sambora's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good read that's been in my backlog for a while.
This review is going to go a little into the format of the plot but won't discuss the details or conclusion.
The concept of the two cities occupying the same space was metered out at a brilliant pace. The idea of these zones in which the cities merge and overlap is fantastic and the level of imagination behind the politics, the borders and "breach"; when someone illegally interacts with someone or something currently in the opposite city to them... well it's all great. I really enjoyed the setting, the world (city) building and the politics and factions of the said cities.
On the other hand however; the characters, most of whom were police or law enforcers of one type or another, were somewhat rigid and bland, without much development. The plot itself, although made somewhat fresh by the setting, is a boiler-plate murder mystery and it's almost completely linear with very little change of perspective. I know these things aren't inherently bad, but for me, with a setting such as this, a lot more could have been done with the story.
I don't know what other people compare this novel to, and I know others don't like comparisons at all, but the concept of fear and control, the city itself, the constant feeling of having to "unsee" things and being watch all the time just made me think of Orwell's '1984'.
Breach and the mysterious Thought Police are quite similar. The act of "breaching" and committing "thoughtcrimes" are treated with the same stigmatized fear and mysterious consequences.
Another comparison I would make, slightly more tenuously however, would be Richard Morgan's 'Altered Carbon'.
Obviously the era in which it takes place is very different (AC taking place in a future further away) but the plot, the mysterious death, the detective following a linear line of events and happenstance, forming allies with others from different detective/police backgrounds, coming against various underground factions or gangs throughout the city with their own agendas, be them personal or political. All of it just seemed to ring familiar to me.
I didn't much like the protagonist of Altered Carbon; Takeshi Kovacs (at least until I read the other two books of the series). The picture of him painted in the first book was that of as a sullen, action-man, anti-hero, f**king-machine with physical and sensory upgrades and a convoluted, dark and twisted past... But in The City & The City we get Inspector Borlú who is a pretty decent detective... And that's about it! We don't know anything about him or his history. We don't know anything of his family, childhood, how he came into his job or anything outside of it... Nothing. Which, to me, was a real shame.
Anyway, this has been my honest review. I gave it 3 stars, meaning I thought it was good and that I would be comfortable recommending it to those who enjoy the sheer imagination of a story's setting and world-building OR to those who enjoy crime novels and murder mysteries and don't mind them with a touch of science-fiction.
This review is going to go a little into the format of the plot but won't discuss the details or conclusion.
The concept of the two cities occupying the same space was metered out at a brilliant pace. The idea of these zones in which the cities merge and overlap is fantastic and the level of imagination behind the politics, the borders and "breach"; when someone illegally interacts with someone or something currently in the opposite city to them... well it's all great. I really enjoyed the setting, the world (city) building and the politics and factions of the said cities.
On the other hand however; the characters, most of whom were police or law enforcers of one type or another, were somewhat rigid and bland, without much development. The plot itself, although made somewhat fresh by the setting, is a boiler-plate murder mystery and it's almost completely linear with very little change of perspective. I know these things aren't inherently bad, but for me, with a setting such as this, a lot more could have been done with the story.
I don't know what other people compare this novel to, and I know others don't like comparisons at all, but the concept of fear and control, the city itself, the constant feeling of having to "unsee" things and being watch all the time just made me think of Orwell's '1984'.
Breach and the mysterious Thought Police are quite similar. The act of "breaching" and committing "thoughtcrimes" are treated with the same stigmatized fear and mysterious consequences.
Another comparison I would make, slightly more tenuously however, would be Richard Morgan's 'Altered Carbon'.
Obviously the era in which it takes place is very different (AC taking place in a future further away) but the plot, the mysterious death, the detective following a linear line of events and happenstance, forming allies with others from different detective/police backgrounds, coming against various underground factions or gangs throughout the city with their own agendas, be them personal or political. All of it just seemed to ring familiar to me.
I didn't much like the protagonist of Altered Carbon; Takeshi Kovacs (at least until I read the other two books of the series). The picture of him painted in the first book was that of as a sullen, action-man, anti-hero, f**king-machine with physical and sensory upgrades and a convoluted, dark and twisted past... But in The City & The City we get Inspector Borlú who is a pretty decent detective... And that's about it! We don't know anything about him or his history. We don't know anything of his family, childhood, how he came into his job or anything outside of it... Nothing. Which, to me, was a real shame.
Anyway, this has been my honest review. I gave it 3 stars, meaning I thought it was good and that I would be comfortable recommending it to those who enjoy the sheer imagination of a story's setting and world-building OR to those who enjoy crime novels and murder mysteries and don't mind them with a touch of science-fiction.
peterongcook's review against another edition
5.0
I'm a sucker for pulp fiction styled writing. I'm not convinced that you can really write something in the style of pulp fiction and not make it actual pulp fiction. The difference here is that this detective novel straddles a conceptually strange science fiction setting. It's still a well-written book about a girl, a murder, a committed detective, and things not being what they seem. It is a tight, well-paced novel with an anticipated and satisfying crescendo.
bradbam's review against another edition
4.0
Strange concept, difficult for me to envision; however, the narrative becomes more and more compelling the further one progresses. Good change of pace/genre for me.
skirophori's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.5
chloeliana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Wtf did I just read I need like 10 days to process this
convoi's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
leksikality's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
It's a really interesting concept to blend the genres together with but it's executed very poorly by someone totally unfamiliar with at least one of them.
Crime is a phenomenally difficult genre to pull off. There are the requisite tropes to navigate without being hackneyed, as well as balancing the right amount of mystery and infirmation throughout the narrative.
This did not do that. The seeing/unseeing concept turned out to be fairly disappointing - not so much a thing as a not-thing or an almost-thing - and after a certain point it seemed to be utterly superfluous. Explanations were thrown in haphazardly and not in a particularly meaningful way. For example, early on a witness hesitates to say "wolf" which in itself is okay, maybe weird but not the most essential part of the seen. 20 chapters later we find out why and it's just an arbitrary tourist tidbit if the cit/ies - not at all relevant.
The characters aren't very distibguishable - similar speech patterns, which could be passed off as cultural if everyone from both cities and elsewhere didn't share them. Of course, the narrator here also wasn't very good at separating out the characters.
From about the last third on, it felt like Mieville gave up on the story. Borlu just knew all these things suddenly that no one else did/could figure out, including the reader.
Giving this 2 stars is really generous, and mostly for the sake of the idea.
Crime is a phenomenally difficult genre to pull off. There are the requisite tropes to navigate without being hackneyed, as well as balancing the right amount of mystery and infirmation throughout the narrative.
This did not do that. The seeing/unseeing concept turned out to be fairly disappointing - not so much a thing as a not-thing or an almost-thing - and after a certain point it seemed to be utterly superfluous. Explanations were thrown in haphazardly and not in a particularly meaningful way. For example, early on a witness hesitates to say "wolf" which in itself is okay, maybe weird but not the most essential part of the seen. 20 chapters later we find out why and it's just an arbitrary tourist tidbit if the cit/ies - not at all relevant.
The characters aren't very distibguishable - similar speech patterns, which could be passed off as cultural if everyone from both cities and elsewhere didn't share them. Of course, the narrator here also wasn't very good at separating out the characters.
From about the last third on, it felt like Mieville gave up on the story. Borlu just knew all these things suddenly that no one else did/could figure out, including the reader.
Giving this 2 stars is really generous, and mostly for the sake of the idea.
lelcopter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
ophlie's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
kaitlinbagley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25