The Midnight Star (Young Elites, #3)

by Marie Lu

[ross91]

It’s not that I don’t like YA. It’s just that 90% of them are not enough: there’s not enough world building, not enough character development, not enough creativity, not enough uniqueness.
This is not the case of this trilogy. Not entirely, at least. The characters are developed enough (at least the main protagonist and a few more). The problem is everything else: the world building is almost non-existent, the reasons why the characters act are bullshit, the writing style is really not my taste (you can’t just switch from first to third person because you feel like it). But all these things are quite forgivable (well, not by me, but I can at least understand why lots of people like reading books like this one).
The main problem is the fact that the plot is very predictable: you can kill any character you want, but if I can see where this book is going from page 2 you’re doing something wrong. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING that happen in this book is unexpected, nothing excited me, nothing really kept me going. I just wanted to finish the series, but I did not enjoy it. Maybe the ending. Maybe. At least it was creative. The premises were kinda cool (yes, very YA, but still interesting), the cast diverse and the main protagonist someone different from the precious little snowflake that is so common in YA literature. Still, I struggle to finish this book.
Maybe I’m too old for YA, maybe my love for adult fantasy created in me too high expectations and demands, but I don’t think a book (whether for teens or not) should be this predictable and this similar to many many others. Teens have the right to read books with decent world building, in-depth character development and incredible plot as well. It’s sad that the majority of YA fantasy I have recently read where all the same and all kinda bad.
Lastly, this new trend “I’m so cool I killed off 90% of my main characters, I’m basically George Martin now” needs to stop: you don’t kill characters because it’s cool. You kill them because the plot demands it and still you have to explore those deaths. It’s not enough to say that Mary or Mark or whoever died tragically (or ordinarily for what I care), you need to show how the other characters react and feel and how those deaths shape them and change them. That’s why you’re not George Martin, just someone who thinks an unnecessary bloodbath is a great plot twist (spoiler: it’s not). And if you kill them all, THEY HAVE TO STAY DEAD. You don’t fucking resurrect them a few chapters later.
And while I’m talking about this: Enzo clearly died (again) because he was useless. Soooo useless. I don’t even understand why he needed to be brought back to life in the first place. I bet even Marie Lu realized she made a mistake and decided to kill him off quickly.
With all that said, I decided to give this book 3 stars (more 2,5) mainly because of the ending, which at least tried to be different and not necessarily happy. I’m sad and frustrated now. The first book had so much potential.