. They don’t intrude or protrude because the citizens of each are circumspect, they unsee and unhear all protuberances from the city which they are not themselves in. They do it instinctually after years of practice. They also do it because show more it’s the law. Not the law of the city, or of the city. But rather the law of Breach. To see the other city, to go there without a visa and through the normal bureaucratic channels (and training), to interact with those others illicitly is breach. When you breach, Breach comes for you, silently, irrevocably, and you are never going to be seen by anyone in either city again. So when a murder appears to have been committed in one city and then that body is deposited in the other city, it looks, on the surface, like a clear case of breach. But what detective Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad will shortly discover is that in this case almost nothing is what it appears to be, whether seen or unseen.

This is an astounding feat of careful craftsmanship from China Miéville. I dread to think what pains he must have taken not to get lost in the labyrinthine circumlocutions needed to describe his characters’ actions, thoughts, and the cities themselves. Honestly, it makes the book a real struggle to read at first, but eventually, and then increasingly, you simply sit back in awe at what he is doing. I am not easily impressed. Here I was entirely impressed.

There’s not much more to say. Go and give this book a try. But be patient with it. Don’t give up. It will eventually make sense even if your head hurts at the end of it all.

Certainly recommended. show less

This book hit a little harder during this second time around. I think the first time I was dazzled by the weirdness of it and relished those aspects. This time around I am in awe of the deep characters and the layers in the story. Some parts fly by, other parts drag a little bit, but the world is so alive - it seems in spite of its surroundings and circumstances - that I was always interested in what was on the page. I feel like this book is just brimming full of ideas that China thought show more were cool. Yeah, why not throw the mantis-clawed guy in at the end. How about AI? How about a race of beetle-headed creatures who are refugees? Oh, and what if there are whole groups of people who receive horrible body-modifications as a form of punishment? Yeah, throw that in there. But what if people chose to alter themselves in weird ways? Sure why not. Also, Hell is real. And there's a giant inter-dimensional spider. Hmm, what else? How about cherubs, but instead of angelic, they are quasi-human and shit everywhere? Yeah, I guess so. And that's not even getting into the main plots of this book, most of those things are incidental. So many ideas and concepts in here. I feel like nowadays, this book would be edited way down, and it would lose a large part of the magic of it. I love these sprawling books because they feel alive; its not just whittled down to the necessary components for a fast moving plot. And that's not to say that the plot doesn't move fast, because after a certain point it just flies by. I did not want to stop reading it, and that, to me, is a sign of a great book. show less

I share some feelings with other reviewers: the characters (even -- or especially -- the narrator) are quick sketches and the story is really an old-fashioned police procedural.

But the setting ...! The setting, or more specifically how Mieville introduces, unfolds and presents it is a 100% breathtaking tour-de-force, and I am humbled by it. At first, I wasn't quite sure how the division between the cities 'worked', but I think that's intentional. Once I had fully embraced it I was stunned show more by its audacity, and its political aspects.

In the end I felt as I have with many of the novels of Richard Powers: huge intellectual thrill, but ultimately a rather cold affect. If I had felt deeply for the characters it might have been unbearable (as Perdido Street Station was at a few points). Do read this. show less

When I read a book like this I always ask myself "How have I never heard of this author before?" China Mieville is an explosive voice; funny, original, grim - basically right up my alley. The plot of this novel doesn't pull any punches. Billy is the curator of the giant squid exhibit at the Nation History Museum. When the giant, pickled main attraction impossibly disappears Billy finds himself sucked into a maelstrom of fantastical and terrifying crimes. Threatened by strangers and kidnapped show more by a bizarre squid cult, Billy learns that he might be the only one who can stop the fast approaching "ends" of the world.

This fascinating theological thriller will keep you guessing right up until the very end. show less