Europe at Midnight

Originally posted on bluchickenninja.com.

I have to start out by saying I didn't really want to read Europe At Midnight. The only reason I bought it is because it was nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award this year and I decided to review the whole shortlist. I didn't want to read this because that I wasn't a fan of Europe In Autumn, but I think it's partly my own fault that I didn't like it. I went into that book expecting a sci-fi story (I mean you would expect that if a book has been nominated for a sci-fi award right?) and what I actually found was a very well written spy novel with a little bit of science-fiction bolted on at the end. And I think that shock at not getting what I expected was a large part of the reason I didn't like that book, to the point where I want to go read it again knowing it's really more of a spy novel.

Anyway that's enough about the first book. Europe At Midnight is the sequel to Europe In Autumn and is partially set in one of the pocket universes you are introduced to at the end of the first book. This particular universe is essentially a large university campus and our main character is a type of detective who lives there. Look I'm going to be totally honest. I read this and I still don't fully understand the whole plot, you're better off reading the blurb than reading my attempt at summarising it.

I suppose that may also give you an idea of how I feel about this book (you may also like to know I finished it and immediately put it on my to-be-donated pile). Basically this book was just okay. I really liked the spy aspect of it but the rest was kind of boring. The characters were fine, you have two main characters and because of the way it was written I found it really difficult telling who's point of view the story was being told from. The beginning wasn't so bad for this because the characters were in two separate places but by the end I had no idea what character was talking.

The ending was very meh. It didn't have any real conclusion, it sort of just stopped. In fact I vaguely remember having this same problem with Europe In Autumn. The only good thing I can tell you about this book is you don't need to read the first to understand what is going on in this one (and I can say that with complete certainty because I remember very little of what happened in the first book). Basically it was just okay. But if you want a good spy novel go read something by John Le Carre instead.

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This is the second installment of author Dave Hutchison's “The Fractured Europe Sequence.” I gave the first installment five stars but I noted that the reader should be warned that the first installment was not truly a complete novel so much as the first part of a larger novel. I think that observation implies a recommendation that a reader should start with the first book in order to get a full flavor for the backstory in this story and the clever way that his story hooks up with Europe in Autumn.

So, since the reader is duly warned to start with the first book, this review will contain spoilers for the prior book.

When we ended Europe in Autumn, we had followed Rudi from his evolution from chef to agent for Les Courier de Boise, and had learned about a Europe that had been ravaged by a mysterious Xian Flu and was devolving into smaller and smaller units. At the end, Rudi had stumbled onto a fantastical story about a family of Englishmen who had spent generations mapping a part of England that had never existed in our world, which is associated with an even more fantastic place called the Community. By the end of Autumn, we discover that the story isn't a fantasy....and the story ends.

This book picks up without Rudi. Instead, we are in a world that exists purely as English academia. The unnamed first-person narrator lives in the Campus, which we come to learn has a society organized around a university. Residents are Students, Teaching Assistants, Doctors, and Professors as a matter of heredity. The Campus is organized into geographic areas defined by the Faculty of Science, Law, Medicine, etc. There has been a revolution, ousting the Old Board. The New Board has discovered that the Old Board was sanctioning bizarre medical experiments and there are technological assets beyond its apparent early 20th century level of technology.

The narrator comes into contact with a mysterious woman who seems to know more about things than he does, which is interesting since he is the spy chief of the New Board. Then, he is forced to flee the Campus and comes to Europe. He becomes an intelligence asset who is used to infiltrate a spy cell for the Community and the Community itself.

We get a lot of information from the inside about the Community and the Campus.The Campus is a terrific bit of sociological imagination. I really enjoyed the detailing of the Campus and the claustrophobic storyline of conspiracies unknown and suspected. The move into the Community is equally good as we see a society where 19th century Toryism prevailed over radicalism and labor unions.

The writing is excellent with a lot of wry humor. The focal character is interesting and observant and likable. The story is filled with conflict and adventure which keeps it interesting.

What happened to Rudi? If you pay attention to the last several pages you can see where the conclusion of Midnight hooks up with the conclusion of Autumn. Since this is a story about topologically-related parallel universes, this bit of topological linkage is appropriate and clever.

I am doing something I hardly ever do, which is to immediately purchase and read the next installment.