The City in the Middle of the Night Paperback – February 11, 2020

A very different book from her debut “All the Birds in the Sky,” this sophomore offering is science fiction, grounded in the tradition of people from Earth colonizing and living on a new, and very different, planet; one with a very narrow band on which humans can live. They have apparently lived there for a number of generations and have been losing their ability to use or repair certain technologies along the years. And then there are the natives, which are not recognized as sentient at the beginning of the book, but which hold much promise for the earth era trying to survive on this difficult planet.The world building is well done and believable. The characters are well drawn, and the story revolves around two women who may be each other’s “jinx,” or bringer of bad luck when they are togetherA 2020 Hugo finalist.Recommend.

I think I would call this book an emotional Star Wars. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. The reason I compare it to Star Wars is it's very short on plot and very long on dialogue and character development. Unlike the famed movie, however, the dialogue is remarkable and the emotion it conveys along with the emotions the characters suppress, are extraordinary. The science and world building are interesting, it's just such a fringe possible future that it makes The Expert Systems Brother look like a realistic future society in comparison.So, if you are looking for dramatic space opera with a fulfilling beginning middle and end probably save your money. If you are looking for an emotional and heartfelt story disguised as a story about a place that is never dark or light, this is your read. As in her last book, some of the passages moved me so much that I highlighted them to re-read later, they are like poetry.I'm on a mission to read everything that Anders has written and I can't wait to read her forthcoming novel. This one missed the mark for me in some ways but I certainly don't regret reading it!

I vacillated a lot on this one, during and after the reading. While there were numerous sections that required me to push on through (most of the first ~50 or so pages, for example), there was also no shortage of sections that genuinely captured my attention and encouraged me to keep reading (such as the trips between cities; the scenes with the Gelet).The Bad:Characters. It was hard to want to relate to most of the characters. Even sympathetic ones, like Sophie, keep making bad decisions and aren't internally consistent. Mouth is probably the most relatable character, but even she has a few occasions that are a more 'miss' than 'hit'.Timelessness. The book spends a significant number of pages instilling the reader with how structured the days in Xiosphant are for its residents. When the story moves away from that city, Anders does a phenomenal job of removing that sense of structure. In fact, she's so successful at it that the reader feels as lost as the characters (at least as far as the passage of time is concerned). Once I connected with the characters on that level, I didn't quite know what I was supposed to do with that sense of being removed from time. Since she insisted on leaving me there, the reason must have been important... but I never sussed it out. I couldn't see how the temporal ambiguity enhanced, provided context for or offered clarity on existing sentiments or themes. It was an incredible feat of writing ability; I just couldn't figure out how my feeling of being lost, especially for so long, was supposed to help me appreciate something else about the characters. Or world. Or tone. Or... anything.The Good:Style/voice. I was wholly unprepared for Anders' story-telling style/voice. It's almost child-like; she's able to convey big ideas or feelings, such as wonder, awe, pain, and suffering with a simplicity that is understandable on the most basic level, and do so without robbing any of those feelings or ideas of their weight or complexity. Her presentation of certain emotional realizations or motivations demands empathy from her reader and seizes their attention in such a way that the reader is unable to focus on anything else. Possession of either attribute is amazing, but to have both of them? And make such splendid use of them? Kudos, Charlie Jane Anders.The Takeaway:I feel there's more good than bad in what I read, but the book never quite 'clicked' for me. Anders will remain on my radar; her voice and style are entirely too unique to pass up in the long term. She also makes some fabulously on-point observations, examples of which lay in the quotes section (and serve as the title of this review).Recommended for: anyone who wants to read something written with feeling; those wanting to experience a visceral connection to various (intellectual, emotional) abstractions; fans of sci-fi with a YA spin/flavorSome quotes for sampling/posterity/consideration:"You want to know what I've learned? That I don't know anything. Time passes, even when you can't see it, and people keep grudges too long and die too soon.""You can trust me, I want to bite you.""Listen to yourself, hear your own footsteps, your breaths, your heartbeats, oh, how many rhythms you make as you come and go! you are an orchestra.""People here are not accustomed to seeing economic disputes settled with guns, but every economy runs on bullets, one way or another.""Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seen peaceful, while resistance is violent. But really, either choice is about violence, one way or another."

I loved everything about this book - the plot development, the action, the characters, and the inventiveness of their world. I continue to try to formulate in my mind what some of the things, beings, and places look like - very challenging (which I like!). The last of the book was rather open-ended. It left my book club wondering if there was to be a sequel.

Corny and boring

Original more brainy sci-fi with well developed characters. Most enjoyed. Good to see women taking on the shoes of ursula.

I loved how different this was. I can see why people compare it to The Left Hand of Darkness, because it goes much further than most sci-fi in imagining a world very different than ours, but also, as all good sci-fi does, reflects a mirror onto the world we inhabit today. The mixture of first and third person narrative was a little jarring at first, but in the end worked well within the story, given the different levels of self-awareness of the 2 main protagonists.

Amazing! Honestly, I hadn't heard of Charlie Jane Anders until recently and I regret that I hadn't learned of her and her work before. An amazing tale that does a terrific job of capturing an alien and oblique world whilst sewing believable characters into a story worthy of an epic Hollywood production. Yet she doesn't overdo it, leaving enough room for the readers' imagination to run wild within the story.One particular line that struck me with the weight of the sunlight in a tidally locked planet was from an early line in a conversation between one of the protagonists and the main antagonist of the story; "Part of how they make you obey is by making obedience seem peaceful, while resistance is violent. But really, either choice is about violence in one way or another."Charlie Jane Anders has earned a spot in my personal library, and I look forward to watching that shelf fill with her work.

I read the authors previous book and enjoyed it but wasn't blown away. It definitely felt like a first novel, but I enjoyed it enough to buy this as soon as I saw it was out and I'm so glad I did!I won't go into the plot but suffice to say I really enjoyed it. I love what the author has done with the characters and their decisions. Every time something major happened and I thought I could guess what was coming, they did something different - not crazy and shocking different, but a smart move that I just didn't pick up on.The author has improved vastly between her first and second novel, and I can't wait to see what she releases in the future.