The City in the Middle of the Night

Interesting read this one. It took me a while to get through it, but in the end the world building was compelling enough to keep me interested, even if I didn't entirely get on with the writing style to begin with.

I have to commend the author for conjuring such a unique setting... the more I read the more I wanted to know about the histories of the two cities, the story of the mothership, and the mystery of the 'crocodiles'. It wasn't without annoyances though... the whole Bianca/Sophie dynamic was fascinating to begin with but became infuriating by the end. Mouth's arc felt more satisfying, but in the end the whole story kind of felt like it finished before it really got started. I read (after finishing it) that it's a standalone, which, frankly, shocked me, since I was sure it was going to be the start of a many-part series. The ending certainly felt that way.

I'd certainly consider checking out more from this author, if nothing else for their sheer imagination, but this particular one left me feeling kinda ambivalent.

What a unique book! The structure is so strange. Stuff happens, then more stuff and more stuff, but I had no idea where we were going basically up to the very end. Between the "stuff" happening, sometimes months pass and the characters settle into a new normal. They make decisions then end up doing the opposite.

Somehow all this adds up to a very life-like story. You may shout "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT", but you shout at the character, not the writer. The characters are fantastic, with juicy inner lives. The way they work together is perfect.

Bianca is attractive and loves Sophie in her own aristocratic way. She appreciates Sophie's loyalty and kindness. So we can understand why Sophie is in love with her. But Sophie's love is more romantic and passionate. The kind of crazy young love. But she ignores the parts of Bianca that are outside of their room. She wants those to not exist.

Sophie wants Bianca. Bianca wants power. Mouth wants a purpose. Alyssa wants to "make it" maybe?

Even as a stage play it would be interesting. But all these characters are dropped on a tidally locked alien planet. Humanity can only live in the thin twilight zone between the boiling sun and freezing night. While the 21st century reader is used to living on the upward trajectory of human civilization, these folks are on the downward side. They've lost contact with the mothership that brought them here hundreds of years ago. They are losing technologies bit by bit.

And then there are the aliens. I really don't want to give away anything here, but it's very original and just great.

The ending is unique too. It's not a full closure. I can't say I know the fate of the world. Everything is up in the air. A lot of characters have died, but the world is still too small for those that are alive. I would have gladly read more. But it works. The book has told the story it wanted to tell.

My recent stretch of random books has been on a successful run but The City in the Middle of the Night was a misstep for me. I found the book to be a drag and I kept waiting for something to happen and justify my investment. I can tolerate a slow burn or a reveal at the end that connects everything together but there was none of that here.

The individual elements of the story (origin of the planet pioneers, tales of two cities, mysterious creatures living in the shadow of night) were interesting in concept but failed to resonate with me. What was the story about? What was the conflict? Even if information is withheld it should keep the reader engaged but all I was interested in was the number of pages remaining.

Other reviews echo my feelings and do a more elegant job of dissecting what worked and what didn't so this is where my review ends.

Oof. I don't know. I tried really hard. I wanted to like this book, kept flipping pages determined that the next one would bring me to the turn that would let me love this book. But it never came.

Technically, this is a very well-written book. Anders' prose is wonderful. The world is very interesting and developed just enough to keep me reading to learn more about it. But the characters are... Shockingly unlikeable. I didn't like Sophie, even though I kept rooting for her, just to be consistently let down. She doesn't grow, doesn't really change. She is passive and weak, which is fine at first, but not by the end. I absolutely hated Bianca and thought she deserved to die. Alyssa is a jerk and doesn't take Mouth seriously, all while telling Mouth she needs to just "get over" her trauma. Mouth was the only characters I liked, and she just gets shit on again and again.

Another review said it best, this book is written as character driven, but with no actually likeable characters.

It takes over 2/3 of the book to get to the major plot point, you're there for about 20 pages and then you're back to the same schtick again.

Maybe it's a larger metaphor or there's some really subtle themes woven in here, because I just didn't get it. Which was a bummer. I really wanted to.

Hard science fiction but focused primarily around three characters, so the science is more of a background than the primary focus. On a future colony world that will be settled by Earth descendents, daylight and night are so extreme that the full light of day literally sets crops on fire. Cities have to be carefully shuttered and crops shaded in order to survive. The world is clearly at least several generations post-settlement and much of their ancestors' original equipment is breaking down, while weather changes to the planet cause additional problems.

In between the strictly regimented city Xiosphant and the criminal-controlled city Argel, the plot follows a pair of friends, Sophie and Bianca, and a smuggler, Mouth. Sophie tells her part of the story in first person, so is clearly the 'main' character, and when she is thrown out of Xiosphant into the Night to die, she discovers that one of the native alien races (the "crocodiles") are actually sapient. If there is a fourth main character in the book, it's the crocodiles; through Sophie, they try to communicate with the humans to explain that human actions are what's destroying the planet and causing the devastating weather changes, as well as causing huge suffering and death to the crocodile population.

Sophie, however, is both powerless and rather easily distracted, mainly by Bianca, who she adores for reasons that become less and less easy to sympathize with. Bianca, a privileged rich girl from the upper class section of Xiosphant, initially appears to be a good friend to Sophie but through the course of the book becomes more and more selfish and closed-minded, to the point it rapidly becomes very frustrating watching Sophie continue to trust and follow her.

Mouth is probably the most interesting character in the book. Initially she's fairly unlikeable, but as you learn more about her background and what she's suffered, and as she grows to be a better character, she becomes more and more sympathetic.

Ultimately Sophie, with the help of Mouth, attempt to initiate communication between the crocodiles and the human settlers. And at this point, the book ends very abruptly, without a satisfactory conclusion or a clear indication of what the outcome will be.

Overall, the book was very interesting; I really liked the alien world; the crocodiles were a great species; the society and politics were interesting; and the book was well written. However, the ending was a let down and felt as if it cut short several chapters too soon. I am guessing there's a sequel planned? But I'm not a fan of leaving a book unsatisfactorily short, even if it does have a sequel coming.