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imds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
melodyseestrees's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, and Blood
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement
twistykris's review against another edition
- 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 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.
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Police brutality, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Confinement
zero_sjl's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Minor: Homophobia
beccaand's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Homophobia
Minor: Animal death
kat_mayerovitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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.
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Homophobia and Police brutality
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Colonisation
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
mar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body horror and Police brutality
Minor: Homophobia and Vomit
deedireads's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, and Police brutality
perditorian's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Police brutality
Moderate: Homophobia and Panic attacks/disorders