When I stumbled upon a copy of The City and the City at Barnes and Noble on Saturday afternoon, I knew my weekend was doomed. Ever since Perdido Street Station, and despite the disappointment of The Iron Council, Miéville is still possibly the most exciting author working today for me.
This book is not a New Cobrazon book. It is not outright fantasy in any way, actually. But it’s still fantastic in a more simple sense of the word. The story is essentially a police procedural, but one set in the kind of city that is distinctly Miévillian.
If there is a common theme among Miéville’s work, I would say that it is “the city as character.” Because even here, the city takes the forefront. Bas Lag, also, in most of that series. China has a preternatural sense for cities, and for what makes them tick. As someone who has never lived in an urban center with more than 100,000 people, I find it utterly fascinating. It’s as exotic as the Far East to me.
The cities of Bezel and Ul Quoma are utterly unique, at least to my experience. I won’t even say another thing about them, because learning about them as I did, with little preconcieved notions, was a great way of experiencing the book. Trust that things are not all that they seem in the opening pages. This is no bog standard police procedural (and that it would been fine if it was). This is something more, distinctly from the author who gave us one of the best cities in fantastic literature.
Am I disappointed that this wasn’t another book set in his wilder, more fantastical universe? Before reading it, yes, I was. Now that I have read the book, no, not even a little bit. This new place will have much more mainstream appeal, and anything that sells more books for Miéville makes it that much more likely we’ll get more fantasy novels–at least I hope so. Miéville clearly has break-out potential with the mainstream, and if I have a fear, it’s that the money will be so much better, he would be a fool not to go down the less fantastic road and to its broader audiences. Everything I have read about China indicates that he would never abandon science fiction and fantasy entirely. So I have to go on faith that he won’t.
But even if he pulls a Lethem, I’ll follow him wherever he goes. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Tags: fantasy, mieville, Novel, police procedural
