The Girl At Midnight by Melissa Grey
My rating: 4/5
Genre: Fantasy
Category: YA
Publisher: Atom
First of all I can't believe it took me this long to get around to reading this book like seriously: Urban fantasy. Check. A group of misfits. Check. Sassy main character. Check. Honestly how this book eluded me for so long is a mystery but on the bright side I waited so long that the sequels already out so yay me.
The story follows a human girl called Echo who grew up among the Avicen (a race of bird like beings with feathers instead of hair) who are in a centuries old war with the Drakharin (a race of dragon like beings with scales) the only thing believed able to stop this is the firebird which most believe is just a legend. Echo goes on a quest to find the firebird teaming up with the enemy- Caius a Drakharin in order to end the war.
First off I loved Echo she is seriously sassy something i have a major weakness for and not only that but she's loyal and daring and just everything I love in a heroine. Her relationship with Caius even though I did like him was a bit weird considering the whole she's 17 and he's around 250 but even he doesn't remember the exact number because well he's just that old! The only thing that actually bothered me about Caius is the fact that he doesn't act anything like his age (okay in his defense whenever someone has been alive for that long I just instantly want them to be Gandalf).
The secondary characters were all wonderful: Ivy was my innocent little snowflake to pure for this world. Dorian my poor conflicted child. And finally Jasper I LOVED him he gave off such a Magnus Bane vibe that I squealed for a good ten minutes and his relationship with Dorian gave me MALEC feels and OH DEAR LORD I JUST SHIP JASPER AND DORIAN SO MUCH!
My only major issue I had with this book is how similar parts were to Daughter of Smoke and Bone: magic doorways, two species at war with each other, taken in by a magical family, another spoilery thing, but that being said I still really liked it and can't wait to read the sequel.
Some of my favourite quotes:
"Here, you fiends. Eat it all at once. Make yourselves sick. That'll teach you the dangers of your gluttony. Little beasts."
"First One-Eye, now you. Am I being stalked by the cast of America's Next Top Dragon."
"'Fine', he said with such an air of martyrdom that she wouldn't have been surprised to find his likeness mounted on the cathedral's walls alongside the saints. 'Come in. And wipe your feet before you enter. You all look like crap that's been dragged through mud and then set on fire.'"
"No, " she said. I get it. You're a bajillion-year-old demigod, I'm a puny mortal."
Go read it now.