The City & the City was perhaps not the best place for me to start with Miéville, though I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. Of all the possible sci-fi/fantasy sub-genres there are to explore, noir-style detective fiction was never going to be my thing. The problem is that I tend to prefer going into a book knowing as little as possible, and from everything I’d heard about Miéville I gathered that this approach would work particularly well for the types of stories he tells. I was correct, I believe, but unfortunately it means that I started with the wrong book. 

 

My inability to connect with the genre aside, I think this was a fascinating and intelligent book. I have to admit that when a book (maybe especially noir-style detective novels) features a dead young woman, I have this involuntary internal cringe. It’s such a thing, and not often handled well (to my standards), but I was pleasantly surprised by the way that the female victim was very much still a presence throughout the book and an agent in her own story. Even her dead body was treated with dignity and grief it deserved, rather than being used for some morbid titillation: 

 

 

I loved how unique the world that Miéville created was - the mental gymnastics required of the citizens of these cities were unsettling in the best way, and the implications of this kind of intense, learned othering are explored throughout the book without being explained in a heavy-handed way. And the language he created to describe the world? Incredible. Crosshatching?? Loved. The language, the history, the politics – I thought it was well thought-out, and thought-provoking in turn. 

 

 

Unfortunately, I think the writing occasionally let it down. The syntax was confusing at times, transitions were jumpy, and the dialogue kind of samey. Time will tell whether this is a problem I have with Miéville or a problem with this book specifically. I also think the plotting sometimes felt a little frenetic, like there was so much going on that it was difficult to understand the threads of the mystery myself. It’s possible it was a me thing, but while there were pieces of the puzzle that I was able to put together, I never felt like I was remotely close to a solution. There were too many twists and missing tidbits of knowledge or worldbuilding, so that when Borlú came to any sort of conclusion about what was going on I was unable to follow the thread of his logic. 
 
 

Ultimately, despite what might seem like a tepid review, I really enjoyed my time with The City & the City. It was immersive and peculiar, and I can’t believe I waited this long to pick up a Miéville.