Marie Rutkoski throws us into the depths of a brilliant and incredible world from the very first page of this spellbinding and enchanting novel.
From the blurb;
'In the Ward, life is grim and punishing. Crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society's pleasures are forbidden. Nirrim keeps her head down, and a dangerous secret close to her chest.
'But then she meets Sid, a rakish traveler from far away, who whispers rumors of magic. Magic would grant Nirrim a better life, but to seek it she will have to surrender everything she's ever known, and place her trust in a shy stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.'
The Midnight Lie is the best LGBTQ+ story we've read in awhile. This intelligent love story carry's the reader through the passions and pitfalls of early blooming love with deliberate care taken over the characters.
In this world we soon learn that not all is as it seems. Though trapped by the unfair rules of a society which refuses to explain itself Nirrim strives to be better, and to hope for better, for those around her. As we follow Nirrim along the tight-rope she walks between the rules and freedom we learn that her life has been harder than most.
It doesn't take much for Rutkoski to make us fall in love with Nirrim, and then shortly after to fall head-over-heels with Sid, allowing the reader to concentrate on the mysteries of the world in which they live.
The Midnight Lie creates and nods towards countless mysteries. Questions which beg to be answered shape each and every action taken throughout the novel. As we delve deeper into this mysterious world those questions bloom into a riot which will leave any reader jumping for the second novel.
We Give The Midnight Lie Five Stars
ISBN - 978-1-529-35749-3 Cover Price - £8.99 Published by Hodder & Stoughton 2020