ARC Review: "Midnight City" by J. Barton Mitchell

Title: Midnight City
Series: Conquered Earth #1
Author: J. Barton Mitchell
Publication Date: October 30th, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

About the book:

Earth has been conquered. An extraterrestrial race known as The Assembly has abducted the adult population, leaving the planet’s youth to fend for themselves. In this treacherous landscape, Holt, a bounty hunter, is transporting his prisoner Mira when they discover Zoey, a young girl with powerful abilities who could be the key to stopping The Assembly. As they make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, the trio must contend with freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and perhaps most perilous of all: Holt and Mira’s growing attraction to each other.

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My Thoughts:

I first learned about “Midnight City” through one of the blogs I frequently visit and upon seeing the cover, and reading its description, I just knew I had to read it and I’m definitely glad I did. I loved this book from the first chapter and that didn't change at any point in the story.

The pace of the book is very fast and action packed. Even when it’s “slow”, there’s always something happening which, in my case, means I was never bored. The author was very detailed in his descriptions and that helped me “see” better what was happening in the story as I read. I also feel the need to mention that although I tend to intensely dislike the overuse of flashbacks, or an author relaying on them as the primary storytelling device, I liked how these were incorporated into this story. They didn't feel out of place or overused and it definitely worked to move it along instead of weighting it down.

Another thing which kept me very interested in this book was the mystery surrounding Zoey and how I didn't have to wait for the second book, or an in-between short story or novella, to start learning about who she is and how important she is to the story. This doesn't mean the author gave it all away; there are still some questions that need to be answered.

I almost never like more than one of the main characters in a book, if I even like one, but in "Midnight City", I loved them all. I loved Holt, Mira, Zoey, and “the Max”. It was great seeing them grow, strengthen their bonds, and become a team, even possibly a family.

Something I usually have issues with in books is how females are portrayed. But all the females in the story were strong in their own ways, even the despicable ones like Lenore and Amelia. This made me love the book even more. Also, when what little romance there was in the story popped up Mira didn’t become completely boy crazy, just boy crazy enough, if that makes any sense. There’s also no dreaded love triangle, which I feared for a few pages would happen when a couple of characters appeared or were mentioned. This earned the book extra points. I do have nagging feeling maybe it will happen in the second book, but I’m not going to worry about that now. Although, I really hope there won’t be one.

“Midnight City” turned out to be one of those very pleasant surprises I find now and then. It was intense, moving, and interesting. I’ll even say it was one of the best books I have read this year. To be honest, I didn’t want it to ever end. I can't wait for the second book to come out!

My Rating:


* An e-copy of this book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
*I am not affiliated in any way with Amazon, B&N or any others.