Today I’m reviewing the debut novel by Melissa Grey, A Girl at Midnight. Released April 28 by Random House, ISBN 9780385744652, and the first in a series, A Girl at Midnight is a contemporary supernatural suspense YA book that needs to be on your shelves ASAP. I’d recommend it to readers who love Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the Geisha trilogy, and other books of that vein.
The publisher describes the book as:
Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she’s ever known.
Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she’s fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it’s time to act.
Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, though if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it’s how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.
But some jobs aren’t as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.
LOVED
This is one of those books that once you pick up you can NOT put down. Echo and the world of the Avicen and the Drakharins live with and underneath our current world, side by side yet hidden from what we can see. The story and quest pulls you in from the get-go, with human Echo’s longing to belong somewhere yet never fitting in, and the use of alternating viewpoints not just of Echo and Caius but also of other characters gives depth and deeper meaning to storylines that could have just been glancing cast-offs. Echo’s loyalties are pulled in a multitude of different directions, and are reflected in the changing beliefs of her Avicen and Drakharin companions that she gains along the journey. The twists and turns along the way will keep readers guessing until the very end, and the cliffhanger sets up readers screaming for more.
LIKED
I really liked the conflict that goes on within the different characters. Echo is pulled between her loyalty to the Avicen, her quest to find the Firebird, and wanting to end the war between the different races. Caius is pulled between his desire to find peace, his loyalty to his race, and his growing love for Echo. Dorian is torn between his loyalty to Caius and his growing feelings for the Avicen Jasper, not to mention his guilt for his action against Ivy. Ivy is dealing with the after-effects of being pulled into the fight and the torture that was dealt to her, and her healer tendencies, and whether she can forgive any Drakharians for what they have done not only to her but also to her race. Add to that the quest to find the Firebird, the ever-present shadow of the Avicen and Drakharian soldiers trying to find them all, and the war between the races threatening to destroy all of them. It adds many layers and depth to a contemporary supernatural story that you don’t often find.
DISLIKED
The last few chapters pack a LOT of action and plot shifts in a VERY few pages, so much so that I actually had to go back through and re-read a few passages to make sure that I read things correctly. The final battle sequence was extremely quick and intense, and readers will want to take their time and read carefully.
AHHHHH MOMENT
The AHHH frustrating moment for me is the overwhelming presence of Caius’ first girlfriend, who ends up merging with Echo at the end. The whole point is that she was able to be the Firebird yet chooses Caius instead, and is reborn as Echo, and Echo ends up with her memories (and possibly the memories of previous lives) after her death and rebirth in the final battle near the end of the book. That ends up just SO upsetting because I want Echo to be herself- not fighting some weird ghost person.
The AHHHH happy moment is when Jasper and Dorian are together- you know that Dorian cannot be happy with Caius because Caius is completely straight and Dorian is gay, and while Jasper is Avicen, he is determined to get Dorian to at least acknowledge him. So as you’re reading throughout the book, and you can see their relationship develop and Dorian come out of his shell, it’s just wonderful.
AGE RANGE
I’d definitely put this in YA, or ages 13 and up. Not only is there are lot of fighting in the book, there is a huge bloody battle at the end, and war torture and the aftermath of that torture characters have to deal with. Younger readers could be ready for the book if they’ve been reading books such as Daughter of Smoke and Bone, City of Bones, or other series with high contemporary fantasy with fights.
END FEELINGS
NEXT ONE PLEASE!!!!