As of now, this book is reminding a lot of the slow start of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've found the first fifty pages very dense and hard to get into. It is a bit of a sensory overload, being thrown into this world with absolutely no background information. I feel like I'm just reading blindly, trying to find something concrete to hold onto to pull me into the world that Miéville has created. However, it is extremely difficult. His blending of this fictional world of Beszel with little inserts about the real world, like his mentions of Turkey, are especially challenging. I'm having a hard time distinguishing the fantasy from the reality. I am also not at all invested in the characters right now. I think this is partially to do with their unfamiliar names, but also to do with the complete lack of personal or background information
However, I do find the book intriguing. The constant, ambiguous mentions that Miéville makes of the divide between the two cities, Beszel and Ul Qoman are interesting, especially because it seems that the cites are practically intertwined yet the inhabitants cannot acknowledge the other's existence. Borlú's comments about accidently seeing or noticing people who I'm assuming are from Ul Qoma and this being practically taboo is very intriguing. I'm looking forward to reading more of the book but hoping that my confusion will be resolved.
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