Saturday 25 March 2017

The Midnight Star- Marie Lu BOOK TALK

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This was the finale of The Young Elites trilogy and don't be fooled by it's size!! I was doubtful because the finale was shorter than the first two books but that doesn't change that it was amazing!
This book is actually set a year later from the ending events in The Rose Society which I was not expecting at all.
We had a lot of action through this book as well as this series' classic inner turmoil, darkness and A+ character development.
The Young Elites BOOK TALK
The Rose Society BOOK TALK



AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Something I consistently keep forgetting to mention is how much I love the chapter headers. Normally, they're an inconvenience and I skip right past them but, in this trilogy, they're fascinating and are always really beautifully written! They fit the story and characters so nicely and they're a lovely addition to the trilogy.
One of my favourite aspects of these novels are how they lie in such a moral grey ground- there are no good sides and everyone's an enemy.
The year jump surprised me and took a while for me to get my head around but it was a good thing- it allowed us to see their powers slowly deteriorate instead of quickly becoming toxic.
I've always stood up for Adelina in the past but, at the beginning of this book she was in a really bad place. A really bad place. It was sad to read because everything she was doing was so harsh and cruel-it's devastating to see what the protagonist has been reduced to. Is the whole cause of this the whispers in her head or is she actually that cruel? I would argue that it's the whispers mainly because we see pockets of good in Adelina- especially around Magiano and Violetta nearer the end of the book. Once the whispers were gone, she was a decent person.
But she was ruthless in this book. She shut down any care and love in her heart and it was so heavy and intense to read but so powerful!
And bless Magiano's soul for staying with her through all of this. He knew that the real her was in there somewhere and was such a good influence on her! I love that he chases away the whispers with his joy and.... they're just so damn cute!! I respect him for being the only one who didn't abandon her!
And we even got some naked, pool Magiano and Adelina time which was nice because it's the only time when Adelina isn't hell bent on killing everyone one in her way. I loved when they essentially admitted their feelings for each other! My beautiful ship! I was so happy when she became honest to him about how she was feeling and he with her.
It didn't surprise me that Violetta had gone to the daggers but I was shocked that her powers killed her first- she used them so much less than everyone else and she didn't even have strong powers anyway! How did that happen? Ah.... plot convenience. I got it.
Teren was quite an enigma in this finale- in the way of making me feel conflicted over his character. I don't hate the poor sod but I would never truly trust him I don't think. He was obviously still obsessed Giulietta but he did end up saving Adelina's life which I truly respect him for.
Oh, look! Enzo was even more bland in his death than he was in life! I was never a massive Enzo fan and bringing him back to life was a little pointless because he achieved absolutely nothing. The only thing his death helped in was beginning to build a bond and trust between Rafaelle and Adelina again.
I liked the uneasy truce between the Daggers and Roses. It was very rocky to start with- and throughout the whole thing, actually- but it was wonderful to see them working together once more.
Through this trilogy we've always been separated, jumping between characters and places but in this finale, we had the distinctive finale feel when all the characters came together and it was epic!
We had the whole section of meeting the Gods which was okay but by that point, I was skim reading because I wanted to see how it ended.
I was so mad at Adelina for trading her life with Violetta's but was also proud at the same time! That's character development people! But in no way did I want her to leave Magiano.
But thank God Violetta made a deal of her own. Even though I'm a bit hazy on the whole thing...
So Adelina's technically alive? She stayed after materializing from the stars? And stayed with Magiano? That's how I'm taking it and my heart's happy about it.
It's cute that Lucent and Mauve ended up together and that Violetta became Queen with Sergio at her side (I called that ship the second they laid eyes on each other).
All my beauties are together and this finale finished with the perfect amount of satisfying!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thoughts! Stay amazing!
Chloe

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