“Scott Westerfeld is a master of unconventional stories, and "Midnighters" is no different in that regard. I love the concept of a bunch of kids who are able to access a secret 25th hour of the day, which has its own lore and laws. I also love how each of the Midnighters has a special power--not too awesome for anyone to become the Professor X or Jean-Grey-Turned-Phoenix of the team, but just special enough that they still needed to work together to get through their ordeals.
"The Secret Hour" seemed a bit rushed; it's only a few pages shy of 300, and it attempted to pack a lot of action and lore on there. The climactic confrontation, while it answered one of the nagging questions of the book and was sufficiently creepy, didn't read as spectacular as I felt it ought to have been considering the circumstances. I also don't feel like I know the 5 major characters enough by the end of the book except for how they were defined by their special powers. However, this is the first book in a trilogy, so I expect there will be deeper characterizations and better pacing in the next 2 books.
One of the things I love about Westerfeld's writing is his witty humor, and there's a lot of that here. I also loved all the thirteen-letter words he managed to scatter all throughout the book for his characters to use in their magic. I do miss the intricate details evident in his Leviathan series, but his world-building here is adequate for the scope of the story, or at least, the scope of the first book.
Overall, "The Secret Hour" is a fast and entertaining read, and if anything, after you close the book, you'll be left wondering what it would have been like if you were born at the stroke of midnight.”
meann wrote this review Sunday, February 20, 2011.
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