(Disclaimer: the author of this story is a friend of mine.  But that’s okay, because she already knows what I think of it.)

City of Night is a young adult fantasy.  Young adult fantasy can be difficult to get into if you’re not a young adult.  That said, if you sit back (but not too far from the screen) and relax, and don’t get too caught up in ideas of what’s "serious" and what’s not, City of Night is an engaging and enjoyable story.

Like most good works, the best thing about it is the characters.  They are distinct, believable kids, with different strengths and personalities and senses of humor.  Izzy is the quirky little-sister type, Sandy the sweet lost soul, Toby the kind but overburdened leader, and Vince the wise but troubled friend.  They’re a bit Mary Sue (the kind of characters that seem unrealistically idealized), but only a bit, and in different ways.  They still have arguments and fights where it’s not clear who’s right, the kind of thing that Young Adult fiction has too little of, for fear of muddying the moral of the story.

And the Mary-Sue-ness of the characters is just enough to make them likable without them being too cloying.  While reading, you want Sandy to find people that accept her for who she is, and for Izzy to be seen as an equal by the others, and for Toby to let go of some of his responsibilities and share the rest.  (As of this writing we’re still not entirely sure what’s up with Vince.)  That engagement with the characters can keep you reading.

The plot and setting are fun if not earth-shattering so far.  We’re only in the third chapter, but we know that the City is split into two parts: the City of Light, ruled by conformist Sorcerers, and the City of Night, ruled by rebellious and argumentative Warlocks and Witches.  Sandy, feeling rejected by the City of Light, has run away to the City of Night, where a gang of Warlocks and Witches her age have taken her in.  The young denizens of the Night seem to have magic far beyond what Sandy has learned so far in school.  So why are Witches and Warlocks shunned and powerless?

Hopefully we’ll find out.  The story is only in the third chapter, and is perhaps a little slowly paced for me, though I must admit I’ve grown accustomed to reading short stories these days, so take that with a grain of salt.  And while I think at this point in the story most novels would have advanced the plot further and introduced more conflict, we have gotten a good read on the characters and some nice and atmospheric world-building.

So to sum up: the plot is fine but slow, the world different if not wholly unique, so it’s the characters that have to keep you coming back for more.  And they do.  Although sometimes a bit Mary Sue, they’re genuinely likable kids, and I’m sure more so for kids who are still officially kids.

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