The Midnight Star

by Marie Lu

Amazon Prices:

Paperback: $10.99

Hardcover: $18.99

Kindle: $10.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Audible: $24.50 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Before Reading Facts:

The Midnight Star by Marie Lu was published in 2016 by SPEAK.

Page Count: 368 pages (paperback) 336 (hardcover) 330 (Kindle)

Audiobook length: 09 hrs 07 mins

Chapters: N/A (Not separated by numbered chapters) 

Languages: English (also available in the follow translations: Spanish, French, and German)

Summary of Book:

“Adelina Amouteru has turned her back on those who have betrayed her.

Her reign has been a triumphant one. But with each new conquest, her cruelty only grows, threatening to destroy all she has gained.

When a new danger appears, Adelina is forced to put not only herself but every Elite at risk.

Now Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest in order to persevere her empire–though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.” -SPEAK

Author Biography:

“Marie Lu is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Young Elites, as well as the blockbuster bestselling Legend series. Warcross is her newest book. She graduated from the University of Southern California and jumped into the video game industry as an artist. Now a full-time writer, she spends her spare time reading, drawing, playing games, and getting stuck in traffic. She lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, one Chihuahua mix, and two Pembroke Welsh corgis -SPEAK

Book Review:

Overall Book Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

When I picked up The Midnight Star, I was hesitant. The Rose Society already had me questioning Adelina, so to some extend I was already confused about what I really wanted. I didn’t know if I was going to like or dislike Adelina in this final installment in The Young Elites series. I had to take some time to think after reading The Rose Society before picking up The Midnight Star. This series had me questioning so much.

Once I started reading this novel, my fears came to life. Lu created a narrator that I did not like whatsoever, and I think this is a very tricky thing to do. The way she creates this narrative, one will either support or be against Adelina. I grew myself disliking her as the story progressed. However, my disliking her did not make me want to stop reading any less. This is why this series confuses me. I don’t know how Lu does it, but she somehow created a series that had me questioning my alliance to the narrator so much! Yet, I still want to keep reading more. Perhaps it is my wanting to know if my alliance to change that kept me so invested in this series.

However, I will admit that I did not change my alliance. I disliked Adelina throughout. Now I can see how others would have liked/disliked her at times but in the end be satisfied with her. But to me, I don’t know. I guess she didn’t meet up to the standards Professor Snape set. I mean he’s the only character I know that I dislike the whole series until the end. Adelina’s actions in the end did not (in my opinion) reach enough of a redeeming quality to have me change mt mind in the end. I HIGHLY recommend your reading this final novel in the series to make your own judgement. To me, the ending was satisfying enough, but my dislike for Adelina reigned through the whole series.

Audible Review:

Narration Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Narration by Carla Corvo and Lannon Killea

Corvo and Killea do an amazing job in bringing this third novel to life. I really enjoy when the same narrators tell the same series. I form such a connection from the original narrator that it kind of throws me off when different narrators are used in the same series. Corvo and Killea do excellent narrating the entire series. For those of us who like to multitask and listen on the go, I recommend listening at a 2.0 speed, so one does not miss anything. For those who are listening while reading the book, I found  3.0 speed to be the best speeds. 3.5 speed was too fast for me, and I was missing a lot of what the narrator was saying and had to eventually slow down the narrator’s reading speed. 

Other works by this Author:

Novels

Batman: Nightwalker

Legend Series

• Legend
• Prodigy
• Champion

The Young Elites Series

• The Young Elites 
• The Rose Society
• The Midnight Star

Warcross Duology

• Warcross
• Wildcard