The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

Title: The Midnight Star

Author Name: Marie Lu

Age Rating: Older Teen

Star Rating: ✦✦✦✦✦

Genre: Fantasy, Female Lead, Morally Gray Protagonist, Fiction

Summary:

After discovering the looming death of all Elites, Adelina, shaken and resigned, resolves to work together with her enemies to prevent her death. Having to gather former friends and enemies together is a grueling task, especially when the objective is to give up your powers to heal the crack between the mortal plane and the underworld.

But can she trust those who have betrayed her in the past? People who she in turn has betrayed? 

Favorite Character:

My favorite character throughout the last book was Adelina. As she struggled to cope with the fact that she would have to give up her power, readers slowly see great reasons why Adelina should give up her powers.

The voices that haunt her, her illusions which spiral out of control, with an uncontrollable power like this, it’s a no brainer to get rid of it. But with power comes corruption… The last two books show how Adelina’s power has a chokehold on her

Storyline Development:

The story was slow paced for the first 75% of it. The last 25% of the book was fast paced and very, very sad. The ending of the book made me tear up. The entirety of the book was well written, especially with the reconciliation of Adelina and Violetta.

I love how the author made us root for Adelina no matter how far she went. I watched as Adelina transformed from an innocent and naive protagonist to the disenchanted and bitter antagonist of her own story. 

Worldbuilding:

As Adelina expands her empire to places with different types of people, we get to see some worldbuilding. I personally imagine the Baliras to be cute little narwhals that look like a strange mixture of unicorn and dolphin.

Overall I didn’t find myself paying too much attention to the worldbuilding as it seamlessly melded in with the rest of the events.

My Thoughts:

The book really reflects what it’s like to become attached to someone or something. (in this case Adelina became heavily dependent on her abilities) During the journey to the rip between worlds, Adelina has recurring thoughts of going back to her country, to her throne with Magiano.

Yet every time she has to stop herself even though she silently wants to abandon these people and flee. This happens not only because of Adelina’s love for Violetta but also because Adelina has matured. She understands that the Blood Fever is not a blessing or a curse, it is the result of what should never happen, a God walking upon mortal soil.

I think the book really touches on the idea that Gods aren’t meant to rule the world they’ve created. Instead, they stay in the Heavens (or wherever else they belong). 

On a thoughtful note, throughout the whole trilogy, my favorite book was The Rose Society. And this was simply because of how it was a revenge story involving high stakes heist, murder, and lots of badass moments.

Fun fact: It took me over a month to read this book because halfway through I realized the series was going to end, which caused me to procrastinate quite a bit.