A year after the events of The rose society Adelina Amouteru is faced with the hardest decision she had to make so far: either to pursue her mission of seeking revenge or to ally herself with those who have betrayed her once again in order to save the only two people she cares about.
"You cannot harden your heart to the future just because of
your past. You cannot use cruelty against yourself to justify cruelty to
others."
I absolutely loved this book. I think it's the perfect ending to a fantastic series and there's barely anything I'd change if I could. Just like the first two books in the series, the tone of The midnight star is very dark and a bit melancholic and unlike anything I've encountered in a YA novel so far. An aspect that is a lot more prominent in this book than it is in the previous two is mythology, which I really enjoyed. I loved learning about these gods and their tales and I feel like this just adds another dimension to the story. My most favorite part however is definitely the ending. It's so beautiful and bittersweet, so once I started crying, I literally couldn't stop. It rounds up the story really well and leaves (most) readers quite satisfied. To be honest, it's quite predictable, but the point of the ending isn't to be extremely shocking. It's supposed to be the light at the end of this very dark tunnel, that The young elites series is, and end the story with a feeling of hope and the promise of a better future, and the ending of The midnight star does that perfectly. I also adored the short folktale at the very end of the book, that once again shows how different a story can be told depending on the different point of views and that a reader should be aware of all of them to fully understand the story and its characters. The only part I didn't like about this novel (and honestly the series in general) is how short it is. It has so much potential and a lot of that is just wasted by the books being only a bit longer than 300 pages. Another amazing thing about this book however is definitely Marie Lu's beautiful writing. It's so engaging and just doesn't let you go, so The midnight star was a pretty fast read for me. There isn't that much worldbuilding in this book, but since the first two already did a fantastic job at establishing this stunning world, I honestly didn't mind that the story focuses a lot more on the characters and their interactions with each other.
The characters are so amazing. All of them are extremely interesting in their own ways, and there is no character that I found boring, annoying or unnecessary. They are also really diverse, not just from their ethnicity, but also from their social background, which ranges from an escaped slave up to a queen. There are also LGBT characters in there, and I especially liked that two characters are lesbian since I don't think I've ever read a YA novel with queer female characters. I certainly would've wished to see more of their relationship play out in their own point of views, but I obviously enjoyed reading about a queer relationship nonetheless. In general I liked how the relationships are handled, since they are quite subtle and don't distract from the main plot. It's interesting to see a bit more of the character's backgrounds, especially of those we know barely anything about. I don't even want to go into too much detail regarding the characters because of spoilers, but I can definitely tell you that I love all of them and that they are some of the most complex and interesting characters I've ever read about.
I honestly can't recommend you enough to read the amazing The young elites series, simply because it's just so different from the typical YA fantasy novel and I'm sure a lot of you will love it as much as I do.
Rating: 4.5/5 ✹
I hope you enjoyed this review! I'm sorry if there are any grammar/spelling mistakes, but due to studying I just don't have as much time as I usually do to write a review, which results in me making a lot of stupid mistakes. Anyway, have a great day!
Leah
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