The Girl At Midnight #1
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: April 28th, 2015
Source: Netgalley
Date Read: 4/29/15 to 4/30/15
368 pages
Rating: ✰✰✰1/2
Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.
Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.
Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, though if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.
But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
I requested The Girl At Midnight because it was getting a lot of hype around the blogosphere. And I guess because of said hype, I've kind of become the black sheep here, since I didn't LOVE it as much as everyone else did. Also mostly because I've already read Daughter of Smoke & Bone, and honestly I think this is just a less developed version of it.
I do have to admit that Echo is cool though. She's a runaway thief, but she's been adopted by the Avicen, these magical bird-like creatures with feathers instead of hair. WHICH IS JUST SO COOL. And then of course there must be the other species, and in this case it's the dragons (I honestly don't remember the spelling of the species specifically, but oh well).
The main, huge problem I had with the book, as I said before, is that it's not original. In fact, it's REALLY, EXACTLY like Daughter of Smoke & Bone. I mean I knew that it would be similar to that series, but I didn't think it would be so, so similar. Here's why I think so:
- Echo is the odd one out in a community full of Avicen. Reminds you of someone? Yeah, Kaoru.
- There are two opposite species fighting each other, or at the brink of war. Avicen and Dragon species here, and the Seraphim and the Chimaera in DoSaB. (Please excuse my spelling, I'm tired)
- The main characters from opposite sides fall in love. Echo and Caius and then Kaoru and Akiva from DoSaB.
Even if I didn't read DoSaB before, I still had some reservations. Honestly, the book had an amazing start, and I was really excited before of it. But then, everything kind of went down from there. Many of the things, including the side characters like Jasper, Ivy, and Dorian, weren't fully developed. And also, (highlight for spoilers) I didn't catch that Dorian liked Caius? And then Caius went off to GIVE HIM TO JASPER? Pretty much? It was weird and I don't know what to think about it. I mean at least there's diversity in this, right? (end spoilers)
Anyways, don't get me wrong, I did like The Girl At Midnight, but it could've been MORE. More original, more developed, just, I NEED MORE. I'm half excited to see what the sequel would be like, but then I kind of don't know whether it will just be more of this, under-developness (I did just make up a word and NO REGRETS). Wait, I think it's underdevelopment. Ah well.
