Customer Reviews

The Night Children

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Late yesterday I finished reading Kit Reed's new book "The Night Children." It is a classic page-turner and I enjoyed the story. Without divulging too much, I feel that Lance is an important character like the Lone Ranger, who appears on the scene right when you need him, and then disappears just as quickly when the job is done.

Opposing what Lance stands for is the main villain, Amos Zozz, a cross between the Phantom of the Opera and Darth Vader, and equally as sinister. Isabella, his daughter, is also a powerful character and represents Zozzco and its reclusive founder to a "T." Between them, they wreak havoc on Castertown through their giant Megamall.

Caught in the middle are the Night Children, who rise above their personal tragedies to make a difference. They include the main characters, Jule and Tick, as well as others like Mag and Doakie, whom the author fleshes out very well. They show surprising unity when the chips are down and create a microcosm that most adults would do well to imitate.

With all the mysterious disappearances and other strange happenings at the Megamall, I wondered why an investigative reporter hadn't snooped around, but then this is a children's novel and some complexities are best left alone. Plus the fact that the people of Castertown were being drugged, as well as being paid very high wages, helps one to understand their greedy complacency. The novel's language is target age appropriate and its plot is well developed. I look forward to a sequel. Rev. Dennis J. Mercieri

I was drawn to read Kit Reed's The Night Children by two things: (1) the intriguing-sounding premise - bands of feral children secretly living inside the world's largest mega-mall, and (2) that Reed was a reputable writer whose other work had been apparently been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the James W. Tiptree award. Having now actually read the book, I have to say that rarely have I regretted the time lost as much as I regret the time I spent reading this thing.

I'm assuming that Reed must know how to write if her other work has been so highly regarded, but nothing of that shows up here. One gets the impression that The Night Children was written working from an outline over the course of a weekend and the rough-draft manuscript somehow made it into print without an editor having ever laid eyes on it. The characters are flat and lifeless, the pacing is excruciatingly slow, and the prose makes the act of reading a laborious and even painful exercise. I was ready to put the book aside before I'd even finished the first chapter, and only my stubborn habit of finishing everything I start kept me reading to the end in the faint hope that maybe it would get better. It never did.

One of the many problems with the prose is that it's mostly telling with very little showing, long passages of narrative explanation and commentary, making everything distant and dragging. The following passage is pretty typical of the entire book:

"Lance the Loner has lived free for years. He is up against it now.
--Right now his loyalties are pulling him eight ways to Sunday but looking at Lance in his ski mask and his neat camo, you'd never know. He is very good at hiding what he feels. He learned from the best. His mother taught him every time she shook off his hand or pushed him away, beginning when he was very small. To keep his dignity, he had to pretend this didn't hurt. He was an expert even before he put on the mask.
--What he is feeling right now is anxious and a little scared, but he keeps his head high and his shoulders squared. Inside, he is shaking. Can he do this? How? What will happen to his world if he does?
--So far in his life in the MegaMall, Lance has done as told. Agreed. After all, obedience is one of the conditions of his freedom, but the forces in the Dark Hall -- his people -- are planning something unspeakable, and this is Lance's dirty secret. Like Isabella Zozz and the terrible Amos, he is responsible for everything they do. Tonight he heard them talking. Honor or no honor, loyalty or no loyalty, pledges or not, he can't let it go on.
--It's time to act.
--He will, of course, but what will become of everybody then?
--There are places Lane is not supposed to go under any circumstances, and this is one.
--There are also things Lance is pledged not to do.
--What Lance is doing now, for instance, is absolutely forbidden. It was agreed along with a lot of other things when the powerfull Zozz family let him separate from them and walk free.
--This is Lance the Loner, considering.
--Do not ask Lance what he's going to do. If he doesn't know, he won't tell you.
--If he knows, he will definitely not tell you. He won't tell you anything.
--It all depends on how this next part comes down.
--Like Lance, you will have to wait."

Now imagine having to plow through stuff like this for over 200 pages. You get the idea.

Another problem, in additional to the lack of character development, is the sheer passivity of most of the main characters. Everything is driven by the needs of the plot and the characters are just along for the ride, the worst case being the ostensible main character, Jule Deveraux. Other than complaining a lot and dragging her heels at virtually everything, Jule does _nothing_. She makes no decisions, takes no actions, risks nothing, tries nothing, ventures nothing. Nothing she says or does has even the tiniest effect on what happens. You could in fact completely remove her character from the book and it would not make any difference whatsoever. There are in fact only two characters who in any way affect things; Lance the Loner, the plot-mandated hero, and Amos Zozz, the utterly cartoonish cardboard villain. The sketchiness of the characters and the wafer-thin plot here make the worst episode of Scooby-Doo look positively Shakespearean by comparison.

This isn't a book for young readers; it's not a book for readers of any kind. I can't recommend this book for any purpose beyond acting as a doorstop or perhaps propping up a table leg that's too short. And then only if you get it for free and don't have to pay anything for it.

Note: if you want to read a really good fantasy series about tribes of feral children living in the shadows, I highly recommend The Borribles trilogy by Michael de Larrabeiti.

People come from around the world to spend time at the Castertown MegaMall. Rich and poor they all flock to this premier wonder of the modern world. When last call occurs, zillions of people vacate the premises heading mostly to nearby hotels so they can easily return to shop until they drop.

However, at closing not everyone leaves. Tonight sitting in a car at the top of the internationally acclaimed WhirlyFunride is local junior high school student Jule Deveraux following a fight with her guardian Aunt Christy over misplacing her cell phone; the next morning her only known living relative was gone without leaving a note. Knowing what happens to unsupervised teen orphans, the feisty thirteen years old hides in the mall for now. However, she is not alone as the Castertown MegaMall contains residents of the night. Two rival gangs consisting of abandoned and runaway teens, tweeners and even younger children battle for mall supremacy. The Castertown Crazies headed by Tick Stiles fight with the Dingos led by Burt Arno. Neither chieftain nor the newcomer they each want to join their side understands the real war is to begin. Castertown MegaMall owner Amos Zozz resents these young rats living and abusing his facility; extermination and youthful cleansing are coming military style to THE NIGHT CHILDREN; there hope to survive depends on a loner who belongs to no one.

This is an exciting middle school thriller that hooks the audience from the moment the confused Jule meets the two rival gang leaders and learns the eyes of the kids are upon the unaware visitors. The story line is fast-paced from the onset yet provides moral insight into the social issue of what to do about unsupervised young that is summed up by a key secondary character who says: "Because you can't treat people like that". Kit Reed provides a strong parable of the richest society being so indifferent that they ignore the plights of the poor unless it negatively affects the bottom line.

Harriet Klausner

It started out ok but then it got really bad becuase it did a paragragh saying one thing and then the next paragragh said the same thing only in slightly different words. Its torture to read. I threw it across the room then picked it up and threw it again. AAAAHHHH