Fly By Night, by Frances Hardinge

[sophia_sol]

HOLY CRAP what a good book. I mean I had been warned how good it is! But it is REALLY REALLY GOOD. Also kind of surprisingly serious and deep? I was not expecting these kinds of happenings in a kid's book. MURDER and POLITICAL PLOTS and REBELLIONS and VIOLENT RELIGIOUS DISAGREEMENTS, and it is pretty clear that the last number of decades in this country have been kind of traumatic ones. And yet the book starts off with a relatively light tone, with a girl and her goose running away from home!

Throughout the book the combination of weighty matters and lighter things is deftly handled, and I was into all of it.

I loved all the stuff about revolution and politics and religion, and all the interesting worldbuilding, and I loved loved loved our main character Mosca. SHE IS THE GREATEST. I love how she is very clearly not a paragon; she has lots of flaws and makes some poor choices and yet she is SO DEEPLY ENDEARED TO THE READER. She's just so - I don't know if I've ever met a character like her before. She's great.

And actually ALL the characters are great; there's a really interesting assortment and all of them individual and strongly characterized and great. Including plenty of really great female characters!

And the quality of the writing itself was SO GOOD.

And I just - I don't know how to sum up this book the way it deserves.

IN CONCLUSION I NEED TO READ EVERYTHING ELSE HARDINGE HAS EVER WRITTEN.

Comments

[sholio]

Ahhhhhh I love this book SO MUCH! This was the first of her books I read (well, the only book of hers that was out at that point) and it turned her into one of my must-read-every-book-as-it-comes-out authors. I think Fly by Night (and its sequel) are still my favorites of the things she's written, but it's all good.

And isn't Mosca wonderful? She reminded me somewhat of Lyra from His Dark Materials, not in a derivative way but just a sort of vague similarity of character, but she was so solid and relatable and real. I love how, despite all of her anger and prickliness, she's got this underlying sweetness and willingness to believe the best of people even when they let her down.

I need to read this book again. :D

[sophia_sol]

yess definitely a must-read-everything author, I'm so excited to read more by her!

It's been so long since I've read His Dark Materials, and I didn't actually like the books, so I don't remember Lyra at all and can't appreciate the comparison. But your description of Mosca is just right and aahhh I LOVE HER SO MUCH.

[skygiants]

MOSCA MYE IS ONE OF MY VERY FAVORITE FICTIONAL PEOPLE

my tiny angry terrible too-suspicious too-trusting con artist child

and the Mosca-Clent partnership is one of my very favorite fictional partnerships

and I am very much looking forward to you discovering the rest of the wonderful world of Frances Hardinge because everything she writes is this good.

[sophia_sol]

I am excited to see how the Mosca-Clent partnership develops in the next book! But mostly I am excited about MORE MOSCA

"everything she writes is this good" WHAT A GIFT TO THE WORLD, I can't wait to read allllll of it, I am so glad you have been the cause of my discovering Frances Hardinge.

[genarti]

YOU REALLY REALLY DO NEED TO READ EVERYTHING ELSE HARDINGE HAS EVER WRITTEN.

Fly By Night is not even my favorite of hers!* But it's so so so GOOD. There's just so much going on, so many plot threads and theme threads, and Hardinge interweaves it all so well.

*Edit: I say this not to criticize, but just to highlight that everything she writes is so good. My favorite ones are not so much objectively better books as just ones that hit closer to my id and my favorite kinds of book and main character.

[sophia_sol]

Oooh ooh tell me which ones ARE your favourites and why?

Also I love that me making this post is getting me nothing but responses of gleeful agreement as to how good Frances Hardinge is.

[genarti]

Oh gosh. Okay! I reiterate that this is by and large not any kind of ranking of actual quality, just my personal preference.

VERY FAVORITE: A tie between Gullstruck Island (aka The Lost Conspiracy) and The Lie Tree, I think.

REALLY AWESOME BUT NOT MY VERY FAVORITE: Cuckoo Song, followed by a tie between Fly By Night and Face Like Glass.

I MEAN IT'S STILL GOOD BUT LOWEST ON MY LIST: Verdigris Deep (aka Well Wished), which is probably the most DWJish of hers and the only one set in the modern day (but with magic still).

I DUNNO BECAUSE I HAVEN'T READ IT YET: Fly Trap (aka Twilight Robbery), which is the sequel to Fly By Night.

...Also all her books have really dark undercurrents, so, uh, let me know if you want specific warnings for any of them! Fly By Night is nowhere near the darkest, for all the murder and child neglect. (I would say the darkest is Gullstruck Island, which involves literal genocide. Twice. But oh my god it's so GOOD.)

[sophia_sol]

Thank you!! Now I have to figure out which one to read next - hampered, of course, by my library not having all of them.

[soupytwist]

I love Mosca SO MUCH!! Mosca is basically the heroine I wish I'd got to read about when I was ten. She's so great.

[soupytwist]

Oh and just to make sure you know, because I didn't until I started reading it and was so excited - Twilight Robbery also has Mosca in it. :D

[sophia_sol]

Yes, I'm super excited! Mosca is so great.

I actually don't know what I would have thought about Mosca when I was ten, but I think I appreciate her more now than I would have then.