Here is the synopsis from the dust jacket itself:
"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."
It took me about 14 chapters in to get interested in this book. Even though I wanted to walk away in the beginning I was determined to finish. The story was good but it was very confusing at first and quite slow as well. There was a lot of set up on how the two cities function and the differences between them. However by the end the story got good, there is obviously a murder and I can honestly say "whodunit" remained a mystery until the end. I thought that was nice. I hate when you figure out who the murderer is seemly right away and spend the rest of the story waiting for the characters to catch up with you, that is a very hard story line to pull off well.
So I can't really say I recommend The City & The City but I might be open to checking out something else from the works of China Miéville.
Quote:
“Books are always obviously having conversations with other books, and some times they're amiable and sometimes not.”
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