A review by ergative
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan

3.25

 Hmm. I wanted to like this more than I did. I love Marie Brennan's other work, but this felt a bit slow and I couldn't connect with the characters. In part I think it was the heavy reliance on historical figures. There are so many names associated with Elizabeth I's court, and Brennan invoked them in such profusion that I had difficulty keeping track of who was who, or how their various concerns and motivations connected to the main plot (because, of course, to the extent that their concerns and motivations were historically accurate, they weren't). Invidiana's court was easier to follow, because it was invented, and so the various people and their relationships and tensions could all be neatly constructed. I think that's one of the challenges of setting a book in a historical period and incorporating actual people and events: you have more work to do to make your plot and cast hang together. And this couldn't quite do that in a way that held my attention. 

I might read more in the series, because my disappointment with this book is not enough to overcome my admiration for Marie Brennan, and I've seen with RJ Barker and Naomi Novik and Charles Stross how an author whose earlier books don't quite hit the mark can develop. Maybe her later books will be better. She's earned that chance from me.