Review: Midnight City
Series: The Conquered Earth #1
Author: J. Barton Mitchell
No of Pages: 384
Expected Release Date: October 30th 2012 by St. Martin’s Griffin

Synopsis:

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.

My thoughts:

Another fan freaking tastic book and another debut author!! I’ve felt so lucky with the ability to read the books I have lately. This is definitely no exception! Every word from beginning to end is absolute chaos reigned down upon human flesh. Scary, intriguing, awesome!

Our four main characters are Holt, Max, Mira and Zoey. They are forced together in a situation that none of them but Zoey and Max enjoy. Holt and Mira are two peas in a pod, completely stubborn, crazy beyond belief and I don’t mean in the head, I mean their decisions to stay alive are just plain crazy! But they make you think, what would you do to stay alive as long as possible? It’s an interesting concept and one that is put to the test with these four, over and over again.

Holt kept throwing me off. I absolutely love him but I see him as so much older than he is. Everyone in this world lives a hard life and they grow up faster than their years but Holt’s decision making, although crazy at times (see above!) was also brilliant. He sets himself above other people and out thinks them in every maneuver. He can stay two steps ahead even when you’re trying to figure out where you’re at! Mira is much the same, intelligent and crazy but brilliant. I absolutely love her.

But my favorite characters are of course, Zoey and Max. The kid and the dog. What can I say, I have a soft spot for kids and animals! Zoey is so much fun, you know straight away that something is off with her but you just want to wrap her in your arms and tell her everything is going to be ok. She’s fabulous relief and made me smile in multiple situations. Especially when I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic as they were crawling through tunnels and here Zoey is having the time of her life. I could only imagine how I would REALLY feel.

Ohhh and Max. That boy. I would adopt that dog any day! He’s smart and loves Zoey the instant he meets her. It probably helps that she likes to pet him. He hates Mira and growls at her all the time, more comic relief but it was absolutely needed. And the fact that every two minutes Zoey would ask to ride The Max just cracked me up! Seriously, love those two!

The plot to this was amazing, freakishly scary. Horrific, totally. But awesome that this beautiful story had a great plot and there was no stopping. Every chapter had something going on, something keeping you at the edge of your seat, something making you want to continue turning those pages even as you’re getting close to the book and you know it’s going to end and you don’t want it to, you just keep going. There were a few points of hyperventilation, like the crawling underground really freaked me out. That’s what great authors do, they get into your mind and make you feel what they’re writing until you’re begging for more.

And as for the villians, The Assembly are amazing and sadly I want to know more about them! But I do love a good villain.

I’m so glad this is a series because I want more! Fabulous. My Favorite dystopian/ post apocalyptic of the year!

About the author:

J. Barton Mitchell is a creator and writer of speculative fiction, and the author of the science fiction YA novel series CONQUERED EARTH published by St. Martin’s Press. He has sold screenplays to Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, and created the comic book series POE for ‘Boom! Studios’.

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