Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Midnight City: The Conquered Earth, Book 1


Author:  J. Barton Mitchell
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: October 30, 2012
Pages: 384 pages
Source: Netgalley

Goodreads Description:
In a post-apocalyptic world controlled by alien invaders, two teens and a young girl with mysterious powers embark on a dangerous journey. What they find will change everything...
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.


What Did I Think?

I've been reading this book on my lunch break at work for the past week. Every day, I'd sit down and start reading and it seemed like I barely read any of the book at all when my lunch time was over and I had to go back to work. (Insert pouty frown here). So I told myself I was absolutely going to finish this book this weekend because there was no way I was going to suffer through another work week without knowing what happened.

This is a different dystopian novel because our world doesn't just come to an end because of something that destroys our modern society. ALIENS ATTACK!  In my head, every time the alien armies would appear, I saw those little mechanical creatures in that episode of Jonny Quest. You know, these guys:


But I don't think they actually looked like that. But that's what I saw in my head. The beauty of imagination.

It was a well paced book with a lot of things happening and a good bit of mystery. Answes were doled out slowly. It was like we'd get just enough to keep us satisfied and hanging on. But then, something would happen and I'd get a ton more questions going in my head. Just what is going on with Zoey? What is Holt running from? 

I liked Holt and Mira and their attraction to each other. Mitchell let their attraction to each other grow and simmer before they admitted to their feelings. They are smart and witty characters. I laughed at how they both took great pleasure in tricking each other. It brought lightness into what could have been a dark book. Both characters stand on their own as characters and either one of them could have been the center of the book without the other and together they make a good team. Mitchell managed to switch seamlessly between the different POVs and not get confusing. And my favorite character was Max the dog.

Mitchell also threw some foreshadowing in at the end that really has me guessing as to what's going to happen in future books. All in all Midnight City is an unique dystopian novel in a flooded market. It doesn't have that magic that a book like The Hunger Games has but it is definitely worth reading.



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