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A review by darquedreamer
The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter
4.0
The Midnight Queen is magical and elegant. It is a story of adventure, danger, betrayal, love, and murder. You do not want to miss this enchanting journey.
The Plot: Gray has a great talent for magick. So great, that it landed him a place at the prestigious Merlin College. But that place is threatened when he is persuaded by a few fellow students to embark on a mysterious, midnight mission that ends in disaster. As punishment, and to recover his magical abilities that mysteriously disappeared during the mission, he is sent to stay the summer with Professor Callendar, to be kept watch over. He expects to be treated poorly and to do hard, manual labor, but he does not expect to meet the lively, curious Sophie.
Sophie, who is forbidden to educate herself on the art by her father, the professor, has a profound interest in magick. She encourages Gray to teach her, unaware of the dangerous situation Gray has gotten himself in to. Together they uncover curious secrets about Sophie and a plot for murder. Can Sophie be taught to control the magick in time to help Gray uncover and save the target of the assassination before its too late?
The Midnight Queen had a bit of a slow beginning for me. It took me a few chapters to really get in to it. Once I did though, I found it to be a cute, magical tale. It felt unique and enchanting. I liked that the main focus was the magick and uncovering the mission details, and that the romance was just the bonus but did not take center stage. I found the story to be a touch on the boring side, but different from what I have been reading lately, so still refreshing. The world building was nice but could have used a little more imagery and details. The story itself did have a few predictable moments, and besides having a bit too many character flashbacks, it read well. The characters seemed well though out, and complimented each other well, but I still felt like I was missing a little something in the way of development.
Gray felt a little dull for me. He is supposed to be our main hero of the story, and he is quite brave and very kind, but he just lacked finesse in the way of a main, male character. He has an intricate part in the story, so he is much needed. I just feel like he could have had a better back story and more personality details. I did love the unique magickal ability he owned, and I loved how his opinion about a certain character's appearance changes for the better once he gets to her know.
Sophie was a curious, interesting character. She seemed to have the most depth out of all the characters, and yet still felt a little predictable for the story. She was held back from learning magick and getting an education because of her sex, and yet, instead of outwardly disobeying her father like most book characters in her situation, she secretly studied while he slept. During the day she blended in to the room and was the perfect lady. She did this so well, that it was actually hard for her father to fully picture her in his mind when performing a finding spell later in the story. She is definitely brave, inquisitive, loving, and intriguing.
Joanna was a fun, supportive character. Though acted much younger than she was supposed to be, she felt like the bravest one of the group. She was kind, intelligent, outspoken, and loud. I enjoyed reading her character throughout the tale and feel that the book would have lacked without her.
After the slow start, and putting aside the slow pace and somewhat predictable moments, this book was enjoyable, and I did enjoy the chapter titles. It could have been better, but I am unsure of what age it is recommended for. I would rate it 3.5-4 stars and I will definitely be finishing the series at some point.
Thank you to Blogging For Books for providing this free review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Plot: Gray has a great talent for magick. So great, that it landed him a place at the prestigious Merlin College. But that place is threatened when he is persuaded by a few fellow students to embark on a mysterious, midnight mission that ends in disaster. As punishment, and to recover his magical abilities that mysteriously disappeared during the mission, he is sent to stay the summer with Professor Callendar, to be kept watch over. He expects to be treated poorly and to do hard, manual labor, but he does not expect to meet the lively, curious Sophie.
Sophie, who is forbidden to educate herself on the art by her father, the professor, has a profound interest in magick. She encourages Gray to teach her, unaware of the dangerous situation Gray has gotten himself in to. Together they uncover curious secrets about Sophie and a plot for murder. Can Sophie be taught to control the magick in time to help Gray uncover and save the target of the assassination before its too late?
The Midnight Queen had a bit of a slow beginning for me. It took me a few chapters to really get in to it. Once I did though, I found it to be a cute, magical tale. It felt unique and enchanting. I liked that the main focus was the magick and uncovering the mission details, and that the romance was just the bonus but did not take center stage. I found the story to be a touch on the boring side, but different from what I have been reading lately, so still refreshing. The world building was nice but could have used a little more imagery and details. The story itself did have a few predictable moments, and besides having a bit too many character flashbacks, it read well. The characters seemed well though out, and complimented each other well, but I still felt like I was missing a little something in the way of development.
Gray felt a little dull for me. He is supposed to be our main hero of the story, and he is quite brave and very kind, but he just lacked finesse in the way of a main, male character. He has an intricate part in the story, so he is much needed. I just feel like he could have had a better back story and more personality details. I did love the unique magickal ability he owned, and I loved how his opinion about a certain character's appearance changes for the better once he gets to her know.
Sophie was a curious, interesting character. She seemed to have the most depth out of all the characters, and yet still felt a little predictable for the story. She was held back from learning magick and getting an education because of her sex, and yet, instead of outwardly disobeying her father like most book characters in her situation, she secretly studied while he slept. During the day she blended in to the room and was the perfect lady. She did this so well, that it was actually hard for her father to fully picture her in his mind when performing a finding spell later in the story. She is definitely brave, inquisitive, loving, and intriguing.
Joanna was a fun, supportive character. Though acted much younger than she was supposed to be, she felt like the bravest one of the group. She was kind, intelligent, outspoken, and loud. I enjoyed reading her character throughout the tale and feel that the book would have lacked without her.
After the slow start, and putting aside the slow pace and somewhat predictable moments, this book was enjoyable, and I did enjoy the chapter titles. It could have been better, but I am unsure of what age it is recommended for. I would rate it 3.5-4 stars and I will definitely be finishing the series at some point.
Thank you to Blogging For Books for providing this free review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.