A review by thereadingrambler
A Midnight So Deadly by Wren Handman

adventurous emotional fast-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? No

3.0

I was enraptured with this book! When I’ve previously talked about Parliament House Press, I noted that their website promises urban fantasy but that two of the three books I’d read from them were not urban fantasy. That said, I found A Shot of Gin to be the most well-written. Well, my belief that they really need to continue expanding their urban fantasy offerings is affirmed with A Midnight So Deadly (although, yes, this one is also science fiction).

The book is a dual POV that follows Maeve and Peri. They are both dreamers, which is a new career that emerged after the development of technology that allows you to record and share your dreams. Peri is well-established in this world, while Maeve is on the brink of really breaking into the industry. Unfortunately, they both start to experience some odd and dangerous things, sending them into an entirely new world.

The set-up and build-up are both well-executed. Maeve and Peri are fully realized characters with clear personalities (although I did think Peri was older than Maeve). I understand their motivations and internal conflicts and sympathize with them easily. They are people who are easy to love and care for. As we are drawn deeper into the plot, every element of the book we’ve been presented with becomes relevant in different ways to the choices the characters make, each of which has consequences, good and bad. I loved the idea of being able to record dreams and the exploration of how that would impact society. The fact dreams were immediately monetized just makes so much sense to me and was kind of funny. Simultaneously critiquing this choice through the unintended ramifications was also a smart decision and gave the story bigger stakes than just the characters trying to figure out what’s going on with them individually.

My biggest critique of the book is that the ending did not land. While I do think that it was a fitting ending, it was rushed, and the explanation of everything that was going on was thrown at the reader so quickly that you don’t really have a chance to process every part of it before the book is over. Maeve and Peri are able to figure out solutions to all the problems set up in the book far too quickly. I like their solutions, and think that the consequences of those solutions make a lot of sense. I wish coming to those conclusions and enacting them took longer, particularly since Maeve and Peri had not been in the same physical (or dream) space for the entire book up to this point, so giving them some inter-personal conflict as they figure out how to work together would’ve helped start to establish their relationship (because I’m pretty sure this is going to be a series).

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking to get into the urban fantasy genre from a different angle than the more common paranormal fantasy as long as you don’t mind a bit of a rushed ending. If you’re a character-driven reader, then you’ll particularly enjoy this one too.