Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh
Reviewed by Ginny!
Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old David Sullivan’s life is about to change—all because of one tiny, priceless item found in the murky bottom of a Brooklyn water tower.
Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn’t pay much—Alex Holliday’s stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers—but it helps him and his mom make rent.
No one knows where the brilliant-colored spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at math, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the more expensive—and the greater the improvement.
When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. One day they find a Gold—a color no one has ever seen. And when Alex Holliday learns what they have, he will go to any lengths, will use all of his wealth and power, to take it from them.
There’s no question the Gold is worth millions, but what does it actually do? None of them is aware of it yet, but the fate of the world rests on this little golden orb. Because all the world fights over the spheres, but no one knows where they come from, what their powers are, or why they’re here.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads
What I drank prior: beer. Im at the ballpark, not gonna be fancy there
Spoiler-free Overview: okay there are these weird spheres that are color coordinated to give people particular super powers. If you hold a pair up to your temples you get the ability to sing better, or straight teeth or a mutiltide of things. Our main character, generic hero discovered a new color sphere and was cheated out of money by the sphere-Elon Musk. He meets a girl name Hunter (apt because she hunts the spheres) and they go a-searchong for some spheres. And boy do they succeed.
Spoiler-free Thoughts: hmmm. I gotta admit Im a bit conflicted where this book comes in.
Characters: there werent too many keep track of. Im gonna be honest, i remember the names of the love interest, hunter, the best friend, Domn and a random friend, Mandy. I dont remember the names of the hero or the big villain. Oh wait. David and Holliday. But the point remains they are pretty generic. Kid down on their luck, bad guy who wants money ajd fame. I thought it just ended up being a little flat. Hunter seemed like an attempt to make a manic pixie dream girl not a manic pixie dreamgirl. Dom seemed to switch personalities at times, and I struggle to see Mandy as anything other than a foil for the overwhelming feeling of “spheres are great and clearly don’t have any problems”
Plot: the plot was fun in an Indiana Jones style way. The kids go on a adventure searching out the matching pair of midnights (wink wink its a reference to the title) and it involves a wet suit, climbing a hige statue, betrayal, and power plays. I found parts of the plot to be a little too obvious but then again as an adult and someone who reads a ton Im probably not the target audience.
Writing Style: literally no commeny. I didnt notice anything worth commenting on.
World Building: i did enjoy the world building. There were some interesting hints about the rest of the world and the secondary market that popped up around the spheres. I just found David to be a not so interesting perspectove to hear it all from.
************Spoilers**************
honestly I thought this book setyeled too easily. Hunter accidentally unleashes some monsters who try to eat people aftet she burns the midnight spheres. They go after the people who have burnt particular colors which I actually enjoyed as an idea. These thing wreak havoc. Think murder and destruction and its kind of amazing. Theres a lot of ego that gets crished and yhat I really enjoy. I thoight Hunter could be exceedinglynclever but she was taken in so easily by the gold and midnight spheres. Mostly, the way everything resovled seemed to easy. Once something is out of a container it can be difficult to put it back in there. Even more than that, i would have liked to see a bit more of the destabilization that vame from the ending. It was all a little too clear cut. Though yet again, not sure Im the target audience.
END SPOILERS
What to pair it with: long island ice tea, there was a lot going on here but you arent sure if you like the taste and probably dont drink more than one
Rating: 2.9 out od 5 shots
COMMENT DOWN BELOW: I could easily see why someone would disagree with me. If you do, let me know
Will Read For Booze 