Book: The Girl At Midnight by Melissa Grey

Published April 2015 by Delacorte|296 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the e-book from the library

Series: The Girl At Midnight #1

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she’s ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she’s fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it’s time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, though if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it’s how to hunt down what she wants…and how to take it.

But some jobs aren’t as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

I feel like I’ve heard a lot about this book lately, and while I didn’t completely love it, I still liked it!

It’s really different, and it reminded me a lot of Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor, so if you like that book, you will probably like this one.  They both have a similar feel and the very basic idea of Girl At Midnight made me think of Daughter Of Smoke & Bone.  The e-book from the library said it would be good for fans of The Mortal Instruments (which I actually agree with, there is something in this book that made me think of that series) and Smoke And Bone by Leigh Bardugo, which didn’t make sense to me in terms of actual comparison of stories (at least with this book).  If anyone has thoughts on this, I’d actually like to know!

I thought the idea of the Avicen was really interesting, and how they all have different feathers, and it’s interesting that they seem to have a rivalry with dragons (I really wish I could remember their actual name, but it’s something fancy and Latin-sounding).  I’m really curious about their history, and I hope we get more of in the rest of the series. Everything was described so well, and I really felt like I was actually Echo’s world.

However, there was something about this book that was a little too quirky and unique, and for me, that made it hard to fall in love with it.  As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t, and in a lot of ways, I feel the same about Girl At Midnight as I do Daughter Of Smoke & Bone.

At first, it was hard to get into, but once the story gets going, it gets really interesting.  There were some things that weren’t surprising at all, so it was hard to like those parts of it, but at the same time, I’m also curious to see how things work out because of those things.  I feel like this series is going to get a lot darker, because for some reason, I can easily see it going down that road.

3 stars.  I liked it, but certain things were a little too predictable to properly enjoy.  I am intrigued enough to keep reading to see what happens.