The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This novel is cunningly written for Young Adults. It lures them in with tales of unlikely derring-do for the boys and excruciating soppy romance for the girls, then zaps them with deep philosophical and ethical questions typical of the most ambitious science fiction. If they can handle those, which I expect most of them can, they can do without the lures, and shortening the book judiciously would improve it. (It's almost as though it is being deliberately spun out to provide enough material for a full television series.) If the author ever decides to focus on writing science fiction for adults, memorable works might well result.



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