City of Night.
Feb. 7th, 2010 10:49![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyWest, Michelle. City of Night. New York: DAW Books, 2010.
I'm pretty sure this is the shortest Michelle West novel since the first, Hunter's Oath, which is too bad, because no matter how long her books are (even when they'e 800 pages) I always want more. But this book was more than awesome enough for me to forgive its shortness (and, by the way, it's actually 467 pages, so not really that short).
I said when I first wrote about these books that they are about, on one level, what people will do to prevent the end of the world. In this book a character (people who have read Hunter's Death will know who) deliberately sets himself up to be possessed by a demon so as to draw the demons in the city of Averalaan out into the open, which changed my interpretation of that character almost completely--from a fool to a hero. Given that City of Night depicts the events immediately before, and at the beginning of, Hunter's Death, I knew almost all the plot points in advance, but the pleasure here, aside from the story itself, is in the additional character and background detail we learn. In particular, Jewel's den-kin Angel is given more attention than ever before, and he is elevated to a fascinating character in his own right. But then, every person in this world has their own fascinating backstory.
So, all in all, an excellent book, and I want the next, House Name, ridiculously badly. Let me just throw out a few tidbits that won't make sense to people who haven't read the books: this one has Ariane! and ringless!Evayne! And more about Sigurne Mellifas! And Kallandras! And Meralonne!
I've still been thinking about possible reading order. I think there are three:
1) Publication order. The Sacred Hunt (2 books), The Sun Sword (6 books), The House War (5 books; in progress);
2) The Hidden City, City of Night,, The Sacred Hunt, The Sun Sword, the rest of The House War;
3) The Hidden City, Hunter's Oath, City of Night, Hunter's Death, The Sun Sword, the rest of The House War.
I'm pretty sure this is the shortest Michelle West novel since the first, Hunter's Oath, which is too bad, because no matter how long her books are (even when they'e 800 pages) I always want more. But this book was more than awesome enough for me to forgive its shortness (and, by the way, it's actually 467 pages, so not really that short).
I said when I first wrote about these books that they are about, on one level, what people will do to prevent the end of the world. In this book a character (people who have read Hunter's Death will know who) deliberately sets himself up to be possessed by a demon so as to draw the demons in the city of Averalaan out into the open, which changed my interpretation of that character almost completely--from a fool to a hero. Given that City of Night depicts the events immediately before, and at the beginning of, Hunter's Death, I knew almost all the plot points in advance, but the pleasure here, aside from the story itself, is in the additional character and background detail we learn. In particular, Jewel's den-kin Angel is given more attention than ever before, and he is elevated to a fascinating character in his own right. But then, every person in this world has their own fascinating backstory.
So, all in all, an excellent book, and I want the next, House Name, ridiculously badly. Let me just throw out a few tidbits that won't make sense to people who haven't read the books: this one has Ariane! and ringless!Evayne! And more about Sigurne Mellifas! And Kallandras! And Meralonne!
I've still been thinking about possible reading order. I think there are three:
1) Publication order. The Sacred Hunt (2 books), The Sun Sword (6 books), The House War (5 books; in progress);
2) The Hidden City, City of Night,, The Sacred Hunt, The Sun Sword, the rest of The House War;
3) The Hidden City, Hunter's Oath, City of Night, Hunter's Death, The Sun Sword, the rest of The House War.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-07 22:37 (UTC)BTW I'm missing all my Asian Studies reading, I almost thought about getting a Duara book the other day. I'm still considering it actually.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-07 23:03 (UTC)The books are awesome; I think you'll like them. ^_^