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melodyseestrees's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Police brutality
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, and Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement
twistykris's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have read Victories Greater Than Death and Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, and I will say that Anders is SO creative in her worlds and concepts, but it is certainly not for everyone. She kind of throws you into this world without a ton of explanation and you gain knowledge as you read. It can become confusing and overwhelming at times. But after some time, the world starts to make sense and January, as a planet, feels fleshed out.
I really enjoyed the dual POV between Sophie and Mouth (with an interesting choice having Sophie's in 1st person and Mouth's in 3rd person?), as both characters went through a lot of growth and development. And I understand the using the concept of someone constantly being drawn back into a toxic friendship as character growth- it's realistic and difficult to escape. "When you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags." But SO many times I just wanted to shake my dear, sweet Sophie and tell her thatBianca is NOT a good friend. She's manipulative, mean, selfish, and dismissive of Sophie CONSTANTLY. It got really frustrating for me at times (and I acknowledge that's me as a reader, not necessarily a flaw in the book itself- just be aware that you might throw your hands up in frustration from time to time).
I really enjoyed the first and last sections of this book. The middle has some pacing issues, in my opinion, with plot elements I wasn't super connected with. At times it felt like nothing was happening and then suddenly it's absolute chaos and I wonder if I accidentally skipped over some pages. But I absolutely LOVED all of the parts relating to the Gelet and their society and Sophie's connection with them. The environmental aspect mixed with the ugliness of human nature was very well-established. I wish we got more time with them, especially as the ending felt like it wrapped up too quickly.
Overall, an enjoyable read, but definitely frustrating at times with certain character decisions and pacing that just wasn't for me.
I really enjoyed the dual POV between Sophie and Mouth (with an interesting choice having Sophie's in 1st person and Mouth's in 3rd person?), as both characters went through a lot of growth and development. And I understand the using the concept of someone constantly being drawn back into a toxic friendship as character growth- it's realistic and difficult to escape. "When you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags." But SO many times I just wanted to shake my dear, sweet Sophie and tell her that
I really enjoyed the first and last sections of this book. The middle has some pacing issues, in my opinion, with plot elements I wasn't super connected with. At times it felt like nothing was happening and then suddenly it's absolute chaos and I wonder if I accidentally skipped over some pages. But I absolutely LOVED all of the parts relating to the Gelet and their society and Sophie's connection with them. The environmental aspect mixed with the ugliness of human nature was very well-established. I wish we got more time with them, especially as the ending felt like it wrapped up too quickly.
Overall, an enjoyable read, but definitely frustrating at times with certain character decisions and pacing that just wasn't for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Grief, Homophobia, and Blood
Minor: Animal death and Confinement
beccaand's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Body horror
Minor: Animal death
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Body horror
Minor: Lesbophobia and Animal death
mireanthony's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I put down this book after I finished it and intended to review it the very next day, but then I got sidetracked and here I am a good week later hoping to do it justice but knowing I'm going to fall short. Oh, well.
I read Charlie Jane Anders' novel All the Birds in the Sky in summer of 2016 as my relationship with my college boyfriend was ending and I was trying to figure out what to do after I graduated, and it affected me to an extent I could never explain or justify. My strange kinship with that book, the feeling that it had somehow been written for me and my circumstances specifically, followed me through The City in the Middle of the Night, as well. I couldn't even begin to guess at why exactly I feel this way, except to say that this book, like All the Birds in the Sky, understands that what makes good science fiction is philosophy, not technology.
Between when I read All the Birds in the Sky and when I read this book I learned that Charlie Jane Anders is a trans woman. I remember the day I stumbled upon her twitter and something clicked. Oh, I thought, oh, that's why her writing resonates so much with me. She's trans, as well. I couldn't help but read The City in the Middle of the Night through a lens of queer transformation and the friction between society and the individual that transformation causes. It's not a hard read to do; the themes are central to the story.
The City in the Middle of the Night follows Sophie as she grows from a teenager who lacks words to communicate her burgeoning attraction to her best friend Bianca, through a series of traumatic events involving police, politics, and the system of timekeeping on Sophie's tidally locked planet. Xiosphant, one of two cities in the twilight strip between the light side and dark side of the planet January, operates under strict and meticulous order, a substitute for a daynight cycle turned into an oppressive system for keeping the townspeople docile and controlled. Sophie and Bianca are part of a group of teenage dissidents more concerned with sitting around discussing philosophy than actually doing anything, until Sophie taking the fall for a minor crime of Bianca's leads to the police parading her through the town and forcing her into the frozen wastelands of the dark side of the planet, forcing her into the night to die. But Sophie does not die, because she meets a creature there that can communicate using touch telepathy and is a member of a race that has inhabited the night since long before the colony ships came to January, since before humans discovered fire. The creature, a gelet, shows Sophie a memory of a city deep in the night, a city kept alive through bioengineering but also through collective memory, collective will, and a love story that the gelet have mythologized into their religion and politics.
This is not always a happy book, and it is a little slow-paced at some points, but it is full of delicious worldbuilding and the kind of commentary on our world that only science fiction can really touch. It is an meditation on the nature of communication, religion, memory, trauma, time, and love. It is, as far as I'm concerned, a perfect science fiction book. And it's queer!
I read Charlie Jane Anders' novel All the Birds in the Sky in summer of 2016 as my relationship with my college boyfriend was ending and I was trying to figure out what to do after I graduated, and it affected me to an extent I could never explain or justify. My strange kinship with that book, the feeling that it had somehow been written for me and my circumstances specifically, followed me through The City in the Middle of the Night, as well. I couldn't even begin to guess at why exactly I feel this way, except to say that this book, like All the Birds in the Sky, understands that what makes good science fiction is philosophy, not technology.
Between when I read All the Birds in the Sky and when I read this book I learned that Charlie Jane Anders is a trans woman. I remember the day I stumbled upon her twitter and something clicked. Oh, I thought, oh, that's why her writing resonates so much with me. She's trans, as well. I couldn't help but read The City in the Middle of the Night through a lens of queer transformation and the friction between society and the individual that transformation causes. It's not a hard read to do; the themes are central to the story.
The City in the Middle of the Night follows Sophie as she grows from a teenager who lacks words to communicate her burgeoning attraction to her best friend Bianca, through a series of traumatic events involving police, politics, and the system of timekeeping on Sophie's tidally locked planet. Xiosphant, one of two cities in the twilight strip between the light side and dark side of the planet January, operates under strict and meticulous order, a substitute for a daynight cycle turned into an oppressive system for keeping the townspeople docile and controlled. Sophie and Bianca are part of a group of teenage dissidents more concerned with sitting around discussing philosophy than actually doing anything, until Sophie taking the fall for a minor crime of Bianca's leads to the police parading her through the town and forcing her into the frozen wastelands of the dark side of the planet, forcing her into the night to die. But Sophie does not die, because she meets a creature there that can communicate using touch telepathy and is a member of a race that has inhabited the night since long before the colony ships came to January, since before humans discovered fire. The creature, a gelet, shows Sophie a memory of a city deep in the night, a city kept alive through bioengineering but also through collective memory, collective will, and a love story that the gelet have mythologized into their religion and politics.
This is not always a happy book, and it is a little slow-paced at some points, but it is full of delicious worldbuilding and the kind of commentary on our world that only science fiction can really touch. It is an meditation on the nature of communication, religion, memory, trauma, time, and love. It is, as far as I'm concerned, a perfect science fiction book. And it's queer!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Police brutality and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Homophobia and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Gun violence
Climate catastrophe and the depletion of resources looms large in the background of this book but it is happening on a planet very unlike our own and is dealt with in ways that bear little-to-no resemblance to the situation on Earth.
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