Marie Lu’s The Midnight Star is the third and final book in The Young Elites Trilogy. Adelina now holds the throne of Kenettra, but her conquest is far from complete. Using her Inquisitors, she invades and captures the kingdoms around her. With each new conquest, the voices in her head grow stronger and her powers threaten to spiral out of control. Across the sea, Raffaele notices that the world is dying. The only way to save it is for the Roses and the Daggers to come together for one final quest.
Adelina has changed a lot over the course of the series. In The Young Elites, she was a troubled young girl with hope of a life in the light. The Daggers took her in and trained her, but Adelina’s decisions set her down a dark path. In The Rose Society, Adelina continued her fall from grace as her cruelty and power grew. Finally, in The Midnight Star, she stands on the throne of the people who one persecuted her. She is powerful, cruel, and merciless, yet readers can empathize with her. She convinces herself that she is selfish and evil, but as she is forced to rely on others, her dark heart begins to crack.
The Midnight Star is a fabulous finale to this series. The plot picks up immediately throwing you into Adelina’s vicious world. We watch as her cruelty grows and as the madness inside her threatens to destroy all she has built. This book has a very different tone than the previous ones. In both, The Young Elites and The Rose Society, Adelina is painted is a powerful and merciless leader. In The Midnight Star, we can see Adelina’s fragile grip on her power and her weakness. This book also has a shift in priorities. The previous books centered around taking a throne and delivering vengeance. This book became one about cooperation and saving the world. It was by no means light hearted, but a change from the usual complex darkness from the previous installments. The book’s plot is full of nonstop action that is a delight to read. While many characters get a chance to narrate the book, it is mostly narrated by Adelina, as usual. The multiple perspectives allow us to get a look into the backstories of characters. Once again, Marie Lu treats with complex characters that don’t easily fit into boxes of right and wrong. Best of all, the book concludes the story in a beautiful, bittersweet way. I give this 317 page book 5 stars.
Adelina has changed a lot over the course of the series. In The Young Elites, she was a troubled young girl with hope of a life in the light. The Daggers took her in and trained her, but Adelina’s decisions set her down a dark path. In The Rose Society, Adelina continued her fall from grace as her cruelty and power grew. Finally, in The Midnight Star, she stands on the throne of the people who one persecuted her. She is powerful, cruel, and merciless, yet readers can empathize with her. She convinces herself that she is selfish and evil, but as she is forced to rely on others, her dark heart begins to crack.
The Midnight Star is a fabulous finale to this series. The plot picks up immediately throwing you into Adelina’s vicious world. We watch as her cruelty grows and as the madness inside her threatens to destroy all she has built. This book has a very different tone than the previous ones. In both, The Young Elites and The Rose Society, Adelina is painted is a powerful and merciless leader. In The Midnight Star, we can see Adelina’s fragile grip on her power and her weakness. This book also has a shift in priorities. The previous books centered around taking a throne and delivering vengeance. This book became one about cooperation and saving the world. It was by no means light hearted, but a change from the usual complex darkness from the previous installments. The book’s plot is full of nonstop action that is a delight to read. While many characters get a chance to narrate the book, it is mostly narrated by Adelina, as usual. The multiple perspectives allow us to get a look into the backstories of characters. Once again, Marie Lu treats with complex characters that don’t easily fit into boxes of right and wrong. Best of all, the book concludes the story in a beautiful, bittersweet way. I give this 317 page book 5 stars.