Amazon.com: Fly Trap: The Sequel to Fly by Night eBook : Hardinge, Frances: Kindle Store

This is the sequel to Fly By Night. Mosca Mye, along with her guardian goose, Saracen, are continuing their travels with Eponymous Clent. After having made a few narrow escapes, their options are limited and they find that they must go to the town of Toll, where you not only pay to get in, but also to get out. Toll has strict rules about curfews for night and visitors are ranked based on the “goodness” of their birth. The town of Toll is protected by their Luck, a mysterious item kept closely guarded by the town. Mosca and Eponymous find themselves once again embroiled in a series of schemes and intrigues and they find that Toll by Night is an entirely different experience than the daytime world, and dark plots are underway that could change Toll forever. Several of the characters from the prior book return to cause trouble for them including the frightening Locksmiths. This was a marvelous sequel, sprinkled with humor and clever language.

This is the sequel to 2005’s “Fly by Night”, and though it isn’t necessary reading to grasp the plot of “Twilight Robbery” (which has also been published as “Fly Trap”) it does introduce you properly to our heroine Mosca Mye, her fraught relationship to Eponymous Clent, and the city-state of Mandelion (which isn’t visited here, but still of thematic importance).Picking up not long after the previous book left off, orphaned Mosca, con-artist Clent, and temperament goose Saracen are trying to put distance between themselves and prior trouble by passing through the city of Toll. What they don’t realize till they step within its walls is that there are really two cities of Toll: Toll-by-Day and Toll-by-Night, with the citizens of each forbidden to interact with each other and confined to their quarters when it’s not their allotted time.Carrying on from the world-building that was established in “Fly by Night”, every hour of every day is sacred to one of the gods known as the Beloved, and in the city of Toll people are separated into night or day according to what god’s hour they were born in. Crucially, not all gods are created evil, and those who are born under what is deemed an unlucky, deceitful or malevolent god are consigned to the night.It’s into this world of rules and assumptions that Mosca and Clent step, and are promptly separated into Toll-by-Night and Toll-by-Day. To leave again they have to accumulate enough money to pay their way out, which is easier said that done when they’re surrounded by such intrigue. Soon enough they’re embroiled in a kidnapping plot that involves harried midwives, clawed urchins, would-be radicals, clueless mayors, ruthless cutthroats and more. Everyone has their own agenda and (almost) everyone is out for themselves, in a dangerous setting in which the very streets themselves can’t be trusted.“Twilight Robbery” is a pretty thick book (my library shelves it under Older Fiction in the children’s section, though it’s definitely a YA book in my opinion) with dozens – dozens! – of twists and turns throughout its hefty page-count. No one is who they initially appear, and motivations can be wrong and noble or selfish and necessary – it all depends on the character. The personalities are broad and colourful enough to help you keep track of who everyone is, but it’s a book that requires your concentration from start to finish.As ever, a highpoint is Hardinge’s wonderful prose, which describes everyone and everything in vivid, creative detail. Here’s one of my favourite passages: “To look into the pale eyes of Aramai Goshawk was to peer into a winter forest. Stark, wakeful, birdless, colourless, all its paths hidden beneath a smothering of white. You could stagger through it for leagues until you gave up hope, and your every footstep would be remembered, preserved and analysed by the unforgiving snow.”I just love that. And as in the previous book, Mosca makes for a marvellous heroine. Though her unlucky name means she’s been cast with suspicion for most of her life, there is a kernel of righteousness deep inside her, which prevents her from ever turning her back on someone in need, or a problem that needs fixing – even if she’ll tackle it with no small amount of self-recrimination. Watching her fight the world and all its nonsense, whether silly or deadly, will always be inspiring.This is a fitting continuation of Mosca and Clent’s adventures, and hopefully there will be another adventure forthcoming.

Totally engaging fantasy; rollicking good fun; and well written! Young orphan girl and her goose in a well developed alternate reality. Not just for kids!

Lyrical writing mixed with compelling characters and plot. The perfect mix of literary and genre. I fell in love with Mosca and her partner-in-crime, Eponymous Clent. I found myself lingering over passages, re-reading scenes because they were so delightful, or because I wasn't expecting what happened next. In one particular scene, Mosca, though her fears about what was going to happen to her filled her, she still noticed that Clent was in danger, too. She drew attention to herself in order to take the pressure off of Clent so that at least he'd be safe. And then, when she was carried off to face her fate, the unexpected happened—not because of a coincidence, but because of her bravery and sacrifice. That kind of writing is the difference between pedestrian and genius plotting.