I had previously read Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle novellas, and really enjoyed them. The City in Glass was available at the Seattle Public Library’s Quick Picks shelf, so I couldn’t help but pick it up. It’s published as a stand-alone volume, though in truth it’s somewhere in that borderland between a novella and a novel — safe to call it a short novel. Given the vast number of epic fantasy stories available, it’s refreshing to find something that isn’t a huge commitment in time. Vo seems quite comfortable at this length, which (as I recall) Robert Silverberg refers to as a kind of sweet spot for literature. It’s longer than a short story, so there’s room for more development of both characters and setting, but it’s not so overburdened with a complicated plot that it requires the kind of work (for writer or reader) that a novel (or series of novels) would. Some of Silverberg’s best writing has been at this kind of length, and the form lends itself to a poetic use of language beyond bare-bones prose.
The viewpoint character of the story is Vitrine, who is described as a demon. But this doesn’t seem to be a standard demon of any known mythology. She is immortal, and has some supernatural powers, but she’s not really what you’d call evil. The other main character is an angel, but again, this is not your standard Christian angel. It’s an immortal being capable of great destruction, with incomprehensible motivations and powers greater than that of a demon.
Vitrine, who seems to be somewhat of an outcast from her fellow demons, has adopted a human city called Azril. Her relationship to the city and its inhabitants is complex, part patronage, part behind-the-scenes guidance, and part fondness for the kind of chaos and mischief that humans are prone to. But to her, all humans are brief, fleeting entities, and few of them are given more than a mention. Decades can pass in Vitrine’s awareness within a sentence, so the history of Azril is rather sketchy. Put that’s not a problem — the actions of the citizens are secondary to the demon’s thoughts and feelings.
Azril is a city on a world much like Earth, but with various supernatural entities inhabiting it, including the ghosts of humans, and we never get a clear picture of the whole system. But again, this story centers on Vitrine and her strange relationship with the angel. It’s a very unusual love story, and the overall mood is reminiscent of a fable, with a flickering, dreamlike quality.
After finishing it, I could well enjoy more stories set in this fascinating world, but The City in Glass stands on its own as a compact gem of fantasy writing.
