ARC Review: Midnight City

Midnight City (Conquered Earth #1)

J. Barton Mitchell

Pages: 384

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Format: eGalley

Source: NetGalley

Age Group: Young Adult

Publication Date: October 30, 2012

In a post-apocalyptic world controlled by alien invaders, two teens and a young girl with mysterious powers embark on a dangerous journey. What they find will change everything...
Earth has been conquered. An extraterrestrial race known as The Assembly has abducted the adult population, leaving the planet’s youth to fend for themselves. In this treacherous landscape, Holt, a bounty hunter, is transporting his prisoner Mira when they discover Zoey, a young girl with powerful abilities who could be the key to stopping The Assembly. As they make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, the trio must contend with freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and perhaps most perilous of all: Holt and Mira’s growing attraction to each other.Midnight City is the breathtaking first novel in the Conquered Earth series, and a stunning work of imagination from debut author J. Barton Mitchell.

This book was definitely interesting. The romance was cute, the action was considerably less cute, and the characters were likeable enough. Unfortunately, it had the omnipotent narrator that I heard about through last  Feature & Follow Friday, and, weird, I really didn't like it! And the beginning was VERY slow. Some stuff felt really redundant, and I wished the author had cut some descriptions and thoughts (Holt thinks the same thing over and over and over again and it annoyed me). Near the middle/end I did find myself having a really hard time putting it down, so that's always good! (I know this is going out late, but I'm writing it so that's a plus)

The plot/world were done very creatively. However, it too about 150 pages for anything to really be explained. There are mentions of Midnight City, the Strange Lands, and the Assembly during the first part of the book, but it is only slightly implied what those things are. And then it's like a mega-mind dump. Which bothered me a little, but, like I said earlier, I ended up having a difficult time putting it down (I stayed up late last night and everything). So, I do not know exactly what the final copy reads like, and maybe the whole thing is like the second half. One can only hope, because the second half was really good. 

The characters were definitely likeable. Holt was snarky and smart, and so was Mira, so they made a good pair. (Unfortunately it takes them forever to figure it out!). My favorite was little 8-year-old Zoey, because she was funny and adorable. Holt kind of finds her in the first 50-ish? pages and she ends up with them for the rest of the book. She's really cute, and ties Holt and Mira together, so that was pretty neato.

I like the cover too.

I'll give this one 4 stars, because the second half was really good, so it made up for the slow start.