The City & The City - China Mieville

In "The City & The City", Mieville has created a fantastic story set in our own time within a pair of fictional European cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma. The cities are each sovereign nations with their own laws, customs and languages; however, they physically exist within the same space. The denizens of each city learn from birth to "unsee" the people, buildings, cars and anything else that are not a part of their own nation.

The plot of the story, to me, is there only as a vehicle to carry this incredible concept. A woman is murdered in Ul Qoma and found in Beszel where Tyador Borlu of Beszel's Extreme Crime Squad is assigned to the case. While solving the convoluted mystery the realities of living in the "city and the city" are revealed.

China Mieville has fast become one of my favorite authors.  His writing is described as "science fantasy" and "abstract"; however, I find the worlds he creates fascinating.  Each book has its own rhythm, it's characters their own language that set them apart from anything else I have read.