MADreads

Unseeing is believing

July 13th, 2009 Kylee

I had very high expectations for China Mieville’s sci-fi crime novel The City & the City, and while it was a good, well written story, I just didn’t love it the way I hoped I would. The story’s setting was my favorite part: the cities that the book is named for, Beszel and Ul Qoma, are located in Eastern Europe on the exact same spot on the map.  Due to some unexplained political events, the two cities have come to exist in the same area.  Though geographically next to each other, the citizens of each city must obey strict laws regarding their own city’s borders, to the point that they must “unsee” those who reside in the other city but are located within eyesight.  A mysterious entity known as Breach watches over both cities to ensure that anyone who violates the border in any way is swiftly punished.

Inspector Tyador Borlu of Beszel is the unlucky official assigned to investigate a complicated situation: an American studying in Ul Qoma is found murdered in Beszel.  The case leads him to Ul Qoma to collaborate with their police force, and while investigating the murder, Borlu becomes involved in a web of intrigue that links both cities and beyond.

The cities Mieville has created in this novel are fascinating, but unfortunately, I found his characters dull in comparison.  Mieville blends his expert science fiction writing with the conventions of a detective novel, which unfortunately includes the shallow characterizations and cliched dialogue that can crop up in some mediocre examples of the genre.  The author also provides little in the way of a history of the cities, which I found frustrating.  I couldn’t understand why the two cities existed simultaneously, considering the fact that they were in the same space.  Some of the oddities this arrangement creates are explained, such as intense training programs for any foreign visitors, who must learn to unsee the other city, and factions of rebellious “unificationinst” causing trouble, but I never found a satisfactory explanation of why these people can’t just live together anywhere in the book.  I think I’m probably supposed to simply accept the situation, but I just couldn’t stop myself from finding it ridiculous, which probably kept me from enjoying the whole novel.  That said, the book still kept me turning the pages, which I think has more to do with Mieville’s writing than anything else.  I’m eager to check out more of his work, since it seems that The City & the City is a departure from his usual style.  I think I’ll start with Un Lun Dun, which takes place in an alternate London and has been compared to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

Entry Filed under: Science Fiction