The City & The City

By: China Mieville

Narrated by: John Lee

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author China Miéville delivers his most accomplished novel yet, an existential thriller set in a city unlike any other, real or imagined.

When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined.

Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel's equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma.

With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman's secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives.

What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.

Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & The City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 2010

©2009 China Mieville (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"Daring and disturbing...Miéville illuminates fundamental and unsettling questions about culture, governance and the shadowy differences that keep us apart." (Walter Mosley, author of Devil in a Blue Dress)

"Lots of books dabble in several genres but few manage to weld them together as seamlessly and as originally as The City and The City. In a tale set in a series of cities vertiginously layered in the same space, Miéville offers the detective novel re-envisioned through the prism of the fantastic. The result is a stunning piece of artistry that has both all the satisfactions of a good mystery and all the delight and wonder of the best fantasy.” (Brian Evenson, author of Last Days)

"Mr. Miéville's novels - seven so far - have been showered with prizes; three have won the Arthur C. Clarke award, given annually to the best science fiction novel published in Britain…. [H]e stands out from the crowd for the quality, mischievousness and erudition of his writing…. Among the many topics that bubble beneath the wild imagination at play are millennial anxiety, religious cults, the relationship between the citizen and the state and the role of fate and free will." (The New York Times)

Wow! Intelligent Story

The overlaying of City’s! Where, when and how? The mystery of a secret place that is right before us, but unseen.
Seeing is believing.

Loved my time in this world

Amazing book. The world created is a genuine escape. If you are looking for something that will take you away this is it. Not an easy light read. Full immersion

China at his best

He blends multiple genres of storytelling into one enthralling story. I’ve read it multiple times over the years.

My new favorite book

The twists and turns, and the in-between, and both sides. Crime story, but more.

Enthralling

Very well read by John Lee, this audiobook will not only keep you interested through brilliant suspense, but will also tickle your intellect with its fascinating forays into anthropology and the power of human beings to shape themselves to fit their environment -- even when they've made that environment themselves.

Way more fun than reading Foucault, but much more interesting than your average suspense novel.

It's so full of interesting words, however, I really wish I could see how they were spelled...

not for me

I'd listened to Perdido Street Station and absolutely loved it - what I liked about it were the broad variety of characters, how they developed and interacted, and also the characters, creatures and stories apart from the main plot that sketched out Mieville's fantastic world. In comparison to that, The City & The City is very minimalistic and plot driven, qualities I don't much enjoy. The two cities never really came alive for me, the way Bas Lag did. I'm sure it is a great listen for people who like detective novels, but it wasn't for me.

A mildly odd detective story and no more

The strange premise of the novel amounts to no more than a well-enforced bit of bureaucracy that complicates a murder investigation no more than any other murder across an international border.

Once you understand the bureaucracy, it’s just that. There’s no deeper exploration of nationhood or belief or a dozen other things that the book hints at; clearly knowing those ideas are there, but having nothing to say about them.

In the end, it’s a competent mystery novel, but no more.

Holt Shit this is Fascinating

This is a damned good story. Do yourself a favor and just get on it!

Amazing Premise, Great Writing, Great Narration

I am not a fan of mysteries, murders or detective novels unless they are unusual in some way and also are extremely well written. AHH! Here is one and it will rank in my top favorite books of all time. I think it's brilliant. I look forward to listening to it again.

I listened to audible, plus I had a copy of the book. I knew a little bit about the premise but it took me 6-7 chapters to more fully understand these two cities.

Just as an example, back when there was a wall between East and West Berlin, what if the two cities were layered on each other so that one street or building is in East and another nearby is in West. What if you could just "unsee" the people and those buildings, streets, ambulances etc that are in the other city? Perhaps you would need a passport to cross the border to visit your next door neighbor. What happens if you cross accidently or on purpose! Breach!!! What if a dead body is discovered that was killed in one city but was discovered in the other? What if you are a detective from one city and have no jurisdiction in the other city and it's difficult for you to go there much less work on your case.

How could anyone dream up this scenario, make it believable, and then knit together so many details to make an epic novel?

A unique setting

What an interesting novel. First person narrator/protagonist is a detective. But the setting is very strange, one learns about it slowly. Mieville does a good job sticking with and using that very unique and bizarre setting. Police procedural vs. sci-fi vs. fantasy? Who can say. Kept my interest very high, a page turner worthy of its several awards. Narrator has a great voice for the protagonist and carries off the entire cast and narration flawlessly. I will look at more by this author and this reader.