Isobelle Carmody’s latest book, Comes the Night, is an exploration of a not-too-distant world where over-surveillance is the norm. Living in a dome which protect the inhabitants from the dangerous atmospheric conditions outside, main character Will discovers he has the power to walk within dreams.

Let’s cover off on the stats for Comes the Night:

• Young adult novel.
• Published in 2024.
• Australian author.
• Science fiction: dream-walking, mind-technology connections, twins with special powers, nefarious government powers.
• Get it from here.

Isobelle Carmody is a favourite author of mine. I was delighted to meet her last year at the launch of Comes the Night. This latest of her novels feels like a back to roots story, for reasons I’ll get into shortly.

Comes the Night: plot overview

Before that though, let’s talk about the plot. The story is about Will, who has tragically lost his beloved uncle to a strange, unexplained death. He lives in a domed society. In this near-future Australia, cities have been encapsulated to protect them from the outside elements. Surveillance is a universal part of life in Will’s world. As Will navigates his grief, he discovers that he can walk within dreams. This leads him down a path to uncover a deadly conspiracy. It threatens not only Will, but his best friend Ender, her twin sister Magda, and Will’s parents as well.

Comes the Night deals with themes of control and surveillance, self and identity, and responsibility for each other and the planet.

Comes the Night: The world

Will’s world is futuristic but recognisable. There are new portmanteau names for some countries which hint at their origins (a common feature of Carmody’s writing). I love this device. It gives a sense of historical shifting of allegiances and power axes without having to explain what’s happened.

One of the interesting elements of the world is the domed cities. In this future, major cities have been domed, with connecting tunnels between. This is to protect from toxins, radiation, unpredictable weather and other nasties that make outside the domes dangerous. However, there is political conflict between the countries that dome, and the ones that are opposed to doming.

The anti-doming countries argue that the domes mean no one will care about fixing the problems of the outside world. Why try and make the world more habitable, when you’re safe inside a dome?

Conversely, the domed societies are bewildered by anti-doming sentiment. Why choose to live outside when you and your children could be protected and safe inside? It’s an interesting dynamic and I love that both sides are given logical arguments to support their position.

Dream-walking characters

Will is a teenager looking ahead to his post-school future, whilst dealing with the loss of his uncle. His father is supportive of Will’s more creative leanings. His mother, on the other hand, wants him to follow in her footsteps into the political world.

The secondary characters, Will’s best friend Ender and her sister Magda, are well-constructed. Magda is essentially a computer technology savant. Her mother was part of a program that generated these abilities in Magda while she was still in utero. Ender does not have the same gifts, however, and is neurotypical like Will.  The first turning point of the story comes when Magda disappears. She leaves to work on a government project, supposedly willingly, a story which Ender won’t accept.

As the book progresses, Will discovers his ability to dream-walk. He uses Lookfar, an advanced technological kite his uncle left for him, to help him interface between the dream and waking worlds.

Comes the Night feels like a back to roots story for Carmody (this bit has spoilers!)

Will discovers the government has been infiltrated by people with nefarious purposes. They intend to use the domes to control the inhabitants within through their dreams. The ending has parallels with Carmody’s first book, Obernewtyn, the first of the Obernewtyn Chronicles, which makes it feel like a back to origins story in her canon.

In both stories there is a dangerous machine for which innocent youths are the final missing piece. Forcing them into the machine completes a plan orchestrated by controlling adults. Both books have a misdirected male doctor, who believes in what he is doing, and that he is doing the right thing for the world. Both have an unhinged, cruel woman who’s actually pulling the strings to orchestrate the deadly plan. In both, in very different worlds, Carmody explores the interaction between humanity and machines, power and innocence, and the sense of responsibility to the natural world beyond human goals.

These are common themes in Carmody’s work. Where Comes the Night stands apart from many of her other books is the sense of near-future extrapolation from technology that is already very much a part of everyday life. Will is an ordinary boy living with complex but loving parents, trying to find the future he wants to be part of. Comes the Night will please Carmody fans and newcomers alike.