On the City and the City

This is a genuinely incredible mystery and thriller that isn’t really about its surface subject. Miéville does an outstanding job with liminality, and his world-building is top-notch — if I could ever write something as well crafted as this, I’d be satisfied in life. That said, the resolution of the “mystery” left a lot to be desired; I’d even call it ham-fisted, the way Miéville seems to vent his grievances against New Labour and the post-Cold War order, though that may just be my own reading. But the solution isn’t the point, and his writing is utterly beautiful.