Review--The Midnight Star by Marie Lu

There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all she’s gained.

When a new danger appears, Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds, putting not only herself at risk, but every Elite. In order to preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

I’m having trouble with analyzing my feelings over Marie Lu’s The Midnight Star! She brought about an epic conclusion to The Young Elites trilogy in a way that I never saw coming! Though I was sort of betting on one part of the outcome, though it was such a small thing to be right about in the big picture, which ironically made me insanely happy despite a few tears!

Adelina is queen now, she pretty much has everything she could ever want, but yet, her new life is not all what she was hoping for. Violetta, her sister, has run away from her and joined the Daggers. Violetta wanted her to give up her powers for she feared they would eventually destroy her. Driven by her powers and the voices she’s heard since coming into her powers, she searches for Violetta, whether she wants revenge or reconciliation isn’t too clear, but soon a new travesty will take her full attention.

Adelina and Magiano find themselves in cahoots with the Daggers, the very ones who had turned against Adelina. Raffaele speaks of a prophecy of sorts that basically says that all the Young Elites with their gifted powers will eventually die from them. That in order to save all of them and thus the world they know, they will have to give their powers back to the gods and goddesses. Adelina isn’t too fond of this plan since she in fact loves her powers and how she’s become so much stronger with them, but when she sees that her sister is ailing because of her own abilities, Adelina knows she must at least try.

I’ve always felt for Adelina in this one. Perhaps I am not remembering the first book well enough, but I felt like at every turn Adelina was always pushed into being a villain. Her choices were taken from her and she was forced to help Teren in order to save her sister. Her newfound friends turned against her and never seemed to want to hear her side of things. I’ve just felt heartbreak for her. True, she has made some crazy scary choices over the course of the series. The powers that she gained seemed to have gone straight to her head and she couldn’t really think clearly.

There was still a nice dose of romance scattered throughout the book! Even with Enzo coming back to life in a somewhat zombie-ish-like form, I was still pretty much Team Magiano! He continued to stay by Adelina’s side no matter what happened and I admired him for that! Their romance wasn’t overly gushy or lovey dovey and I loved that about it too! I loved that their feelings ran deep and the ways that they did show affection with one another was endearing. Would I have minded just a teeny bit more kissing? Naturally! But I still enjoyed what we got regardless!

The pacing and action in this one was pretty incredible as well! Going from a search for her sister amid all the different countries to a journey that is fraught with extreme danger made for a heart-racing read indeed!

I had heard that this book turned people into an emotional wreck and oh my goodness, I so get it now! I feel wrecked over several things! So much happened, so many tears were shed for so many different reasons! And yet, I have to say that the ending was pretty satisfying in the long run, despite all the emotional turmoil I endured! If it wasn’t for that tiny little extra piece that we had at the end, I think I would be more of a blubbering mess right now. As it is, I’m just emotionally wrecked! Lol! That I have dealt with before, so it’s nothing new! Needless to say the ending was pretty freaking perfect all things considered!

Marie Lu is an author who just knows how to write incredible, heart-touching, and soul-wrenching stories! She is extraordinarily talented and I cannot wait to read more stories from her in the future!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars