Story: 5/5 
 1: Being Vague, rambling plot with no little believable storyline 
 5: Ripping yarn, clever, thought provoking 
 Trying to explain City in the City is going to be quite difficult. This is a fascinating concept for a story and one that you feel that you begin to understand as you read more and more. The basis on the story is that there are two cities, Beszel and Ul Qoma, they are pretty much one city divided into two. (Think old East/West Berlin) The people of these cities are very very different to each other, different dress, different ideologies, different cultures. There is a blurred line where one city ends and the other one starts, these areas are called cross hatched areas. They can include streets, parks even buildings. The whole story story is built around the people gorwing up in these cities not being able to see each other. Straight from birth you are taught to unsee and unhear somebody from the other city, which makes it very interesting in the cross hatch areas. If you were driving along the road and a citizen of your city was in the way, you could shout at them, if they were from the other city, you would unsee them and go around them. Seeing them, would cause you to breach and bring in a strange third element that lives between the two cities looking at for people breaching. 
 This is a detective story about a murder of a young american student that seems to have been murdered in Ul Qoma and dumped in Beszel. It sets up a fascinating story where witnesses who could have seen something cannot actually see anything if they are not sure they are witnessing something. Confused? Well, lets throw in a third city between the two, where no one can see because you're busy unseeing!! Yeah... thats a mind blower. 
 Characters: 3/5 
 1: Unrealistic/unbelievable. Feel nothing for these characters 
 5: Fully engaged with the characters, believable. Researched. 
 I rated the characters a 3 only. Pretty much there is only 3 characters in the story worth discussing. Borlu our main man, who I felt nothing for the entire story, his off sider Cowri, who at least had passion and Dhatt who is Borlu's opposite in Ul Qoma, who I actually thought was a excellent character. Without Dhatt I would have been really down on the character writing, but he makes for an excellent read. 
 Read Weight: Solid 
 Fluffy, Light, Solid, Heavy, Struggle 
 This is a solid read. I wish that I had read it without as many breaks as i did. I found it hard to pick up when I hadn't opened the book for a couple of weeks. Reading this over a shorter period of time probably would have meant an extra star. 
 Engagement: 3/5 
 1: Not fussed about finishing 
 5: Could stay up all night 
 Once i began to understand the city and the city I was hooked. The second half of the book when my comprehension of just how clever the story was meant I couldn't put the book down. 
 Recommend: 4/5 
 1: Would advise you to read something else 
 5: Go read it now. It is THAT good 
 I am definitely recommending this book. This is a much easy read that Perido Street Station and no where near as flowery in descriptions. It isn't really fantasy or scifi or a murder mystery. It should be in its own genre of "weird". 
 Great read. One that I am going to read again next year.