The Midnight Star

I love how dark the story gets with each book and you can already dread the end of the story while reading. I finished this book with one question on my mind, why am I so sympathetic toward the villains? I'm not just talking about Adelina.

The titles are really appropriate. Amazing ending, it made me cry. Marie Lu is so talented.

Kalau Champion membuat hatiku tercabik-cabik, maka The Midngiht Star membuat hatiku tercabik-cabik pangkat 10.
I'having the book hangover. I want to crawl to a cave & crying out loud...
Oh, Endingnya... Seharusnya jika menginagt bagaimana ending Champion aku sdh bisa menebak kalau ending The Midnight Star akan emosional juga.
Cerita dimulai dgn Adelina telah menjadi ratu Kenetra. Dia mulai menginvasi negara2 sekitar kenetra untuk bertekuk lutut kepadanya. Dia membuat kebijakan berkebalikan dgn kebijakan pemimpin sblmnya, dimana yg tertandai diberikan hak2 istimewa sedang yg tdk tertandai menjadi hina. Dia membalas dendam pada semua org yg sdh memperlakukannya buruk.
Namun ada suatu fenomena yg membuatnya terpaksa reuni dgn Dagger Society. Violetta, adiknya stlh meninggalkannya dulu ternyata menemukan Dagger Society & memohon spy Rafaelle membantu menyadarkan Adelina dari kekejamannya. Ternyata ada hal2 yg berada diluat kuasa Adelina & Dagger Society...
An amazing conclusion to the trilogy, heratbreaking though, prepare your heart bookworms...

3.5*

Adelina Amouteru is my new best queen. She is the embodiment of an actual ruler that shouldn't give a shit on whatever advisor's has to say. She do what she wants and takes all the hate that thrown at her. Hate is power and hers is the strongest. The downside in all of this is that she has no friends. She says she doesn't need one but in reality, she does, she turned on her sister– doesn't trust the only person who loves her and scare the shit out of everyone around her. There is a little uncertainty on her actions to hurt people but she doesn't give in. It's either kill or follow her. That's what sets her apart from all other protagonists, she is living in a sick sad world and she doesn't mind it a bit.

In the end, she does give in, give in to the good. Goodness, when I remember the words from this book, it makes me so sad that this has to be that way. I mean– why? She deserves to be happy! For once in her life! Make her happy, Marie Lu!

I am at awe with Marie Lu on this, there was no chapter or page that hinted any shame. There was no shame or writing about secrets, desires, things that we are never honest about ourselves, even on our own. It's a freeing book. It's one you want to keep and take care of. “I got you, Adelina. I got you.”

When she appears on the other side of the world, I will be there, and when she returns here, so will I.

Original de: El Blog del Gato - El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Qué cerebro. Esta es la clase de libro que te hace dar cuenta que no podrás ni en tus más grandes ambiciones, escribir. Tiene un mundo bien construido, unos personajes bien desarrollados y romance con el drama justo para mantener tu corazón shipper doliendo. The Midnight Star para mí ha tenido un final satisfactoria aunque doloroso. Es cruel, pero estético, pone a prueba tu imaginación, pero con escenarios sencillos de imaginar, no te hace sentir fuera de lugar con lo que pintas en tu cabeza.



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To be honest, I would give about 75% of this book 3.5 stars. It feels too short and at some parts it drags on a bit. BUT. The ending couldn't be any more perfect, and the epilogue just washed me away with torrents of FEELS. This book, despite all the blood and tension and action, carries a subtle tone of sorrow up until the end, and that's what makes it fantastic.

Inital Thoughts: Despite its obvious flaws, especially when compared to the other books in the trilogy, the Midnight Star is beautiful in its simplicity and execution. Adelina has to be one of my favorite characters in a while.

Previous ratings in series:
1. The Young Elites: 6/10
2. The Rose Society: 8/10

Rating Breakdown:
Writing: 8.5/10

Enjoyment: 6.5/10

Pacing: 6.5/10

Characters, development and world-building: 9.5/10

Plot: 7/10

Creativity: 7/10

Overall: 8/10

Wow. I do have to say that this ending completely threw me, like much of this trilogy did. It was another completely uncharacteristic flash of brilliance in what I thought was a series of mediocrity taking itself too seriously, outside of these few brief moments of pure ingenuity.

So we enter this book around 6 months after the end of the previous installment, where our favorite innocent little elite, Adelina had successfully completed her goal of becoming pernicious queen bitch extraordinaire (any future dictators who want to make use of that title must pay royalty fees to me btw) in order to payback the unmarked and the world. She is also now schizophrenic (even if those voices in her head actually exist because her mental state is partly a result of the degrading of the elites' powers), paranoid and increasingly insane. She also is increasingly not in full control of herself. Ironically, her quest for outward strength and power leads her to lose her internal strength and control.

Adelina is a perfectly constructed character. First introduced as naïve, then twisted by fate, those around her, herself and her powers into a beautifully hateful and despicable character that we all are cheering for in some deranged way. This horrifyingly likable, yet utterly terrible character is alluring. Teren also receives a similar sort of treatment to his character, although in a different enough and lesser way as to feel different. I would disagree with anyone who claims his character arc did not reach a satisfying end.
Lu manages to break my heart with the small things, whilst making massacres feel apathetic. The ending left a shiver in me as it played perfectly with my heart. I felt emotion, yet the book didn't rely on shockingly horrifying me to produce it.
So, the ending was great. The trip there had its failures and successes though. This book felt a lot more flat that is predecessors, particularly The Rose Society. Dull enough to make me not sneak glances at it in class in sections (this is a usually practice for me). The book felt short yet managed to also feel dull at the same time. I finished within only a few hours due to its short length at 316 pages. Not much went on plot wise except the finale and its buildup. This book was far more an exploration of Adelina (and side characters, although we received far too few chapters from other PoVs for this to really happen), then a telling of an exciting story. And despite praising its handling of aforementioned topic, a lack of plot also results in a lack of opportunity to attack Adelina's psyche.
Anyway, this book is short, so it is still quite enjoyable despite being more flat and lacking in plot. Definitely worth a read.
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