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erynpaige's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, War, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, and Child death
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
deadbookishsociety's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Trigger warnings : racism , classism , homophobia , physical and mental abuse , toxic relationships, parental abuse .
This book was way more than what I expected it to be , it's not just a fantasy world but one way too similar to our won , where rules are made , people are divided and a system that supports and prefers one to another , why and since when people don't know and people are scared to question or maybe don't want to because it's just the way it has been until Nirrim does , until Sid a traveler comes in her life and makes her question everything she has been through. Makes her question why was the world divided into the way it was between high kith the ones who get to makes the rules and everything they want , earthlings the people in the middle and half kith the ones that suffer all of the consequences, over work themselves for the high kith and get nothing in return .
Nirrim is our main character who has shown to have such an amazing development throughout the book , from a timid girl who thinks about everyone else before her to someone who is ready to rebel against the system and take risks to get the answers she wants , Sid our lovely Sid , she is one of those characters who just make every scene they are in so much more charming, with her wit , flirtiness and mysterious personality she is one to look out for .
This book just in 300 pages was able to set up a magical world with characters so detailed that I was hooked right from the beginning to the end . So if you like short books with magic people and Sapphic main characters read this , read this , read this !!!
This book was way more than what I expected it to be , it's not just a fantasy world but one way too similar to our won , where rules are made , people are divided and a system that supports and prefers one to another , why and since when people don't know and people are scared to question or maybe don't want to because it's just the way it has been until Nirrim does , until Sid a traveler comes in her life and makes her question everything she has been through. Makes her question why was the world divided into the way it was between high kith the ones who get to makes the rules and everything they want , earthlings the people in the middle and half kith the ones that suffer all of the consequences, over work themselves for the high kith and get nothing in return .
Nirrim is our main character who has shown to have such an amazing development throughout the book , from a timid girl who thinks about everyone else before her to someone who is ready to rebel against the system and take risks to get the answers she wants , Sid our lovely Sid , she is one of those characters who just make every scene they are in so much more charming, with her wit , flirtiness and mysterious personality she is one to look out for .
This book just in 300 pages was able to set up a magical world with characters so detailed that I was hooked right from the beginning to the end . So if you like short books with magic people and Sapphic main characters read this , read this , read this !!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Racism, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved this while I was reading it, and now that I've put it down I'm torn between wanting the sequel, and not trusting that the sequel will be satisfying given how this book ended and some other issues which I'll discuss. Firstly, what this book is: THE MIDNIGHT LIE is a sapphic story of moments of happiness amid oppression and abuse in a fantasy setting. It's about loving small joys and good things for their transience, not in spite of it. It's a heartbreakingly relatable portrayal of trauma bonding, abuse, and betrayal, piling small cruelties atop systemic injustices in a setting where escape isn't enough.
One thing this does very well is show what gaslighting can look like in a way that gently and persistently provides a series of outside voices to counter the narrative being fed to the main character by her abuser. Her protests of this person's goodness and faithfulness become smaller and smaller until she finally has to decide what to do with the information she has been given. It begins subtly and slowly builds in a way that makes it a useful example of how insidious the abuse is and how much her abuser is controlling her understanding of reality, beginning when she was a much younger kid. As much as it muddles the message a little, I'm glad that the people trying to point out the one person's abuse aren't paragons themselves, that's especially important because it stop the main character from just switching which character has her undying loyalty.
I like how queer this is but please don't pitch it to anyone as a sapphic romance. It's sapphic, there is a romance, but the combination of traits implied by that conjoined phrase is not representative of this book. So much of the emotional core in THE MIDNIGHT LIE revolves around whether and how to trust untrustworthy people, whether they can't be trusted because they're personally cruel, they're not powerful enough to provide protection from the system, or they're impermanent and nothing and no one lasts forever. This commentary on untrustworthiness and betrayal makes for a fascinating book but an emotionally fraught romance. I'm also concerned about possible biphobia transphobia from some interactions with the love interest. The words the love interest chooses when expressing jealousy are suspiciously similar to some biphobic and transphobic talking points and it was uncomfortable to read, waiting to figure out whether the character was bigoted or just insecure and using bigoted language to convey those feelings. I think it's more the second one, but I remain unsure.
The end-of-book revelations about the truth of the setting worked well and made things make sense but I hate the decision that the main character made with that information. I don't know what she should have done instead given what she learned, but I hope the sequel takes the consequences of her choice seriously and doesn't treat it flippantly. I want it fixed but I don't want it cheapened by being handled too quickly.
One thing this does very well is show what gaslighting can look like in a way that gently and persistently provides a series of outside voices to counter the narrative being fed to the main character by her abuser. Her protests of this person's goodness and faithfulness become smaller and smaller until she finally has to decide what to do with the information she has been given. It begins subtly and slowly builds in a way that makes it a useful example of how insidious the abuse is and how much her abuser is controlling her understanding of reality, beginning when she was a much younger kid. As much as it muddles the message a little, I'm glad that the people trying to point out the one person's abuse aren't paragons themselves, that's especially important because it stop the main character from just switching which character has her undying loyalty.
I like how queer this is but please don't pitch it to anyone as a sapphic romance. It's sapphic, there is a romance, but the combination of traits implied by that conjoined phrase is not representative of this book. So much of the emotional core in THE MIDNIGHT LIE revolves around whether and how to trust untrustworthy people, whether they can't be trusted because they're personally cruel, they're not powerful enough to provide protection from the system, or they're impermanent and nothing and no one lasts forever. This commentary on untrustworthiness and betrayal makes for a fascinating book but an emotionally fraught romance. I'm also concerned about possible biphobia transphobia from some interactions with the love interest. The words the love interest chooses when expressing jealousy are suspiciously similar to some biphobic and transphobic talking points and it was uncomfortable to read, waiting to figure out whether the character was bigoted or just insecure and using bigoted language to convey those feelings. I think it's more the second one, but I remain unsure.
The end-of-book revelations about the truth of the setting worked well and made things make sense but I hate the decision that the main character made with that information. I don't know what she should have done instead given what she learned, but I hope the sequel takes the consequences of her choice seriously and doesn't treat it flippantly. I want it fixed but I don't want it cheapened by being handled too quickly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Death of parent, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Transphobia
CW for brief misgendering, threats of sexual assault.lilymcl's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Torture
Moderate: Violence and Racism
Minor: Death of parent
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