A review by sleepycharlene
Midnight Wings: A Science Fiction Retelling of Cinderella. by Ariele Sieling

4.0

4 stars  

★★★★

**I was provided with an ARC from BookSirens  for an honest review**

☞ Trigger warnings: 

Spoiler

mentions of child abuse, domestic slavery, forceful deprivation, suicidal thoughts, cyberbulling, neglect, poverty themes 

.

Review also posted on my blog ☀︎

Synopsis ✿
Midnight Wings is a retelling of Cinderella.
El is a mechanic who dreams of being a pilot in a fighter jet for the intergalactic fleet. Her stepmother and step-sisters make her life miserable and she is stuck under their thumb with no way out. A new competition is announced to find new flight pilots and this is El's chance to change her circumstances. 

Review ✿
A city space station was a cool new setting for this retelling. This was a fresh take to a well-known, well loved story. I love a story where the main female character is a mechanic, or engineer or really any STEM career/hobby. 




Did this story remind me of [b:Cinder|36381037|Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)|Marissa Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507557775l/36381037._SY75_.jpg|15545385] from the Lunar Chronicles? Yeah but they aren't the same story.

The book is a short read with a total of 128 pages. Personally I found it too short, and I wished for more development between El and Ri and also the side characters that helped her. This story had emotional depth and a fun flight simulation sequence that made me want to read more of her story learning to be a pilot in intergalactic space. My favourite moments were when El and Ri were together. I needed a few more chapters on their development. Maybe Rian deliberately breaking his fighter jet just to have an excuse to visit El or a few scenes where they could work on the jet together and have some cute bonding moments together.

I also like the big makeover wasn't that much of big deal. She just washed her hair, wore mascara and different clothes. Like attainable, realistic change that didn't stop her from getting recognised. I thought it was funny that when El ran from the competition, Rian didn't have to struggle to find her. 

"How did you know it was me?"
"He raised his eyebrows. "Well, aside from the cameras we had set up everywhere that caught your face from pretty much every angle...""

Questions/Issues: ✿
As Ri has a privilege of being a prince with influence and clout, the bigger question is as a leader, shouldn't he care more about how she fell through the cracks of the system and work on making sure that doesn't happen to other people?

Spoiler

What if she didn't win? What if she was good but wasn't in the top 20 percent? What would he do to help her change her circumstances to leave her abusive family?

All I'm asking is a re-evaluation on the current social grid rankings, welfare checks, the class divide and poverty levels within the society you are literally in charge of/able to influence. Just because this is a nice quick fun YA doesn't mean it can't ask big questions and entice readers to reflect on them. I think a strong message to leave the reader is Rian using his position to help develop and implement lasting change.



Characters ✿
4 stars overall
☀︎ El: 4.5 stars 
☀︎ Prince Rian: 3.75 stars (I love a funny boy but idk if he has any real depth. Reminds me of Mal from Shadow and Bone. Don't ask me how or why. I have no answers.)
☀︎ Patricia: 4 stars stars (perfectly villainous)
☀︎ Lottie and Bree: 3.5 stars (perfect annoying mean girls)
☀︎ Theo: 5 stars (talking about how he helped her made me tear up)
☀︎ Glent and Chet: 2 stars (Chet was kind of an idiot that he didn't know the full extent about El's treatment/circumstances until now.

Spoiler

Neglectful that he knew that Patricia stole El's money making her financially dependent on her and knew El didn't participate at games night every time but was always serving them???? He was criminally passive until now.

.
☀︎ The rest of the side characters (Mary-Alice and Chet's friends): 2 stars because they didn't really add to the story, were actually Chet's friends not hers. 

Character relationships ✿
Overall 4 stars
☀︎ El and Ri: 5 stars
☀︎ El and Patricia/Lottie/Bree: 4 stars in portraying the tension and abuse
☀︎ El and Theo: 5 stars 
☀︎ El and Chet: 2 stars  
☀︎ El and Glent: 3 stars (I wish he was more of a father figure and he does hold an influence over Patricia's decisions so he should have used it more)
☀︎ El and side-characters (Mary Alice): 2 stars (fell a little flat and seemed a little too convenient)

Overall: 4 stars ✰
☀︎ Pace: 3.5 stars (felt too fast)
☀︎ Steam: none (PG 13+)
☀︎ Beginning: 4 stars
☀︎ Middle: 3 stars
☀︎ Ending: 4 stars


Anyways this was a nice, quick read and El was cool.


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