Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Midnight Girls

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

24 reviews

lennie_reads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

I always love folklore / mythology retellings and when i found out this was also queer, i was all in.

This book is dual pov and the main characters are witch's apprentices for two out of the three witches of Lechija.

The witches are called White Yaga, Red Yaga and Black Yaga and have jurisdiction over Morning, Midday and Midnight respectively.

Each has an 'apprentice' to do their bidding and gather hearts for them to consume.

However, a rivalry that has been going on for years between Marynka (Midday's servant) and Zosia (Midnight's servant) will be put to the test when the two are once again sent out to capture a heart.

Marynka & Beata (Morning's servant) end up accidentally travelling with Zosia (as they don't know who the other is). Marynka & Zosia become very close very quickly. But their fast friendship is put to the test when their identities are revealed.

I absolutely loved Marynka and Zosia, they were both morally grey and didn't apologise for it. One wants power and one wants freedom but ultimately what they want is the same thing.

I really enjoyed the story but i felt it ended a bit abruptly and really would've liked to see more of Marynka and Zosia after the events of the book.

CW: death, blood, murder, child abuse, injury, self harm, war

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gbrds762's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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wardenred's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

No matter how dark the night, a new day always dawned. The sun never, ever failed to rise.

Such an exciting wintry read! I absolutely loved the Polish-coded setting, the clear fictionalized ties to real historical events, and all the cultural details about the festivities, the food, the clothes—everything. All the descriptions were so engrossing and vivid, and I really felt transported into the story. I also really liked all the monstrous witchcraft lore that made this book the perfect scary fairytale for the dark part of the year.

Marinka quickly became my favorite character with her fiery competitiveness and strong spirit. I kind of expected to like Zosia more because her arc/inner conflict sounded like something I usually find quite interesting. Somehow though, while I didn't mind her and liked her dynamic with Marinka, her personality didn't particularly endear her to me, although she kept growing on me more and more as the story went on. I absolutely loved Beata and her friendship with Marinka. And that secondary romance with my absolute favorite flavor of friends-to-enemies-to-lovers dynamic? Perfect. Absolutely perfect. My favorite aspect of the book, really. Those two are going to live in my head rent-free for a long time.

There were some pacing issues in the first half of the story, and then some of the events in the second half felt rushed, which is the one reason this isn't a full five-star read for me. Otherwise, this is a great tale of chaotic villainous queers, and exactly the wintry read I needed.

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brynn_books's review

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adventurous dark medium-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? Yes

4.0

The concept of this book was so intriguing. I mean, who doesn’t love sapphic villains? This book is different than anything I've ever read before. I like how the main characters were both villains and how they didn’t completely change their ways by the end of the book.

I do wish the backstories were more expanded on. I also thought the beginning felt a little weird and rushed. It was like they became friends within one chapter and then almost immediately became enemies again. It felt a little rushed. I would have loved to see more development with their friendship and then watch them become sworn enemies again.

Overall, I wish the story was fleshed out a little more. I wanted more development between the characters’ relationships and more elaboration on the magic system. But I still enjoyed it. It was very fun and very queer. I don’t think there are any plans for a sequel, but I could definitely see one happening. Especially because the ending didn’t feel completely satisfying to me. There was something missing but I don’t know what. It also felt a little rushed to me. But I would still highly recommend this book if you’re into sapphic villains!

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sapphicbookfae's review

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

i loved reading this SO much! the pacing was great up until the last 10% of the book i'd say

i know this is an enemies to lovers deal and i always love the slow burn but i would've loved to see more of the two characters that fall for each other

other than that i loved the world building and beautiful magic and monstrous sapphic villains

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pey333's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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thecourtofreading's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

this was such a good enemies to lovers, i could really feel how much they hated each other and the confusion as to why they wanted to be around each other all the time. and it's gay too, so it's superior, AND they're witches? would honestly love a book two.

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lahariel's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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nobeliumreads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

In the kingdom of Lechija is a prince with a pure heart. Consuming it gives one immeasurable power. Two monstrous girls, Zosia and Marynka, are willing to do anything to get it; the former for herself, the latter for her patron. But it’s not easy trying to kill a beloved prince during the festive Karnawal season, and as their rivalry heats up, so does the danger to both of their lives.

A fun and easy book I binge read in two days. Marynka and Zosia’s rivalry, the way they got so frustrated whilst also wanting to be sabotaged by the other was so entertaining to read.

I do admit that I liked Zosia more though, because at times Marynka did frustrate me. Beata, another servant girl to the witches, though predictable, was an unexpected addition and I personally think she deserves her own story after apparently third wheeling her entire life. However, I felt like we didn’t know much about the girls other than them being monsters or servants or rivals which made me feel a bit detached from them.

The writing is fine and the worldbuilding was really interesting, maybe too interesting because it ended up making me more intrigued in what was going on in the background instead of Marynka and Zosia; the political tension in Lechija, the budding revolution, whatever was going on between Józef and Kajetan. I would honestly love a second book about Józef and Kajetan. Another thing that I wish we’d seen more of were the witches; we spend the whole book being told how powerful and terrifying they are but they weren’t as big a threat as I expected them to be.

We never even see Black Jaga and considering how she’s apparently the most powerful of the witches, I expected a terrifying confrontation between her and the girls after finding out what Zosia did.

And although this is a personal preference, I would have loved to see more of Marynka and Zosia in the ending.

Overall, I enjoyed this book but couldn’t help but wish for more whilst reading it. My own expectations definitely influenced how I felt about the book, so that’s on me but objectively I think it’s still an enjoyable sapphic rivals to lovers book!

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shaipanda's review

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book didn’t grab me for some reason but idk if that’s cause I genuinely didn’t enjoy it that much or because I just finished one of the best books I’ve ever read
I did love that it was gay tho cause obviously lol and I enjoyed it overall but it was still a kinda meh read for me

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