The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey
Atom Books 2015. ISBN: 9780349002132
The Girl at Midnight is a rich fantasy which incorporates
both dragon and phoenix mythologies in order to set the parameters
of a new world within the world we know.
Echo is a destitute orphan and a thief. It looks like her life will
be nothing but trouble until she is discovered in her library home
by an Avicen woman who calls herself The Ala. The Ala finds Echo a
place between the worlds and teaches her the values of her people,
in particular; to fear the Drakharin. While thieving a present for
The Ala's birthday, Echo stumbles upon a dangerous secret, a secret
that could bring peace to the warring Drakharin and Avicen. But can
she live long enough to find it? It will be the most dangerous
adventure of her life and Echo is prepared to fight the Drakharin
Dragon Prince himself if need be, and she may have to.
While the concept behind this book is undoubtedly engaging for
fantasy lovers, it draws too much on the paranormal romance genre.
It limits itself to an audience of boy-crazy teenage girls. One of
the major issues with this book is that it seems to be more about
Echo's hormones than the conflict between the two magical races,
which is clearly more interesting. While this would be the perfect
fantasy, these aspects compromise the book and I wouldn't recommend
it unless you're a boy-crazy teenage girl who loves fantasy novels.
Kayla Gaskell (Age nineteen)