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A review by earlgreysoul
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
4.0
A very interesting read; Hardinge crafts the world quickly and you can soon pick up the lingo and history.
I'd make an educated guess that Hardinge is a Discworld fan - Eponymous Clent could be easily mistaken for an alias of Moist von Lipwig before he crossed paths with Vetinari. I certainly don't mean that as a criticism and Clent is different enough a character from Moist that he was still a refreshing character.
I dropped a star - well, two half stars - for a couple of reasons; for me personally, there were bits of the world building that were too quick. For instance, I didn't really feel the terror Hardinge was trying to convey with the Birdcatchers because, while their reign was explored in a concise way, it wasn't really shown through the fear of the people. The most palpable way to have built the Birdcatchers up would have been through the whispers and laments of the people Mosca met, but for me that wasn't fully accomplished.
The other half-star is for the ending; it felt quite abrupt, so abrupt that I had to go back and reread it to make sure I understood where it had gone.
Overall it was a refreshing book full of twists and turns, with characters that may seem familiar but will end up surprising you.
I'd make an educated guess that Hardinge is a Discworld fan - Eponymous Clent could be easily mistaken for an alias of Moist von Lipwig before he crossed paths with Vetinari. I certainly don't mean that as a criticism and Clent is different enough a character from Moist that he was still a refreshing character.
I dropped a star - well, two half stars - for a couple of reasons; for me personally, there were bits of the world building that were too quick. For instance, I didn't really feel the terror Hardinge was trying to convey with the Birdcatchers because, while their reign was explored in a concise way, it wasn't really shown through the fear of the people. The most palpable way to have built the Birdcatchers up would have been through the whispers and laments of the people Mosca met, but for me that wasn't fully accomplished.
The other half-star is for the ending; it felt quite abrupt, so abrupt that I had to go back and reread it to make sure I understood where it had gone.
Overall it was a refreshing book full of twists and turns, with characters that may seem familiar but will end up surprising you.