Mark J. (CrazyaboutFantasy) - reviewed on 3/23/2010 + 49 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

I like China Mieville, but I hated this book. I wanted to quit reading this book about at the half-way point. I wish I would have. Then, at least, I could have started reading something a little bit more interesting. That was the biggest problem I had with this book. It wasn't interesting; it was boring.
The only thing positive I can say about this book was that it's location was brilliant. Even that though was never completely fleshed out. How did these two cities come to share the same space. Why did everyone who lived in one city pretend (unsee) not to be able to see the people in the other city and used elaborate means to avoid each other. How many times have you accidentally bumped into someone else.
This is essentially a murder mystery. The characters were very 2 dimensional cliches. I was never really able to connect emotionally with any of the characters, and consequently, I couldn't remember the second tier characters when they came back into the story. It also was boring
It was something a China Mieville book has never been for me before. Dull and unremarkable. What a let-down.

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