Reviews

3.5 stars. Well, I didn't love this as much as the first book, but I still did like it very much, enough to consider it a solid win. The book picks up directly after the end of the first, and Nirrim and Sid have to grapple with the fallout of everything that happened. What made me super happy off the bat is that in this book we get chapters from Sid's POV as well as Nirrim, and also a third, surprise narrator.

What kinda stopped me from enjoying this as much is just the general plot direction? Like, I expected things to go in this direction but not totally? And okay, I definitely need to talk about actual events, so spoilers up ahead:

Spoiler

Like, the twist with Nirrim bargaining away her heart and becoming someone almost totally different was such a good ending to the first book, and I obviously knew we would be exploring that, but somehow, reading about evil Nirrim, making bad decisions, fighting against her better nature, ignoring the advice of her friends and generally just becoming a worse person (she explicitly becomes more like Raven)... it just wasn't as compelling a storyline as I would have expected. It's not even that it was too sad (and I AM kind of a baby-ish reader, and if something is too sad for me, it CAN negatively impact my experience). It's just that it wasn't all that interesting, ultimately! There's a lot of internal monologuing that's interesting, but ultimately... eh! I'm not gonna lie though, even though it wasn't great and it was part of Nirrim's corruption arc, I got a lot of satisfaction out of Raven and Aden's deaths. :D

The plotline with Sid was a bit more interesting. We got to see her country, learn a bit more about the history and the wars that have been referenced in the first book. I really liked the story of her mother and father. Her side of the plot involves her struggling with the fact that her gender expression and sexuality aren't totally accepted by her family and others in her country, an arranged marriage looming above her, and trying to figure out a plot to poison her mother. The mystery or intrigue of the poison plot was good, but it would have been better if it wasn't completely obvious. It was just one of those situations where it was like... well, who ELSE could it be? But I loved being in Sid's head as she figures things out, reconciles certain things with her parents, heals old wounds. We get to see a different side of her, from her own POV, and I loved her all the more.

The writing was just as striking, though I found myself not quite as obsessed with it. The main characters are separated for a good portion of the book, but the romance still felt strong, because they thought about each other so much. Things definitely pick up pace in the last quarter, and that's my biggest critique. The book moved at a relatively moderate/slow pace, and then we just started hurtling towards the end. It was wayyyyy too abrupt. I didn't need answers or a resolution to everything, but it still left me unsatisfied. I was really happy with the way things turned out in general, and how our characters felt towards each other, everything they did for each other, but we really needed another 50 pages to flesh things out, sit in those emotions a bit longer.

Listened to the audiobook as read by Justine Eyre, and it was just as great as the first book. This duology was really a complete win, even if I didn't like the second book as much. I'm pretty picky with my YA reads, and I'm so glad I finally took a chance on this one.

It remains the fate of all humans who lack compassion never to understand that they lack it.

eisfederchen's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

gggina13's review against another edition

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3.0

Thanks to libro.fm's ALC program for the complimentary audiobook!

Ummmm...

See, because it's good. It really is good. It's just such a far leap from the first book. The ending of the first book was awesome and made me very excited about the conclusion to the duology. But I feel like the synopsis misrepresents the story, and frankly I feel like this is supposed to be the middle book in a trilogy. When I found out the book was ending where it did... it was suchhhh a WTF moment. As a story on its own, I thought it was great. It's only when it's viewed as an installment in a pair of books that it loses some of its shine. I guess I have to give it a 3.5 overall.

It's difficult to discuss plot without giving away the ending of The Midnight Lie. Which, that ending was really good, so I don't want to do that. I guess I'll say we pick up immediately after book one, in which Nirrim is in her home country and Sid has returned to her own. Nirrim is quite different fundamentally than she was in book one. I mean, leading an army to a war she kind of started type different. Meanwhile Sid has returned home to spend time with her sick mother and potentially reconcile the broken relationship she has with her parents.

Part of the disconnect is that for about 70% of the story, Nirrim and Sid are completely separated, going through both their respective storylines that are VERY different from one another, and thinking about each other while doing so. Nirrim is dealing with being a leader in her... condition, and Sid is trying to solve a full ass mystery, because turns out her mom isn't normal sick, she's someone is poisoning me sick. So when the synopsis tells me that the story is about Sid going back to see what's up with Nirrim, I call bullshit.

That doesn't mean that Sid's story isn't going good. It's really good. It's about Sid confronting why she doesn't think her parents approve of her liking girls, and her coming to conclusions about how a lot of it could be her own fault for not giving them enough credit. Which, don't get me wrong, her parents haven't been perfect, but the way they come back to each other as a loving family is really fucking sweet. It just sucks that while Sid's off doing that, Nirrim is literally killing people that she's known and loved(?) all her life.

The ending was soooo rushed, it's not even told from either Sid OR Nirrim's POV, and it lasts for maybe a page. It genuinely should have been its own book for real, not a damn page. It reallllly threw off what I loved about the first book, which was partially all the tension and pining between the two girls. There was hardly any time for them to find their way back to their romance again which was just torturous to me as an invested reader tbh.

I don't know, after reading my own review I'm like, is this even a 3.5 at this point? It really disappointed far more than it followed through. But there were some really beautiful moments about finding yourself - there was a part of Sid's story that hit me so deep because it was about people who don't take anything seriously because they're scared of how things would feel if they were taken seriously and I was kinda like... okay I was clocked by that. And there's a moral in Nirrim's storyline, I'm sure, about what makes you you and the benefits of power or revenge if you've completely become a different person but like I wish there was more at the END yet AGAIN I'm saying this because I just can't believe it really had the audacity to just end lmao

ANYWAY if a third book ever gets announced perhaps I'd up the rating but as it stands I'm just like... that shit just ended......

lilymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Such a good ending to the story. Loved the different POVs, and I didn't feel like one POV took away from another or that they were hamfisted in. Everything was just amazing.

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