I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not a huge China Mieville fan. I’ve tried to read numerous books of his, but have never finished. But since it looked so good and I’m a sucker for a science fiction detective story, I decided to give The City & The City another chance. I’m glad I tried it again since I finished it this time, and, while I liked it, I’m still not a huge Mieville fan. I thought it was good, but not great. So, let’s see what’s up with the dueling cities.

The setting is the biggest part of this novel. There are two cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma. They are physically in the same space, but separated by nothing but the citizen’s belief that there is two cities. On top of that is the Breach. If a citizen crosses between cities without going through the proper crossing, then the Breach comes and takes care of them. The Breach are basically a super powerful enforcement agency that knows and sees all. They have power over both cities to use at their discretion.

The basic mystery here is the murder of an Ul Qoma citizen. She is found in Beszel and her case is assigned to Inspector Tyador Borlu. After a cursory investigation, he determines that she wasn’t in Beszel, so the dumping of her body must have been Breach. But a video shows up that proves the van which dumped her body came across the cities legally. Borlu must then go into Ul Qoma and work with his counterpart, Inspector Qussim Dhatt. The victim had a previous reputation for believing in a mythological city that was prior to both Beszel and Ul Qoma and that could have been the reason for her death. But she was also involved in the unification groups (people who want to combine the two cities into one) and they might be responsible also.

The mystery was good but not great and the setting was interesting. Borlu was really the only character that was fully developed and it seemed like most of the other characters were just there to help or hinder Borlu in his investigation. The rules of the interactions of the city are not spelled out for the reader, they can only be discovered by reading along as the different characters show the interactions. The Breach are brought in as a big scary group until the end where there is some level of explanation (with a lot still left unsaid). Overall it was a decent story that I enjoyed reading. It didn’t strike me as a great book like I’ve heard others refer to it. Mieville does a good job in writing the story. It’s not easy to write a story where the user has to discover the ground rules without the author telling them, but he does pull it off. Recommended.