Comes the Night

To my shame, I've only read one other Isobelle Carmody title, despite her being the 'queen of YA fantasy' as proclaimed on the cover of Comes the Night. But as soon as I started reading, it was obvious that I was in the safe hands of an experienced and accomplished author.

I would classify Come the Night as science fiction more than fantasy, though it does contain a fantasy element in the form of 'dream-walking,' whereby some individuals can enter a kind of collective consciousness known as the dreamscape and even enter into the dreamspaces of other people. There are some baddies looking to manipulate politicians and take over the world using the dreamscape, and I must confess that I became a little lost in the intricacies of their plot towards the end of the novel.

However, the struggles of Will and his friend (or more than friend?) Ender to discover what happened to Will's dead uncle Adam, the mystery of the extraordinary kite Adam left behind, who has abducted Ender's gifted twin Magda, and why, are all absorbing and exciting. This story, like We Do Not Welcome Our Ten Year Old Overlord, is set in an alternative Canberra, this time in the future (2070) when cities are protected by domes from the damaged environment resulting from climate change. People communicate with ophones, use and are monitored by household computer hubs, and travel by tubeway between domes. But they still go to see films, exercise on climbing walls and ride buses.

The world-building, as you'd expect from Carmody, is highly detailed and meticulous, and I enjoyed being immersed in this slightly dystopian world. I wondered if some of its features might have been influenced by Covid lockdowns, with intensive surveillance and the possibility of protective measures being abused by authorities. But most of all I appreciated the name of Will's beautiful and technologically sophisticated kite, Lookfar, the same name as Ged's boat in the Earthsea books.