Book Review: The Midnight Star (The Young Elites, #3) by Marie Lu

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BOOK review
Started on: 22 June 2019
Finished on: 2 July 2019

The Midnight Star (The Young Elites, #3) by Marie Lu

Title: The Midnight Star (The Young Elites, #3)

Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Putnam Books

Pages: 316 pages / 332 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2016
Price: Rp 152,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 4/5
*for those who haven't read the first and second book, this review may contain spoiler.
Review for The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1) by Marie Lu here.
Review for The Rose Society (The Young Elites, #2) by Marie Lu here.

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"After a lifetime of darkness, I want to leave something behind that is made of light."

Adelina Amouteru has finally turned her back on those who betrayed her and has achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf brings fear upon the people, and with each conquest her cruelty grows even worse than even before. The darkness within her starts to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all that she has achieved. The letter that came from Raffaele mentioned that a new danger arises; putting not only Adelina at risk, but every Elite and the world they live in. In order to save herself and preserve her empire, Adelina has no other choice but to join the Daggers once again as they went on a perilous quest that put their lives on the line.

"You cannot harden your heart to the future just because of your past. You cannot use cruelty against yourself to justify cruelty to others."

I'm finally done with the series! It took me quite a while to start writing this review because I was occupied with a lot of other things, so I'll try my best to recall back my initial feelings about this book. I personally enjoyed The Midnight Star better than the second book, The Rose Society. Despite all the madness and crazy things that happened, I think Marie Lu managed to wrap up this series quite nicely. The writing is, as always, enjoyable; but I'm still not fully invested in the world building and the characters until the end. I don't know why, but I just wasn't emotionally invested enough. I think only Magiano managed to tug at my heartstrings a little bit. Anyways, I'm just glad I get to finish this series even though I wasn't fully satisfied with it. I know a lot of people loved this series, but unfortunately I don't feel the same way 🤔.

"None of us are saints. We can all do better."

"Someday, when I am nothing but dust and wind, what tale will they tell about me?"

After Adelina's victory in the previous book, she continued to reign over people by inducing fear in people's hearts—which causes a lot of people to despise her and tried to kill her. However, with her power growing stronger, she managed to torture and kill those people easily, threatening others who are trying to harm her. At this point, I just feel like she's completely lost beyond redemption. I decided to stop hoping that she will come to her senses and turn back from her evil conquest. Until towards the end of their mission, Adelina is finally given a last chance for redemption. I won't spoil anything for those of you who haven't read it yet, but I was quite surprised by the turn of events at the end of this book. I would say it's bittersweet; but since I'm not too attached to any of the characters in this book, it didn't leave a deep impression in me.

The other characters felt a bit bland in this book; Enzo who was risen from the dead didn't serve much purpose in this final book—which I was quite disappointed about. Magiano is still the sweetest of them all, but doesn't really play a huge role in the storyline as well. The only character that surprised me (in a good way) was Teren. Throughout the first and second book, Teren is depicted as the antagonist who wishes all Elites to be executed. And in this book, I can truly see that he's a man who is true to his life purpose. The Midnight Star made me see Teren in a different light. I think that was a nice twist to the story, because his presence gives a really tense vibe since we never know what he's going to do. Some of the scenes are really intense and was able to entertain me, but the book as a whole was just okay for me personally.

"There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen."

"Why are we doing this, anyway? To preserve my own life, and yours—but what has the world ever done for us in order to deserve our sacrifice?"

As I said earlier, I'm quite happy with how Marie Lu decided to end the series. The book managed to maintain its' dark and somber theme until the end. I'm quite proud of myself for finishing this series after leaving it sitting in my bookshelves for so long. I might pick up Marie Lu's other books in the future because I definitely enjoyed her writing style. But for now, I need a break from the fantasy world and all its' crazy acts 😂.

"I’m going to follow her, of course,” Magiano says. "As the night sky turns. When she appears on the other side of the world, I will be there, and when she returns here, so will I."

by.stefaniesugia♥ .