Dark Matter eLiquid
Enjoy the wonderful flavor of our latest VapeSafe eLiquid - Dark Matter.
Dark Matter tastes like German chocolate cake. For those of you who have not had the fortunate to try a piece German chocolate cake recently, this is a great way to experience the flavor without getting any of the calories. German chocolate cake is a layered cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. Traditionally sweet baking chocolate is used for the chocolate flavor in the actual cake. The robust filling and topping is a caramel made with egg yolks and evaporated milk. Once the caramel is cooked, coconut and pecans are stirred into the mixture. Finally, rich chocolate frosting is spread around the sides of the cake to hold in the filling.
Dark Matter eLiquid by VapeSafe captures the essence of German chocolate cake. Dark Matter eLiquid delivers plumes of vapor and rich chocolatey flavor that you'll want to enjoy again and again. Try Dark Matter today!
Technology Information:
The City & The City (Random House Reader's Circle)
Product Type: Book
Product Price: $15.00
Manufacturer: Del Rey
Purchase
Description
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE SEATTLE TIMES, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.
Amazon
Reviews
Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2010-08-17
Summary: "A book where the cities are the only characters."
The premise for this book is, while not exciting, sufficient and ready for a rich tale - two cities/countries that jut and mix together while maintaining separate borders and the possibility of a third city somewhere between them. A murder happens, it needs to be solved.
This would have been fine as a short story or novella, however, page after page describing the way the cities crosshatch one another and how the boarders are maintained gets old.
There really were no characters, or at least not interesting ones. I didn't care about the murder victim at all. The novel is written in first person POV of the detective solving the case and yet his inner-dialogue is not remotely rich, belies hardly ANY personality and thus draws only a characeture instead of a person. For awhile, I figured that perhaps action would be the main draw, but 150 pages and not much occurs except routine investigation. I just don't understand WHAT is supposed to be pulling us through.
Unfortunately, this novel was my introduction to Mieville, though I will continue on to KRAKEN and hope for something better.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-07
Summary: "Hard to describe, easy to love"
It's incredibly hard to describe this book without giving away too many details about its most amazing feature: the dizzying concept of Beszel and Ul Qoma , the two cities that share the same territory but are blind to each other. It's an idea that's somehow completely bizarre and strangely plausible at the same time. I've never read anything like it. Because the cities are obviously situated on the Eastern edge of Europe and in the present day, it becomes hard to categorize this book --- rather than fantasy or alternate history, it's closer to "alternate present".
When an unidentified woman's body is found dumped near a skate park, the Beszel detective Tyador Borlu is called in to investigate. While Borlu investigates the crime and comes into contact with a number of the cities' various factions, the reader slowly gets a solid picture of life in the two cities. Except for the setting (and that's a big "except"), the plot and style of the book are largely similar to a noir detective/police procedural. Crime scene investigations, interviewing witnesses, strongarming informers, the detective pondering his case while drinking alone at night.
If you've read other books by Mieville, you'll know that he is a master at describing urban environments and making fictional cities a tangible reality for his readers. He doesn't disappoint in this book. By the time you're done, you'll feel like you lived in the simultaneously recognizable and alien cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma.
This is one of those books that gradually moves from weird, to weirder, to all-out blow-your-mind what-is-going-ON. I've tried to describe the book to people who read lots of science fiction and fantasy, and to people who never read the genres, and from both I've received blank, uncomprehending looks. This may be due to my enthustiastic but rambling descriptions, but still... This book is really odd. It's also really good, and something I'll recommend to many people - but maybe just with a "Here, read this" rather than an attempt to describe it. Five stars.
Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2010-07-19
Summary: "This book is unreadable - I tried twice!"
I found this book absolutely unreadable. It's very rare for me not to finish a book, and I've been reading all sorts of sci-fi and fantasy for years. But I really didn't like this one. The style is unimpressive and the story is trivial.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-13
Summary: "Succeeds where artsier treatments fail"
China Mieville always impresses me with his gift for finding the right balance between subtlety and the bizarre. Stylistically, this is as good work as he's ever done -- more subdued than usual, but nevertheless powerful in the way that, say, Sergeant's watercolor can outstrip his oils. The existential conceit of the story (well-spoiled by other reviews) is handled with a deft touch that will leave some unsatisfied; I suspect they have less faith than I (and, I think, Mieville) in the ability of humans to self-delude. The book can be seen as a metaphor for many things, but like all the best exemplars of both detective fiction and fantasy, its real power is in the way it invites us to take it seriously as a story. To that end, Mieville holds up his end of the narrative bargain exceedingly well: once you get past the fact of the conceit, the story still holds up and the conceit ends up having a lot to tell us. Furthermore, Tyador Borlu and Lizbyet Corwin are as as well-drawn as the best modern-traditional British DCI-Constable teams, and better than most I've seen.
By way of standard disclaimer, you probably won't like this book if: you find it deal-breakingly implausible that people could live side by side for a lifetime and never acknowledge one another's existence; you're offended by the juxtaposition of words from disparate and "culturally incompatible" languages; you read Orientalism in every attempt to world-build a mongrel culture by combining cultural details; you are from the Balkans and get a chip on your shoulder when reviewers invoke the Balkans as sloppy reviewer's shorthand (though you might still give it a shot, Mieville himself never does this).
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-10
Summary: "Can't wait to read the rest of his books!!"
When I finished this book I realized that I had loved it. It was strange at first, alittle work to wrap my head around it. But when the final page was done,
I REALLY MISSED IT ALL!! I felt like I had been secreted into another universe and finally it was jelling around me like I was a piece of fruit in jello!!
and it was over!!! This book needs a sequel, Breech is awesome. Wow what a unique concept, I love stuff like this, I feel like part of my brain that wasn't used before got clicked on.......and now it's buzzing!!