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.
Release Date: October 30, 2012
When I was offered the chance to read an ARC of Midnight City from St. Martin’s I couldn’t turn it down. The synopsis is short but it packs a punch and you can’t tell me that just by reading that you aren’t intrigued!
Either way, the story starts off right in the thick of things with Holt’s third person POV giving us a basic rundown of what has happened in Earth as we know it. Evidently some sort of advanced alien race has taken over and “abducted” those over the age of 18 with some kind of “tone” that projects thoughts of obedience to them until they succumb and leave their families behind. (no matter how many times Mitchell described the aliens, I kept picturing them as Storm Troopers. But that is my hang up on Star Wars coming out.) I will say that it felt a BIT like an information dump, but it was too interesting to bore me.
Eventually an unlikely camaraderie forms between Holt and his prisoner Mira when they stumble upon a wrecked Assembly ship and they discover a young human girl who has no memories. Adventure ensues, with the characters battling zombie-like creatures, the aliens themselves, and other youth that the world left behind.
I think that Midnight City is a respectable and very well written foray that is a mash up between a dystopia and a science fiction novel. Humans are the underdogs and survival is rare for them in a world where they disappear young and never come out. The novel follows the traditional “journey” narrative storyline, but I’ve never read a journey that was so addicting and so heartrending.
The POV begins switching between characters, which is extremely helpful to the reader since there are layers and layers of history that these characters have experienced that are just barely touched on in this first installment.
Overall, Midnight City recieves 4 Bards. I suggest you put this on your To Be Read list immediately!
Moving! 