The City & The City
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The City & The City Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

China Mieville (Author), John Lee (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 4,569 ratings
Editors' pick Best Science Fiction & Fantasy
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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
Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    10 hours and 16 minutes
  2. Author
    China Mieville
  3. Narrator
    John Lee
  4. Audible release date
    May 26, 2009
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B002BBXBPM
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 10 hours and 16 minutes
Author China Mieville
Narrator John Lee
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date May 26, 2009
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B002BBXBPM
Best Sellers Rank #11,738 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#256 in Classic Literature
#1,054 in Classic Literature & Fiction
#1,815 in Fantasy (Audible Books & Originals)

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Top reviews from the United States

Deepak Khajuria
5.0 out of 5 stars Genius Book
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2024
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Absolutely stellar novel with an intensely intelligent plot that confused me quite a bit. An amazing read, it conveyed so much exciting storyline in only 300 pages. The last set of chapters (Breach) are extremely exciting, and while it seemed early on to go nowhere, it picked up quickly and engagingly. Even if you aren't into this genre, read this book. It exists within multiple genres and moreover is an excellent philosophical read.
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Alias
4.0 out of 5 stars The City and the City
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2011
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The City and the City is an interesting book for the speculative fiction genre. It places a traditional murder mystery in a very complicated and nuanced background. This book has a double thrill of figuring out who the killer is and what would it be like to live in this interesting setting. The author, China Miéville, does not hold your hand as he walks you through this new world but hits you right on the first page and quickly immerses you in both this new and exciting world and the murder mystery plot of a young girl. Because the mystery is the best part of this book I will try to keep references to specifics in the book short and talk more about some of the themes of speculative fiction that this book grows out of, as well as some of the important over all themes that the book presents itself.
The City and the City does a good job of immersing us in the details of a new place. Since the onset of globalization, readers have been unimpressed when references to different places are vague and general. Readers like to have something concrete and nuanced, something that is different. The book takes place in two cities Beszel and Ul Qoma, they have a strange and interesting past and share any even stranger border and relationship. The back-story and depth that these imaginary cities have is a very important part of the story. The reader's yearning for uniqueness and specificity is fulfilled by this beautiful and interesting setting.
Miévile also continues in the line of speculative fiction in that he leaves some things unexplained and allows the reader to figure things out by themselves. There are several details that even at the end are left not completely resolved. Nothing kills imagination and speculation like too complete of an explanation. The explanation does not always come as soon as the reader would like it with several important concepts used but not really defined or fleshed out until later. This makes the world and story all the more interesting and keeps you reading till the end to figure out how all of the pieces work together.
The City and the City uses a couple of foreign language terms and terms that are specific to the book. This trend of using foreign language skills is similar to the use of foreign language terms by Paolo Bacigalupi in The Windup Girl. In both cases the terms are not directly defined and the reader is forced to learn what the words mean through their context and use. This makes the reading difficult at the beginning but much more rewarding by the end. The words are able to mean exactly what the author intends.
The biggest and most important theme that I think the book pursues is the theme that is at the heart of speculative fiction; extrapolating current trends in social problems and seeing where those trends lead us down the road. This theme changes the purpose of speculative fiction from a form of escapism and fantasy to a kind of moral proclamation that challenges us to think critically about what kind of world we would like to live in, in the future. One of these more moral issues that I think is explored in this book is the idea of a positive versus a negative peace between two different countries.
Again I will not mention specifics because I think that would rob the reader of the wonderful experience of going through and figuring this book out on their own. I will however say that after finishing the book I was left with the feeling that reconciliation and mutual interaction and communication is necessary for countries to really get a long together. There is more to peace than simply living next to each other and not fighting. Peace means that there are not bad feelings from past grievances and that there is a plan to work together in the future and plans to engage with one another in discussions and discourse.
The book reminds me a lot about the current problems between Israel and Palestine. They are fighting over claims to the same land and it seems impossible that they could both be happy. Maybe it could be possible that they could both have access to Jerusalem but the city could be cut up in such a way that Palestinians never had to see Israelis and the Israelis never had to see any Palestinians. Although this would be a very complicated and elaborate process and would be a great improvement from the current situation it seems like this would still not be a place where true peace existed. Imagine them living right next to each other but having no feelings of compassion or empathy for the other. Every time an Israeli sees a Palestinian they quickly turn a way as if the Palestinian didn't exist. This does not seem like a flourishing way to live a life.
Perhaps the author did not intend the allegory that I have portrayed but it seemed like a very strong one that stood out in the book. I am not saying that the cultural heritage of both Palestine and Israel should not be protected but I think there needs to be a chance for them to work together in the future. Maybe I am just an idealist and there is no place for that in the world of international politics. But I do think that one of the important roles of speculative fiction is to project an image that allows us to evaluate it and see if it is an ideal worth striving for. Another way that speculative fiction can work is portray an image that we think should be a goal but show several key ways in which it is lacking. These areas in which it is lacking can positively guide us in the future.
I think The City and the City is a very interesting book and provides a new take on speculative fiction by taking on the plot structure of a traditional murder mystery. The mystery of the setting is almost as interesting as the murder itself and may provide an interesting perspective on what it means for countries to be at peace with one another.
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G
5.0 out of 5 stars It can't be un-read
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2013
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If you haven't read The City & The City, just stop reading this and go read it. It is really hard to discuss the book without spoiling anything since even major concepts are only gradually revealed to the reader, so be warned I'm going to drop a bunch of spoilers.

Miéville's cities of Beszél (which incidentally means 'to speak' in Hungarian) and UI Quoma are fantastically created. They are reminiscent of East and West Berlin, but instead of a high concrete walls and guard towers, the walls between Miéville's two city-countries are seemingly purely psychological, built on a deep and pervasive fear of 'Breach'. Citizens of both cities learn to 'unsee', 'unsmell', and 'unhear' everything about the other city: it's traffic, people, buildings, and more.

The idea of two countries being in the same place but separated in the minds of their citizens is a barrier for the reader's suspension of disbelief, but it's a problem that is skillfully attacked by Miéville. He describes a number of challenges the two cities need to deal with such as 'foreign' traffic and emergency vehicles, traffic accidents involving 'foreign' vehicles, children who are inexperienced at 'unseeing', tourists, immigration, trade, and differing economic status of the two countries. His description of UI Qomatown in Beszél is a good example of how much thought he has put into this world:

"The scents of Beszél UI Qomatown are a confusion. The instinct is to unsmell them, to think of them as drift across the boundaries as disrespectful as rain ("Rain and woodsmoke live in both cities," the proverb has it.)...Very occasionally a young UI Qoman who does not know the area of their city that UI Qomatown crosshatches will blunder up to ask directions of an ethnically UI Qoman Beszél-dweller, thinking them his or her compatriots. The mistake is quickly detected - there is nothing like being ostentatiously unseen to alarm - and Breach are normally merciful."

To explore the interactions between the two co-located countries, Miéville uses a murder investigation that necessitates international cooperation between Beszél's Inspector Tyador Borlú and UI Qoma's Senior Detective Quissim Dhatt. We only really get to know the main protagonist Borlú, other characters remain quite undeveloped, and the dialogue is fairly sparse and intense.

As noir crime fiction I felt it was fairly weak, and the very neat resolution to the whodunnit has prompted criticism from some readers, but they miss the point. The crime and its investigation was really an excuse to have some, otherwise very rare, international collaboration between the two cities. I was interested in the murder but I was fascinated by the larger questions it inspired: Who/what/where is 'Breach'? Was 'The Cleavage', when the two cities were created, a joining or a splitting (cleave can imply either)? Is the mental barrier between the cities purely psychological, or is there an element of magic/fantasy/sci-fi i.e. is there a biological or technological reason why the citizens of the cities can 'unsee' their foreign counterparts? Is Orciny real, a synonym for Breach, or something else entirely?

Of these questions we only really get some resolution about Breach and Orciny. Breach is invisible, pervasive, extremely secretive and seems to possess limitless power when there is a 'breach': a failure to observe the city boundaries, which could be as simple as looking directly at a building in the other country.

"I had seen Breach before, in a brief moment. Who hadn't? I had seen it take control. The great majority of breaches are acute and immediate. Breach intervenes...Trust to Breach, we grow up hearing, unsee and don't mention the UI Qoman pickpockets or muggers at work even if you notice, which you shouldn't, from where you stand in Beszél, because breach is a worse transgression than theirs."

After all of his experiences of travelling to UI Qoma and entering Breach I expected Borlú to question whether keeping the split between the cities was actually a good idea, whether Breach was morally in the right or just a brutal enforcement of a ridiculous and pointless segregation, or even just to voice some self doubt about becoming part of that enforcement. But he never does. I'm still not sure how I feel about that: to some extent it seems in keeping with his character, he shows no sympathy for the unificationists, and perhaps there is even some fantasy/sci-fi explanation (government brain modifications?) for this deficiency, but it is at odds with his willingness to break the rules to protect Yolanda Rodriguez.

Nonetheless, an intriguing concept well executed.

4.5 stars.

Read more of my reviews at g-readinglist.blogspot.com
11 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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przemoart
3.0 out of 5 stars The printing editorials didn't do their homework
Reviewed in Poland on January 5, 2024
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No book in Poland would be allowed with such bad margins etc.
Still the book is what it is. That's way 3 stars
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Iratxe
4.0 out of 5 stars Original
Reviewed in Spain on August 20, 2019
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Una vuelta de tuerca a las novelas policíacas, con el toque "Mieville", que asegura un escenario imaginativo y originalidad como pocos y una narrativa espectacular.
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Smiti Kumar
5.0 out of 5 stars Science fiction, mystery
Reviewed in India on June 3, 2019
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It is a good read for science fiction, crime thriller fans. The imagination doesn't disappoint and the pace doesn't slack. Enjoyed it!
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Jean-Marc H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Un cadre incroyablement original !
Reviewed in France on November 25, 2018
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J'ai du mal avec les thrillers mais sur celuic-ci, le scénario est incroyablement original ! Je n'ai pas autant accroché mais je donne 5 étoiles pour l'originalité

Je conseille, au moins pour découvrir l'idée de l'auteur des x villes encastrées.
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Ed Stuyfbergen
5.0 out of 5 stars Weird at its best
Reviewed in Australia on February 10, 2021
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Interesting take. Great concept and faultlessly handled. Without wanting to give to much away, I'd say while the police procedural bit was good, the setting made this something special. Believable take on a unique idea.
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