jodyladuemcgrath's review against another edition
2.0
Too young for me and I normally love YA books. I think this was written for 13 year olds. Mary Sue and Insta love. Premise was good though.
jessicayaun's review against another edition
1.0
Read a few chapters but I just couldn't get into this one.
ladyofbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Still a favorite childhood series. I realized that I never finished it, so plan on doing that this year hopefully.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
An early Westerfeld. And a bit lame. Good to know that he got better. This one made [b:Zeroes|24885636|Zeroes (Zeroes, #1)|Scott Westerfeld|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1424511164s/24885636.jpg|43591153] seem virtually plagiaristic, but that one is better executed. In this one the characters feel kind of lifeless and the world arbitrary. The ideas are interesting but not detailed enough. But otherwise its basically a superhero book but just not labeled as such. Details would have been better - of the individuals, of the lore. I'll still read the sequel, but I was hoping for more. 2.5 of 5.
mxinky's review against another edition
4.0
I'll admit I'm a fan of Scott Westerfeld. The premise of the book is that for some people, there is an extra hour at midnight. Of course, there are perils associated with being a midnighter. As usual, Westerfeld gets the world of the teens right. They have complex motives and ideas, more like Buffy than The Lightening Thief.
I always like Westerfeld's attention to and treatment of the young female characters.
This series was enjoyable, but being a shorter work overall, it didn't have the lasting impact that the Uglies series had on me. It's much lighter.
I always like Westerfeld's attention to and treatment of the young female characters.
This series was enjoyable, but being a shorter work overall, it didn't have the lasting impact that the Uglies series had on me. It's much lighter.
richardpierce's review against another edition
4.0
I found this in one of the boxes of books left from moving house. Sometimes you come across YA with a brilliant premise excellwntly executed. This is one of those. I want to read the whole series now
debrajoy87's review against another edition
3.0
Have you ever wished for an extra hour in the day? Imagine all the things you could get done if you just had one more hour. The "Midnighters" have that extra hour, but they also have a slew of villains that come with it.
In The Secret Hour, by Scott Westerfeld, there are 25 hours in each day, but only those born at exactly midnight, "Midnighters," can live in the 25th hour. To all others the hour passes in an instant. The hour was created by the villains of the book, Darklings, to have a place to live relatively untouched by the human world. Each Midnighter has a special power to help them in the secret hour. For instance, one is a polymath (able to quickly solve complex math equations in their head) and another can read minds. The Darklings leave the Midnighters alone for the most part, that is until Jessica Day arrives in town, then the Darklings want nothing more than to kill Jessica and the Midnighters have to find out why.
In general, I liked this book. The story moved along at a relatively fast past with few slow points. I was really intrigued by the idea of the 25th hour and I loved reading about the different powers each of the kids possessed. I always thought it would be fantastic to be able to read the minds of others, until I read about the mind-reader in this book, always bogged down by everybody's thoughts and emotions, unable to tune them out. I liked the chemistry between the characters and felt the dynamic between them all was different than in most books.
This book is the first one in a trilogy and even though I thought the first book was entertaining and fun to read, I am not sure how I feel about reading two more in this series. Am I going to read them? Probably. Am I dying to read them. Nope. It was a fun, simple read, but it didn't pull me through to the next book, so even though I would call it good, I wouldn't call it great.
In The Secret Hour, by Scott Westerfeld, there are 25 hours in each day, but only those born at exactly midnight, "Midnighters," can live in the 25th hour. To all others the hour passes in an instant. The hour was created by the villains of the book, Darklings, to have a place to live relatively untouched by the human world. Each Midnighter has a special power to help them in the secret hour. For instance, one is a polymath (able to quickly solve complex math equations in their head) and another can read minds. The Darklings leave the Midnighters alone for the most part, that is until Jessica Day arrives in town, then the Darklings want nothing more than to kill Jessica and the Midnighters have to find out why.
In general, I liked this book. The story moved along at a relatively fast past with few slow points. I was really intrigued by the idea of the 25th hour and I loved reading about the different powers each of the kids possessed. I always thought it would be fantastic to be able to read the minds of others, until I read about the mind-reader in this book, always bogged down by everybody's thoughts and emotions, unable to tune them out. I liked the chemistry between the characters and felt the dynamic between them all was different than in most books.
This book is the first one in a trilogy and even though I thought the first book was entertaining and fun to read, I am not sure how I feel about reading two more in this series. Am I going to read them? Probably. Am I dying to read them. Nope. It was a fun, simple read, but it didn't pull me through to the next book, so even though I would call it good, I wouldn't call it great.
louise_bloom's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.5
This was a great book, mostly suited for adolescents and young adults. Predictable and cliché characters, description emphasis.
tashaw's review against another edition
1.0
I was just...so very bored. Disappointing bc I LOVED the Uglies series.
raemelle's review against another edition
3.0
Overall this book was pretty unimpressive. Okay. Not bad. Not great. I wasn’t planning on reading the rest of the series. Until the last page. My curiosity is definitely piqued, so I might read the others.