School Library Journal Review
This sci-fi adventure is filled with hope and compassion despite overwhelming darkness. In the distant future, humans have abandoned Earth to colonize January, a tidally locked world where half the planet is in constant darkness while the other half is always in sunlight. Sophie is exiled to the frozen, shadowy side after taking the fall for a crime committed by her friend Bianca. The story alternates between the perspectives of these two young queer protagonists. Through incredible world-building and storytelling, this book immerses readers in its strange setting. Teens will empathize with the inhabitants, both human and other. Although the narrative is slow to begin, the ending will leave readers wanting more-hopefully a sequel is in the works. VERDICT Mesmerizing. For fans of Frank Herbert's Dune and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows.-Melanie Leivers, Palm Beach Country -Library System, FL © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Nebula Award winner Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) sets this riveting genre-bender on a tumultuous planet split into frigid darkness and searing sunlight. On the lighter side, in the rigidly controlled city of Xiosphant, shy student Sophie adores her friend, the outspoken Bianca. After Sophie takes the fall for Bianca's petty theft, she's left to die in the frozen wasteland, but she establishes a psychic bond with the creature that saves her. This connection gives her heartbreaking insight into the world of a sentient race Sophie dubs the Gelet, who have been hunted relentlessly by humans. Sophie later reunites with Bianca, now a violent revolutionary, and they fall in with a group of smugglers, including the fierce Mouth, who seeks an artifact linking her to her nomadic ancestors. After an outbreak of violence, they flee Xiosphant, and Sophie is shocked to learn that Bianca wants to use the Gelet, labeling them "animals." Anders's worldbuilding is intricate, embracing much of what makes a grand adventure: smugglers, revolutionaries, pirates, camaraderie, personal sacrifice, wondrous discovery, and the struggle to find light in the darkness. This breathlessly exciting and thought-provoking tale will capture readers' imaginations. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Anders's much awaited follow-up to All the Birds in the Sky takes the reader to the distant planet January; its dark and light sides are fixed, with no day/night cycle. Humanity clings to life in two cities along the dusk line, one authoritarian and regimented, the other libertine and chaotic. Two young women are caught up in violent revolutionary politics that lead them to revelations about their world and eventually to a third strange and secret city. Anders's ambitious worldbuilding is reminiscent of China Mieville, making facets of January vividly alien and human by turns, and the protagonists' journeys as they cope with and grow past their separate traumas are an entirely relatable odyssey. Narrators Laura Knight Keating and Jennifer O'Donnell alternate viewpoint chapters centering on Sophie, naïve and afraid, and Mouth, scarred and closed off, and their readings are expressive and personal. VERDICT Recommended for readers who want tales of life on strange worlds, such as Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness and encounters with the unknown like Carl Sagan's Contact. ["An intricate tale of colonialism and evolution on both physical and social levels": LJ Winter 2018 starred review of the Tor hc.]--Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib., Atlanta