A review by mora55
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
5.0
--25 March 2023
truly the book of all time. love the way hardinge uses words and love the worldbuilding and love the themes.
--18 Dec 2020
This year's reread was accompanied by ANNOTATIONS bc Enne is the best and even though I have reread this so many times and annotated it for other people I will never get tired of it and seeing someone else's reactions was super cool.
Anyway apart from that I would like to reaffirm my undying love for Clent and Mosca and Frances Hardinge
--3 Dec 2020 (reread like,, 4)
I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
I'm forever impressed with the way Frances Hardinge uses words. Her metaphors and descriptions are excellent and she'll string words together in ways no one would have ever expected and they're delightfully surprising. I laughed aloud at parts even though I'd read this like three times before this current read.
The way the plot is so intricate and detailed and it all comes together (literally everything comes together in the end and it takes your breath away) and upon reread you see so much that was dropped that later comes back. This is mainly in terms of plot, but Hardinge will also bring back a specific phrase in a similar or different context to connect pieces of the book, and I'm in awe. I also really liked how Frances Hardinge somehow effortlessly manages to slip into an omniscient POV for just a few sentences at a time before coming back to Mosca, or whatever other temporary POV she's chosen for the scene. The readers know more than Mosca, yet we don't know everything at all? We're still so surprised when everything comes together at last? It's so good.
I did a close read this time and I caught so much of this. I was aware it existed and knew a lot of it, to an extent, but this time I paid extra special attention to the details and am somehow even more in love with this book than I was before. I aspire to use words like Frances Hardinge uses words. And her PLOT goodness gracious HOW DOES SHE DO THAT. HOW. And a close read also lent itself to so much irony in both events and wordings and dramatic irony and there was so much I'd never noticed before!
The characters! are excellent! I love how Mosca and Clent's relationship develops over the course of the book, and I especially love Mosca's own character arc and how she grows and changes and learns and realizes things about the world. It's achingly beautiful. And Mosca's way of seeing the world and her way of talking is just so distinct and Mosca.
Also Saracen is the true hero of the story, we all know this, and I hecking love
The worldbuilding is also incredible. There are innumerable little details thrown in there that make it seem so fleshed out and believable and like Hardinge has actually lived there and is using firsthand experience. She writes about this world better than many people write about the place where they actually live, tbh.
There are flashes of insight about really serious and abstract or deep concepts, put really well, and I love those moments. CHILLS. Especially when Mosca is the one realizing these things, because she has such a distinct voice and way of putting things.
Also this book contains what has to be probably my favorite quote of all time (no joke): "I don't want a happy ending, I want more story."
In summary: READ THIS BOOK please there's so much good stuff in here Frances Harding is truly a master I cannot stress this enough.
truly the book of all time. love the way hardinge uses words and love the worldbuilding and love the themes.
--18 Dec 2020
This year's reread was accompanied by ANNOTATIONS bc Enne is the best and even though I have reread this so many times and annotated it for other people I will never get tired of it and seeing someone else's reactions was super cool.
Anyway apart from that I would like to reaffirm my undying love for Clent and Mosca and Frances Hardinge
--3 Dec 2020 (reread like,, 4)
I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
I'm forever impressed with the way Frances Hardinge uses words. Her metaphors and descriptions are excellent and she'll string words together in ways no one would have ever expected and they're delightfully surprising. I laughed aloud at parts even though I'd read this like three times before this current read.
The way the plot is so intricate and detailed and it all comes together (literally everything comes together in the end and it takes your breath away) and upon reread you see so much that was dropped that later comes back. This is mainly in terms of plot, but Hardinge will also bring back a specific phrase in a similar or different context to connect pieces of the book, and I'm in awe. I also really liked how Frances Hardinge somehow effortlessly manages to slip into an omniscient POV for just a few sentences at a time before coming back to Mosca, or whatever other temporary POV she's chosen for the scene. The readers know more than Mosca, yet we don't know everything at all? We're still so surprised when everything comes together at last? It's so good.
I did a close read this time and I caught so much of this. I was aware it existed and knew a lot of it, to an extent, but this time I paid extra special attention to the details and am somehow even more in love with this book than I was before. I aspire to use words like Frances Hardinge uses words. And her PLOT goodness gracious HOW DOES SHE DO THAT. HOW. And a close read also lent itself to so much irony in both events and wordings and dramatic irony and there was so much I'd never noticed before!
The characters! are excellent! I love how Mosca and Clent's relationship develops over the course of the book, and I especially love Mosca's own character arc and how she grows and changes and learns and realizes things about the world. It's achingly beautiful. And Mosca's way of seeing the world and her way of talking is just so distinct and Mosca.
Also Saracen is the true hero of the story, we all know this, and I hecking love
Spoiler
Blythe's rise from highwayman to ruling the city. And just Blythe in general, like how he's convinced he's a ne'er-do-well who lives outside the law and is only roped into this "being noble and a hero" thing through Clent's ballad when really he IS a genuinely decent person.The worldbuilding is also incredible. There are innumerable little details thrown in there that make it seem so fleshed out and believable and like Hardinge has actually lived there and is using firsthand experience. She writes about this world better than many people write about the place where they actually live, tbh.
There are flashes of insight about really serious and abstract or deep concepts, put really well, and I love those moments. CHILLS. Especially when Mosca is the one realizing these things, because she has such a distinct voice and way of putting things.
Also this book contains what has to be probably my favorite quote of all time (no joke): "I don't want a happy ending, I want more story."
In summary: READ THIS BOOK please there's so much good stuff in here Frances Harding is truly a master I cannot stress this enough.