Interesting novel

The City and the City is a kind of detective novel set in an alternative world. It revolves around the murder of an unknown woman. She was found in Beszel, a city that is separate but also kind of in the same place as Ul Qoma. The two cities are in separate countries, each with its own customs, currencies, architecture, styles of dress, and languages. Nationalism and the suppression of minority groups are present in both cities. ‘Unseeing’ the other city is a significant aspect of the book, which can be linked to the ‘unseeing’ we do in our cities, such as overlooking homeless people or minority groups, or structural inequality. The world-building is excellent and you get immersed in the language and new words. As a reader, you get new information bit by bit and the storyline is well-constructed. The book made me think of 1984 by George Orwell.