(no subject)

[skygiants]

A few months ago villanny emailed me to flail about Francis Hardinge's Fly By Night. And once again Nny earns her place in the annals of the wise, because, having now finally read Fly By Night, I can safely say THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. In my head it goes into the same category of "deceptively complex books about revolution" as the Dalemark Quartet and the Westmark books, which right there should tell you how much I liked it.

Fly By Night is the following awesome things:
- a book about a revolution that is neither hopelessly idealistic nor hopelessly depressing
- a book set in a fantasy-country with a number of serious issues that does not actually set out to solve all those issues by the end of the story
- a book about the all-important power of words
- a book starring a homicidal goose

For the most part the story follows Mosca Mye, a twelve-year-old plucky orphan who is absolutely not an adorable moppet - she's more like what would happen if you cross-bred Lyra in The Golden Compass with Mitt in Drowned Ammett. (Yes, you should be afraid.) Mosca is cocky, self-absorbed and bitter, with few morals, a high opinion of her own cleverness and a very low level of trust in other human beings. She also has a passionate hunger for words, so when Eponymous Clent, a con artist who uses more and fancier words than she's ever heard in her life, gets thrown into the stocks in her town, she formulates a plan: she'll break him out if he promises to take her with him when he leaves. Burning down her aunt and uncle's barn and stealing Saracen the extremely violent goose was not initially part of the plan, but these things do happen, you know?

Eventually Mosca and Clent's Bickering and Double-Crossing Road Trip takes them to a town run by a mad duke . . . which is when things start to get complicated, as Mosca finds herself navigating among several scheming guilds and factions, none of which could really be called moral or trustworthy. (One of the things I love most is that the conflicts involve politics and religion and trade all wound up together, because that's how things actually work.) The pace of double- and triple-crosses speeds up, the city starts to careen towards chaos, Mosca starts to grow something vaguely resembling a conscience, and Saracen the Goose Beats Up Everyone On a Floating Coffeehouse. (It is glorious and must be seen to be believed.)

Also, the characters are amazing and fully realized, the writing is clever and funny and gorgeous, and this is getting long so basically I will just say that Frances Hardinge has just shot up to a prized spot on my list of Authors Whose Works I Must Acquire In Their Entirety And Read ASAP.

- oh, one more thing I want to say actually, though: this book is awesome for the ladies! From Lady Tamarind, the Duke's glamorous, hardcore and morally ambiguous sister, to The Cakes, the silly and weepy girl next door who becomes one of Mosca's most important allies, there is a wide range of important female characters and it makes me happy. Go Bechdel Test!

Comments

[e-mily.livejournal.com]

That book sounds AWESOME. I must find it.

[skygiants]

It is SO GOOD, I recommend you hunt it down immediately! I could not even talk about half the awesome in the review or I would be rambling for the length of a Dickens novel.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

ALSO THERE IS HOPEWOOD.

[skygiants]

ALSO INDEED. I had a whole other paragraph written out where I was like "and HOPEWOOD! And Blythe and Kate and coffeehouses!" and then I looked at how long that made the review and kind of sheepishly deleted it. >.>

[villainny.livejournal.com]

I love the whole concept of Blythe. :D

[genarti]

AWESOME. WITH EXTRA AWESOMESAUCE.

...Okay, from the sound of it I'm completely unsure whether or not I would actually like Mosca. But I feel I ought to give this book a try sometime and find out. I do love me some complex and morally ambiguous revolutionary worldbuilding!

[skygiants]

My suspicion is that you will be frustrated with Mosca for a significant portion of the book, but she does hit a turning point and stop making terrible decisions and starts making awesome ones! And you will like the worldbuilding, and also THE GOOSE. It is not a book that shouts "GEN" to me but it is a generally awesome book and you should read it anyways.

(Speaking of books that shout out people's names, it turns out that the next book this author wrote after Fly-by-Night involves three siblings and wishing magic. *giggling*)

[genarti]

From this review, that sounds entirely likely. But if she turns awesome, that is a good carrot to keep in mind as I read through the bits where she annoys me! It's not topping the (insanely long) to-read list, but I will try to get my hands on it at some point.

(Ha! WELL WE KNOW WHAT THIS TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC IS. And its name is Becca.)

PS. Did you look at the author's website? *dying* I googled to try to double-check which pronoun I ought to be using, but didn't stick around there long enough to find out for sure anyhow.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

I need your address. I got you a wee tiny thing at ConCon.

[skygiants]

Catch me tonight on IM! :D

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Yes ma'am. (P.S. Am caught up on FMA. YOU should be caught up on Leverage because it is in fact AWESOME. Even if Kane fans are sort of irritating as hell.)

[mask-and-mirror.livejournal.com]

You had me at she's more like what would happen if you cross-bred Lyra in The Golden Compass with Mitt in Drowned Ammett. Definitely going to put this one at the top of my "to be read after finishing classes" list.

[skygiants]

Excellent! My plan is working. >:D (I love it so much when authors realize that their adolescent characters don't have to be nice to be awesome.)

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

You had me at in my head it goes into the same category of "deceptively complex books about revolution" as the Dalemark Quartet and the Westmark books.

[skygiants]

I have such a weakness for fictional revolutions! I have an especial weakness for fictional revolutions when they're realistically frightening-and-absurd and don't automatically fix everything.

[lacewood]

Now I want to re-read this because I clearly don't remember enough about it apart from Mosca's arson and the cowardly conman and the angry goose and the printing presses of doom and illegal-ness. I did remember it was awesome though. SO AWESOME. (Also, according to her website, THERE IS GOING TO BE A SEQUEL OMG)

The author's other book, Verdigris Deep, is also really great! It's about 3 friends though, not siblings

[skygiants]

Your news is THE BEST NEWS. *_* I have been hoping for this! I mean, I love the way the book ends, but I also love the world AND EVERYONE.

Oops, I must have misread the reviews. *sheepish* Oh well, three friends is good too! I am excited for it anyway, after Fly By Night I am reasonably sure I will be mad impressed by anything she comes up with.

[lacewood]

Well, if it wasn't for your review, I wouldn't have seen the link to her website and wandered over to investigate! XD It is such awesome news *_* The ending was great, but the possibilities for further hijinks! ENDLESS.

Also, her website is hilarious and CRAZY, it's amazing

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

Becca you live to make my TBR list longer. D:

(ilu)

[skygiants]

It is in fact my secret mission in life, yes. >:D

(<3)

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

HA, I HAVE FIGURED OUT YOUR NEFARIOUS SCHEME!
...And will continue to succumb to it.

[spellcoats.livejournal.com]

You had to have known mentioning Dalemark would catch my attention.

[skygiants]

I did perhaps suspect this might be relevant to your interests. *serene* (I actually had the book recced to me in the middle of a discussion about Dalemark elsewhere on LJ, so it is totally fair play!)

[spellcoats.livejournal.com]

Only just a bit.

What? You were discussing Dalemark elsewhere? Was it the sort of gripping, insightful, and engaging conversation that would pique any Dalemark fan's interests?

[spellcoats.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh! By the way! I started rereading Dalemark today and I realized something!