Comment

Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Fraser Valley Regional Library.
Feb 23, 2019Pat_Kelly rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Take two cities in Middle-Europe that exist side by side and even share streets and areas. Make them adversaries and competitiors. Compel them, upon dire consequences, to avoid intereacting, acknowledging, or even seeing each other. Introduce a crime that straddles both cities and a supranational shadow organization charged with enforcing the separation. You get a story that spends a lot of time explaining how people act and behave in this City within a City. Along the way the main character, an intuitive detective, must solve the murder while adhering to all the cockamamie rules and groups of players. It is a brilliant concept and Mieville manages to keep all the balls in the air most of the time. What is less brilliant are the voices of the characters -- they all too often "speak" like a twenty-something no matter their age or background. None are developed to the point where you can really engage with them and the story. Read for the intellectual challenge of the world Mieville crates which helps overlook the shortcomings of the writing and character realization.