Apparently he has a book where there are two cities and they, like, overlap. That’s what I heard anyway, and if someone else had written it maybe that would matter.

I used to respect Jerry Holkins’ opinions when it came to book recommendations. I’ve added to my library substantially over the years according to his suggestions. I would never have started reading the “Kingkiller Chronicles” series if not for he and Mike gushing about “The Name of the Wind” on their site. But I was genuinely surprised by this revelation today.

“The City and the City” is easily my favorite novel of 2009, and still ranks in my top ten favorite novels of all time. Now, I’m not someone who regards China Mieville as a god, (I stopped halfway through “Kraken” because I got bored with the story) but I haven’t found a novel as beautifully constructed and told as “The City and the City”. I have never felt this supposed “smugness” that Jerry seems to feel when reading Mieville’s works, but I can’t help but think some portion of that is projected as opposed to interpreted.

I can understand someone saying they don’t like a work, or that a particular author isn’t appealing. Sure. Fine. I can absolutely accept that. The same goes for me regarding a great many novels and authors. But for Jerry to suggest that a certain novel is somehow irrelevant just because he refuses to wrap his mind around it takes a level of arrogance that I simply cannot fathom.

tl;dr - No one gets to crap on “The City and the City”. Not even Tycho.

(via Penny Arcade)

The book is a Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler-inspired murder mystery set in Heaven. Imagine central casting for a 1930s detective novel juxtaposed with all the strange and terrifying members of the heavenly choir: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Virtues, Seraphim, Cherubim… Swell dames and femmes fatales, dirty priests and the Voice of God.