The City in the Middle of the Night

By: Charlie Jane Anders

Narrated by: Jennifer O'Donnell, Laura Knight Keating

Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

"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)

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.

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!

I loved her writing. It is absolutely beautiful.

The story was engaging and the characters well developed. Her descriptions of the landscapes were particularly good. She could write well for any genre.

My Book of the Year

The book starts with an excellent premise, a group of colonists settle on an a hostile planet where their equipment and technology slowly fall apart over several generations, leaving humanity tied to a handful of cities scattered across the planet. From here the story focuses in on two characters: Sophie and Mouth, as they encounter the planets deepest secrets. The story stays focused on these two characters, filtering the world through their eyes in a way that deepens your understanding of both character and environment.

The story manages to provided meaningful character growth every few chapters, each step deepening your understanding and respect for the characters. At 14 hours I expected this book to go by like a flash, but there was always so many interesting things going on, the book seemed to last much longer.

Questionable

To me it just was a long story dragged out and it felt slow and not interesting enough to re-read or recommend. Parts of the book felt lost and confusing. If your set is on reading it, than do it, but if you still don’t know than I would say it’s not worth it.

Flat narration

The narrators were very flat and monotonous and that made it kind of hard to follow the story.

The last third of the story just seemed to just meander along, and the ending came out of nowhere. I was just listening along and out of nowhere "The End". There didn't seem to be any kind of satisfying conclusions for any of the plot threads at the end.
I had really high hopes going in to this and was really in to it until the last few parts of the book.

Parts I really liked

Overall I didn't love this book but there were parts I really liked and the planet itself was very interesting. Mostly I felt that I didn't understand the connection between Sophie and Bianca and what actually kept Sophie coming back to that friendship.

Fresh!

Fresh and engrossing story line with unique characters and intricate but believable alien world. Mankind struggles to exist on the treacherous planet January. Not only is the planet trying to kill us, wait to you meet the deadly sentient locals we call "Crocodiles". The narration is top notch and keeps you invested in the story. If you like good sci-fi, this tale will not disappoint.