Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The City in the Middle of the Night

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 that

Bianca 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.

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zero_sjl's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

I'm conflicted with this review because I really liked the world Anders created in this book and there are a lot of parts that I enjoyed, but the pacing of this novel was way off. There were a lot of problems that happened and were solved by the next chapter or even within the same chapter. Some of these situations were solved in a 'Deus ex machina' vibe. There was also a lot of random filler throughout the book. I would catch myself reading and zoning out as I wondered what the main goal or plot of the story was at that point (and I usually couldn't come up with an answer). Things that felt like they should have taken a long time didn't and stuff that should have been explained in a paragraph or two dragged on and on.

Once I reached the last 30 pages or so I was confused because the book didn't feel like it could conclude in that short time (there was a lot of unanswered questions). It felt very rushed and the ending left me so annoyed because it was the moments after the ending that I wanted to know more about and I felt like I wasted my time with all the filler to get to that point. If the filler was gone and you added an extra hundred pages to the end to develop Sophie's plot this would have been a great read.

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beccaand's review against another edition

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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

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kat_mayerovitch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Gosh, what an interesting book! I'll admit, the bits about Bianca and Sophie, and Mouth and everyone else didn't grab me as much as I would have liked, probably because their relationship remains so static throughout. It was the parts with the Gelet that made me keep reading all the way to the uncertain ending.

That said: even though it didn't make for the most satisfying reading experience, I appreciate what Anders was doing with Sophie/Bianca and Mouth/Alyssa, and in a kind of parallel way, humans/January itself. Getting stuck in the same relationship patterns, repeating them again and again even though you know better and ought to be growing out of them in some kind of narratively satisfying way ... that's incredibly real, and also underexplored in science fiction, where themes of progress (and retrogress, with eventual triumph) tend to prevail.

Having read Anders in both forms, I think I love her short stories better than her novels. (No shame in that, I feel the same way about quite a few authors!) But I'm glad I read this book, even so.

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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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mar's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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deedireads's review

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

While The City in the Middle of the Night didn’t grab me as much as I’d hoped it would, I definitely thought it was really creative and well written.

For you if: You like soft sci-fi tinged with environmentalism and political upheaval.

FULL REVIEW:

“You might mistake understanding for forgiveness, but if you did, then the unforgiven wrong would catch you off guard, like a cramp, just as you reached for generosity.”

The City in the Middle of the Night was my last read of the 2020 Hugo Award list of nominees. And while I definitely thought it was creative and well written, I’m sad to say that it was a little bit of a letdown for me — it just didn’t grab me the way I’d hoped or expected it to. BUT that could definitely be a me thing and my jittery headspace the last few weeks and not the book — so don’t let me be the reason you don’t read this! (I also absolutely love Charline Jane Anders and her other work that I’ve read, and I’m definitely going to keep reading her going forward.)

The book alternates between two women: Sophie and Mouth (yes, she’s called Mouth — there are a lot of strangely named things in this book). They live in one of two main cities on a planet called January, in the sliver of habitable space between scorching sunlight and unforgiving, freezing night. Early in the book, Sophie takes the fall for something dumb her roommate, Bianca (with whom she is falling in love) did, and the police make an example of her, which brings her into contact with the night and its inhabitants. Mouth, on the other hand, is uncouth and scrappy, and she’s also the only surviving member of a society of traveling nomads, and she grapples with her identity, her memories, and where she fits.

All in all, this book has a lot going for it. The relationship between Sophie and Bianca is compelling and hard to look away from, and Mouth’s character arc was a lot more of a journey than I’d expected. There are themes of environmentalism and totalitarianism and more. It just didn’t necessarily keep me hooked, and it took me nine days to finish (whereas I usually average more like three or four).

Anyway, TL;DR: I liked this okay but didn’t love it, but that could be a me thing, and there is plenty here to love.

Content Warnings

perditorian's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? Yes

3.0

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