The City in the Middle of the Night

By: Charlie Jane Anders

Narrated by: Jennifer O'Donnell, Laura Knight Keating

"If you control our sleep, then you can own our dreams.... And from there, it's easy to control our entire lives." 

January is a dying planet - divided between a permanently frozen darkness on one side, and blazing endless sunshine on the other. Humanity clings to life, spread across two archaic cities built in the sliver of habitable dusk. 

But life inside the cities is just as dangerous as the uninhabitable wastelands outside. 

Sophie, a student and reluctant revolutionary, is supposed to be dead, after being exiled into the night. Saved only by forming an unusual bond with the enigmatic beasts who roam the ice, Sophie vows to stay hidden from the world, hoping she can heal. 

But fate has other plans - and Sophie's ensuing odyssey and the ragtag family she finds will change the entire world.  

©2019 Charlie Jane Anders (P)2019 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"An even stronger novel than Anders’ Nebula Award-winning All the Birds in the Sky; a tale that can stand beside such enduring works as Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Frank Herbert’s Dune, and Dan Simmons’ Hyperion." (Booklist, starred review)

Fantastic!

Best book I’ve read all year. “The City in The Middle of The Night” is a deeply powerful and emotional journey through the best imagery science fiction has to offer. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Incredible

I could not stop listening to this book. It reminded me a little of The Dispossessed and a little of Lilith’s Brood, but definitely had a voice and interesting themes of its own. I’m sad that it’s over and I have to go back to reading other authors. Keep writing Charlie Jane Anders! I love your work!

Another one I really wanted to love

This book drew me in instantly in the first chapter. A tidally locked planet, some type of dystopian society, two friends with a complicated relationship that seems to be affected by their world. Many mysteries. But the more I listened, the more I got disappointed. The book talks a lot about vague notions of political theory but doesn’t show any of it. It occasionally tells us how language works in the planet’s cultures, but doesn’t show it in any original way. Without giving any spoilers, the scifi aspect feels very lacking. The book mostly reads like a fantasy, honestly. And that’s fine, but the worldbuilding is a bit lackluster. The two narrators are brilliant, by the way.

absolutely breathtaking

please read this book. or listen to it. it's the only time I've actually felt breathless in a positive way. the narrators here are both incredible.

this is a work of art.

Exciting and deep

On the surface level this is a well-crafted piece of science fiction — but there are layers and layers of wonderful writing, centered around our reaction to the other, a coming of age story, a columbian exchange in both biological and social senses, and how memories and stories shape who we are.