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A review by ncssundormas
Midnight Horizon by Daniel José Older
2.0
I was so disappointed. no THR book had disappointed me before this point, but this one did, spectacularly.
I think what ruined it the most for me was Older's writing style. it is much better suited to comics and middle grade novels than YA, but either way it is a rule when writing just about anything that you shouldn't make a habit of using exclamation marks, and he did. there was also random bits of dialogue that you'd find in my texts e.g. "hehe", "liiiiiiike" and "haha." I don't know about the other characters bc I'd never read about them before but his interpretation of Reath seemed off to me. I haven't read any THR in a while though, so it could be me misremembering. the entire third act was sooooo confusing though, I couldn't picture it in my head, there was too much going on and honestly I think even Older lost track of what was happening. there were so many underdeveloped scenes and moments that had an impact too, which had me shook because this is an almost 500 page book?? you certainly had the opportunity to flesh it out and just didn't.
it did have a couple of redeeming qualities though. I thought Kantam was a very well-developed character and I loved their story. Lula and Zeen were very enjoyable as well. it had a few humorous moments that I didn't expect.
now for a couple of spoiler things!
- how did everyone survive that last battle?? if it's solely because of Yoda that's extremely weak storytelling.
- Reath becoming a Knight and Cohmac leaving straight after felt sooo out of left field and defo needed more to it.
- Loden didn't need to be mentioned that many times. he was mentioned like twice, okay, but I'M SENSITIVE? AND THAT HURT ME
so that wraps it up. I'm very disappointed. pls leave Older with the middle grade novels and comics and pray for me if he ever writes one of the adult novels lol
I think what ruined it the most for me was Older's writing style. it is much better suited to comics and middle grade novels than YA, but either way it is a rule when writing just about anything that you shouldn't make a habit of using exclamation marks, and he did. there was also random bits of dialogue that you'd find in my texts e.g. "hehe", "liiiiiiike" and "haha." I don't know about the other characters bc I'd never read about them before but his interpretation of Reath seemed off to me. I haven't read any THR in a while though, so it could be me misremembering. the entire third act was sooooo confusing though, I couldn't picture it in my head, there was too much going on and honestly I think even Older lost track of what was happening. there were so many underdeveloped scenes and moments that had an impact too, which had me shook because this is an almost 500 page book?? you certainly had the opportunity to flesh it out and just didn't.
it did have a couple of redeeming qualities though. I thought Kantam was a very well-developed character and I loved their story. Lula and Zeen were very enjoyable as well. it had a few humorous moments that I didn't expect.
now for a couple of spoiler things!
- Reath becoming a Knight and Cohmac leaving straight after felt sooo out of left field and defo needed more to it.
- Loden didn't need to be mentioned that many times. he was mentioned like twice, okay, but I'M SENSITIVE? AND THAT HURT ME
so that wraps it up. I'm very disappointed. pls leave Older with the middle grade novels and comics and pray for me if he ever writes one of the adult novels lol