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A review by pinkadilly
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
4.0
3.5
I don't think this is the type of book I enjoy - philosophical in plot (relative to my tastes, anyway) and with mostly thoughtfull prose. But I enjoyes how alien things felt (even if it means I dont at all have a good mental image of...well, most things in the book). I really liked the casual references through which we learned about the past - the way humans built a ship to take them away and then the city-states within it turned on each other, and etc.
The central relationship (imo) between Sophie and Bianca felt more frustrating than anything else. By the end especially I just wanted to scream and Sophie to just move along!!! Mouth, our other PoV character, felt like she was slowly deflating the entire book, and I'm not sure yet how that makes me feel.
This book did really draw me in, and I really enjoyed all the parts talking about the world and rhe history and the weird things they ate - the whole journey in the wastes was great, as was contrasting the cities. But the ending didnt satisfy me at all, perhaps because it didnt feel like the things I liked about the book were what I was supposed to be liking about the book? Still, the last page definitely left me more confused than satisfied.
I don't think this is the type of book I enjoy - philosophical in plot (relative to my tastes, anyway) and with mostly thoughtfull prose. But I enjoyes how alien things felt (even if it means I dont at all have a good mental image of...well, most things in the book). I really liked the casual references through which we learned about the past - the way humans built a ship to take them away and then the city-states within it turned on each other, and etc.
The central relationship (imo) between Sophie and Bianca felt more frustrating than anything else. By the end especially I just wanted to scream and Sophie to just move along!!! Mouth, our other PoV character, felt like she was slowly deflating the entire book, and I'm not sure yet how that makes me feel.
This book did really draw me in, and I really enjoyed all the parts talking about the world and rhe history and the weird things they ate - the whole journey in the wastes was great, as was contrasting the cities. But the ending didnt satisfy me at all, perhaps because it didnt feel like the things I liked about the book were what I was supposed to be liking about the book? Still, the last page definitely left me more confused than satisfied.