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tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘Right before bad stuff happens, there’s always a little warning, you just have to pay attention.’
Grace (aged 15) and Tally (aged 13) are sisters, living on the outskirts of society, dragged from one remote place to another by their father Max as he relocates his drug lab. But when the house blows up, with Max inside, the girls are separated. Grace thinks that Tally was inside so, thinking herself alone, she hitchhikes to the city. Travelling to the city was once a shared dream: the girls thought life would be better there. Tally travels to the city as well, in search of Grace. But the city is not the welcoming refuge the girls thought it would be.
In this near future dystopian world, one needs documentation to live in the city. Without documentation, Grace and Tally are restricted to a marginal and dangerous existence. Without documentation, they do not exist. Without documentation they are vulnerable. Everything has a price; everyone is under surveillance. Grace is focussed on survival, and finds some people willing to help her. Tally is trying to find Grace.
‘Being secret didn’t make a place safe.’
Behind the scenes in this city, a man known as Milk, can manipulate mood using light, scent and sound. Milk prefers to work behind black glass, to maintain his anonymity while working his magic to increase casino profits. Business and government are also interested in Milk’s skills: surveillance and manipulation are valuable tools. And there’s an investigative journalist named Damon who is after a big story.
So, where does it end? What kind of society have we entered, where a city is divided into zones, and undocumented people are ‘rounded up’? Will Tally and Grace ever find each other?
I found this novel unsettling. Some elements of this dystopian future are recognisable, other elements all too believable. The novel is narrated in a report format which heightens the effect of all-pervasive surveillance.
I finished the novel, and looked over my shoulder.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Grace (aged 15) and Tally (aged 13) are sisters, living on the outskirts of society, dragged from one remote place to another by their father Max as he relocates his drug lab. But when the house blows up, with Max inside, the girls are separated. Grace thinks that Tally was inside so, thinking herself alone, she hitchhikes to the city. Travelling to the city was once a shared dream: the girls thought life would be better there. Tally travels to the city as well, in search of Grace. But the city is not the welcoming refuge the girls thought it would be.
In this near future dystopian world, one needs documentation to live in the city. Without documentation, Grace and Tally are restricted to a marginal and dangerous existence. Without documentation, they do not exist. Without documentation they are vulnerable. Everything has a price; everyone is under surveillance. Grace is focussed on survival, and finds some people willing to help her. Tally is trying to find Grace.
‘Being secret didn’t make a place safe.’
Behind the scenes in this city, a man known as Milk, can manipulate mood using light, scent and sound. Milk prefers to work behind black glass, to maintain his anonymity while working his magic to increase casino profits. Business and government are also interested in Milk’s skills: surveillance and manipulation are valuable tools. And there’s an investigative journalist named Damon who is after a big story.
So, where does it end? What kind of society have we entered, where a city is divided into zones, and undocumented people are ‘rounded up’? Will Tally and Grace ever find each other?
I found this novel unsettling. Some elements of this dystopian future are recognisable, other elements all too believable. The novel is narrated in a report format which heightens the effect of all-pervasive surveillance.
I finished the novel, and looked over my shoulder.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
megblackmore's review
dark
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
nikkijazzie's review against another edition
4.0
I loved Meg Mundell's writing it was "broody and surreal" as one reviewer put it, I thought this book was great although I felt as though you never really got the full picture, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I will definitely be looking out for her next novel.
tsana's review
5.0
Black Glass, debut novel by Meg Mundell, caught my eye because it was shortlisted for Aurealis Awards in both the SF and YA categories. (And being written by a woman, hence counting towards my SF Aussie Women Writers Challenge also helped.)
The narrative style and presentation of the story and characters is exactly the sort I usually dislike. The scenes, as well as presenting the two most central characters in a reasonably conventional narrative, alternate scenic mood scenes (sometimes with a temporary character as a focus), often (always?) in present tense, and dialogue without any framing.
I’ve stopped reading books written like this in the past because they annoyed me. But you know what? Mundell pulls it off really well. I was captivated from the start, never bored and the ending packed an unexpected punch.
The setting is Melbourne, a depressing near future. A dystopia but a plausible one, scarily close to our world now. Just a little bit more technology, regulation and surveillance than today. Unlike certain other YA dystopias I could mention like The Hunger Games, Uglies or Divergent, there is no bizarre disconnect between our world and the world of Black Glass. (Infinitely so when you compare with Divergent — good book, but I found the back story mind-bogglingly implausible. You’re unsatisfied with the world so you sort yourselves into factions resembling Hogwarts houses? REALLY?) Also, it’s set in Australia, so it gets bonus setting points for not being doomed-US.
The most science fictiony element, and my second favourite part of the world building (my favourite being that it was set in Melbourne and I enjoy visiting home vicariously), was the side story of Milk the mood engineer. He uses scents and subtle changes in lighting to evoke moods and emotions in whoever is in range of his devices. His mission is to artistically make the spaces he works with more harmonious and the people in them happier. I thought it was a fascinating concept and explored with surprising depth in the relatively short novel.
The central-most characters, Tally 13 and Grace 16, are sisters who, up until the first chapter or so, have spent their lives following their deadbeat father around small Australian towns, often leaving town at a moment’s notice. The story starts when an accident kills their father and separates the sisters. They had been planning to run away to the city (Melbourne) “soon” but now they are forced to make their way there separately.
We follow the girls, the city and a few miscellaneous characters, sometimes obliquely, as they make ends meet, get by and wonder where their lives are going. By the time I was reading the climax, I was sceptical of a satisfactory ending but by golly, I was not disappointed. On the other hand, without spoilers, I can understand other people not feeling the same way.
I’m not sure I’d call Black Glass YA. The other characters are mostly adults and a lot of the concepts explored are things you don’t necessarily want kids to have to worry about. Of course, the reality is that many kids today do worry about similar things to Tally and Grace. I wouldn’t stop a twelve year old from reading it, but I would also encourage them to wait a few years. I could see it as the sort of book that might be studied in year 11 or 12, though.
In any case, it’s an excellent piece of writing. I highly recommend Back Glass to not only science fiction fans but everyone. Even if you think you don’t like science fiction, science fictional element in Black Glass is so minor you’ll barely notice.
4.5 / 5 stars
The narrative style and presentation of the story and characters is exactly the sort I usually dislike. The scenes, as well as presenting the two most central characters in a reasonably conventional narrative, alternate scenic mood scenes (sometimes with a temporary character as a focus), often (always?) in present tense, and dialogue without any framing.
I’ve stopped reading books written like this in the past because they annoyed me. But you know what? Mundell pulls it off really well. I was captivated from the start, never bored and the ending packed an unexpected punch.
The setting is Melbourne, a depressing near future. A dystopia but a plausible one, scarily close to our world now. Just a little bit more technology, regulation and surveillance than today. Unlike certain other YA dystopias I could mention like The Hunger Games, Uglies or Divergent, there is no bizarre disconnect between our world and the world of Black Glass. (Infinitely so when you compare with Divergent — good book, but I found the back story mind-bogglingly implausible. You’re unsatisfied with the world so you sort yourselves into factions resembling Hogwarts houses? REALLY?) Also, it’s set in Australia, so it gets bonus setting points for not being doomed-US.
The most science fictiony element, and my second favourite part of the world building (my favourite being that it was set in Melbourne and I enjoy visiting home vicariously), was the side story of Milk the mood engineer. He uses scents and subtle changes in lighting to evoke moods and emotions in whoever is in range of his devices. His mission is to artistically make the spaces he works with more harmonious and the people in them happier. I thought it was a fascinating concept and explored with surprising depth in the relatively short novel.
The central-most characters, Tally 13 and Grace 16, are sisters who, up until the first chapter or so, have spent their lives following their deadbeat father around small Australian towns, often leaving town at a moment’s notice. The story starts when an accident kills their father and separates the sisters. They had been planning to run away to the city (Melbourne) “soon” but now they are forced to make their way there separately.
We follow the girls, the city and a few miscellaneous characters, sometimes obliquely, as they make ends meet, get by and wonder where their lives are going. By the time I was reading the climax, I was sceptical of a satisfactory ending but by golly, I was not disappointed. On the other hand, without spoilers, I can understand other people not feeling the same way.
I’m not sure I’d call Black Glass YA. The other characters are mostly adults and a lot of the concepts explored are things you don’t necessarily want kids to have to worry about. Of course, the reality is that many kids today do worry about similar things to Tally and Grace. I wouldn’t stop a twelve year old from reading it, but I would also encourage them to wait a few years. I could see it as the sort of book that might be studied in year 11 or 12, though.
In any case, it’s an excellent piece of writing. I highly recommend Back Glass to not only science fiction fans but everyone. Even if you think you don’t like science fiction, science fictional element in Black Glass is so minor you’ll barely notice.
4.5 / 5 stars
aquamarine's review
5.0
I loved this: beautifully written, spare, moving and imaginative. I so enjoyed the portrait of Melbourne, a city I love, despite or even because of the bleaker elements.
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