Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Midnight Lie

The backside text hardly does any justice to the story within. Marie Rutkoski has woven an intricate, fantastically drab world where injustice is hideously clear yet accepted.

I adored the characters, the differences between High Kith and Half-Kith and Middlings, the writing was lucious and lurid, the telling captivatingly vivid.

Nirrim was such a pleasure to follow as she wandered through her thoughts and actions, disassembling all that she had grown up believing, never realising how twisted and unfair it all had been.

If you enjoyed this wonderful story, I recommend two other books that gave me the same feeling as this did.
1. The City of Woven Streets by Emmi Itäranta
2. Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

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jainabee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I got this in the Banned Books Box subscription and was curious to read something totally new to me. Had a hard time putting it down and now am hungry for more! The story twists and turns in ways that startled me and I gave up trying to predict anything about the characters. How refreshing! And lovely writing. A pleasure to read and I'm so glad there's more!

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veerau's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I'll admit, I thought this was going in a totally different direction up until the last half of the book (and I'm so glad it did).

Thought Nirrim would end up as a "lost princess finds love in lost princess" kinda trope, glad it didn't, and then Sid went "actually...🤓" SMH

I have a soft spot for characters like Sid, although I enjoyed her more in the first part. Maybe it's the mystery aura, idk.
Big shoutout to the sisterhood between Nirrim, Annin and Morah! Love how their bond doesn't get forgotten in favor of romance :)

at least up until the weird final pact that went on, not sure what that's about? But I hope we get to know more about that in the second book

Also I really wanted to say, that cover is so beautiful!! I love it so much <3

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raebies_03's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was amazing. The tension had me kicking my feet and giggling like nobody's business.

The manipulation and abuse from Raven definitel hit a nerve with me. I hate seeing people being taken advantage of and as someone who has been in Nirrim's position, I felt very connected to her character. In saying that, I also connected to Sid in the way she was so angered to see Raven treat Nirrim as she did.

I'm looking forward to continuing the series. Very happy to close out the year with a 5⭐️

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motaki's review against another edition

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Maybe I'll give it another go but it's a character driven book and I don't like Nirrim very much, I feel sorry for her but it's taking ages to go anywhere.
I would love it if we were following Sid, she seems quite an interesting person instead of our MC, whom is stuck in abusive relationships, and in a comp-het society.
Norrim just piles up her mistakes, because she is convinced she doesn't deserve anything and lets others bully her.
I thought she would outgrow her fears but it's taking forever and I'm too old to keep reading things that feels like pulling teeth

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strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The beginning wasn’t very interesting but then the middle got better. I was getting excited to read the second one until the very last line. That last line made me so very angry, however I still need to read the second book to see what happens with said last line.

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nicnevin's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

So this is the first book I've read from this author and its... Alright? I found the ending quite... Abrupt and the worldbuilding is a little slapdash however I realise that this is already set in a world from other books she wrote.

Sid and Nirrim are a cute couple but I don't know how it ends. I guess leaving the book on such an abrupt ending ticked me off because it felt like a lot of build up for not much pay off bit I suppose that's why is more than one book.

the magic blood reveal was pretty obvious so it annoyed me it took everyone so long to figure it out. Also shouldnt diluted blood be a yellowy orange colour? Maybe magic blood hits different idk

Don't get me wrong, the book is okay but just didn't gel with me.

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