this book was breathtaking until, well, the end. the end did an abrupt halt, although the end was a good end(good but blunt)i have to say it took the book down a whole star.
the rest of the story, however, was simple amazing. i was spellbound through the whole story. it displayed true emotions brillantly. the story pulsed with life.

I believe I've started an epidemic. Many of my friends, irked by the fact that I won't shut up about Midnighters, are reading the books and enjoying them just as much as I do. But Book 3, Blue Noon, is the one that really made Midnighters stand out in my mind as one of my favourite sets of books (yes, I'm mad about Harry Potter and I adore Artemis Fowl and Bartimaeus, and this ranks right up there with them).

The thing that really makes this book outstanding is the characterization. As a writer, (Okay, kid who likes making up stories, same thing)I can't enjoy a book unless it really has well-developed characters and a character-driven plot. All five of the main characters are real people with good and bad traits and interesting personalities.

*THIS IS LOTS OF CHATTER ABOUT CHARACTERS. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE CHARACTERS, YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS*
To me, the most compelling is Rex, who was my favourite character in book one in his nerdy incarnation and who I continued to love as his personality dramatically changed through the end of books two and three. Because Rex is not all Rex anymore... he's half darkling, which is both a blessing and a curse. (The darklings are the evil beasts that were Rex-and-company's enemies, so that makes life complicated.) Like his friend Melissa, I watched Rex evolve with confused disbelief, still recognizing the character that I knew and loved but frightened by the thing that he was becoming. Spooky.

Melissa's personality, meanwhile, has taken a turn for the better. Thanks to her mentor, Madeleine, Melissa has learned to control her talent of mindcasting and has become calmer and more logical. This is interesting, because it's strange to watch her support Rex through his psycho moments and calm him down when it used to be the other way around. The book comments that it seems strange that Melissa is becoming saner while Rex is going "six kinds of crazy," and that it's almost as if there wasn't enough sanity to go around for the five of them.

Jessica has an interesting role in this one, as she's having conflicts with her daylight life, in her family and soforth. In the end, she's forced to make a... *DUN DUN DUN, SPOILER* sacrifice, which is an extremely touching ending. All I can say is that you come to like Beth (her moody younger sister) more than you did before. Jessica for some reason seems the most difficult midnighter to describe personalitywise, as she's the most normal, I suppose.

Jonathan's part is depressingly small in this one. He doesn't have as much of his easygoing, lighthearted Jonathan charm that made fangirls sigh in the first book-- in fact, he seems a bit moody. He's torn, because he doesn't want darklings to take over the world, but he does want to be able to fly all of the time. Jonathan is a great character and I like him very much (but not as much as Rex, who holds a special place in my heart), and I wish there was more Jonathan action in Blue Noon.

Dess is also a bit moody, as she's upset about Melissa invading her mind in the second book, but she has some seriously awesome action and some wonderful Dess-like lines. (She has a great sense of humour. The author said on his website that Dess was his favourite of the midnighters, and it shows in his writing.) Dess has her shining moments in the second book, but the very end of the book makes Dess dear to all readers. My favourite Dess moment in the book was one part where they were discussing Halloween, and the following discussion ensued:

Dess: So the goth holiday is for real?
Rex: Celtic, actually. The Goths were from Asia.
Dess: No, I meant the kids in black!
Melissa: Uh, Dess, mirror check?
Dess: What, this dress is charcoal!

Dess and Melissa calling each other goths becomes a bit of a running joke in this book. It has a perfect balance between humour and darkness, one that's often very hard to strike.

The plot is absolutely enthralling, but if I were to describe it all, this review would be longer than the book itself, knowing me. All I'm going to say is, the blue time is no longer merely during midnight, and the darklings have a sinister plot(like there are other kinds of plot??)to take over.

My only quibble with the book is that (and you, the reader, probably won't care about this, because I seriously doubt that you are as immature as I am) there is a tad bit too much romance for my own taste. True, the romance is very touching (Jess and Jonathan is pure sweetness, and Rex and Melissa is extremely interesting, almost a complete plot on its own), but there are ways to express a deep relationship without saying "and then they kissed" every few sentences. In fact, the Rex/Melissa kiss at the end of book two was so dramatic and beautiful because it was the first one. Making them kiss about as frequently as they, say, breathe, takes the impact away from the kissing. (Of course, this is just my opinion, as I'm too young to be romantically involved with anyone and am still pondering life's little mysteries like 'where do you put your noses when you kiss?')

I'm sorry for ranting on and on like this, but I'm extremely passionate about these books, and if I had it my way, everyone who enjoys reading would have a copy of them. And don't quit after reading the first book! Blue Noon is the best of the bunch.

I bought Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters #3: Blue Noon back when it came out in March because I'm just that way, but I didn't get down to reading it until last week.

(An aside: that was stupid. Why wait so long? The thing only took two days to read, and only that long because I didn't have to wait in the doctor's office as long as I anticipated. So go on and get the three books and read them, back to back to back, if you've not already. If you start now you can be done in a week.)

Holy wow, Batman. What a good book.

Westerfeld took a darker turn in Midnighters #2 and accelerated down that path in this volume. Beyond just a ripping good tale, he explores the rugged terrain of fear, power and their uses, while drawing together disparate plot points from the previous books that tie up the series satisfyingly. He does, however, leave just enough hanging and unresolved at the end to give it a genuine feel--including the bitter twist at the end.

I note with both trepidation and excitement that Westerfeld seems to have deliberately left the door open for future Midnighters stories. I hope that he won't become a victim of the "genre-series-that-never-die" syndrome, but given the results of these three books, I'll certainly give a chance to whatever he puts out next.

Highly recommended

The Midnighters are a group of five teenagers that live in the secret hour, the twenty-fifth hour of the day that only humans born at the stroke of midnight can experience. That midnight hour is called the secret hour, the blue time, the midnight hour.

And the secret hour only exsists in Bixby, Oklahoma, where certain factors join together in ancient times to form this unique time of day. All normal people are frozen during this single hour and electricity is useless.

The Midnighters have had many dangerous encounters with the deadly creatures that lurk in the midnight hour, but do not exsist in normal time, in the two or three months the five of them have been together.

But one day, the blue time comes-- at nine in the morning, while they're at school. And it only lasts for fourteen minutes.
Every one of the Midnighters knows that something is terribly wrong.

And they come to a horrible realization: there is a growing rip in the boundaries of the secret hour, and soon the darklings and slithers (the creatures of midnight) will be able to do what they have been unable to for a long time-- feast on their natural prey, humans. It will be midnight for twenty-five whole hours, one day a year.

So the Midnighters, Jessica and her friends, must find a way to stop this from happening, but time is running out and their plans may unfold in unimaginable ways...

This is the tale of Blue Noon, the final book in the thrilling Midnighters trilogy. It is a fantastic read, and though the ending and epilouge is a little hazy and maybe rushed, it is still a wonderful end, with readers only wanting more.

He whirled back around to face the creature, crouching down into a fighting stance. Its eight legs had extended to full length, pressing against the ground to lift the central body mass up into the air. The legs were covered not with hair, but with glistening spurs, like thorns on some vast and hideous rosebush. The entire beast was dripping with a viscous black substance, as if it had been dipped in crude oil. Rex flexed his empty hands, realizing that he was completely unarmed...

Rex is more fearful of spiders than anything --- and those clever darklings have assumed the form he most hates. Yes, the darklings are back! Rex is now half-darkling himself. While this has given him some insights, it has also created new feelings in him that he does not understand. The darklings now want all of him and even more.

The secret hour still arrives every midnight but something new is happening. The blue time is appearing at random times during the day. Rex and his four teenage friends know that this is a more dangerous situation than they've faced before. As they try to figure out what might be causing this, they all must deal with personal issues and relationships. Jessica (the flame thrower) and Jonathan (flyboy during the blue time), Melissa (the mindreader), and the brilliant Dess, who works on the numerical calculations and weapons used against the darklings, are all thrown into a frantic race against time. Now, according to Dess's figures, it will be only a matter of a few weeks until Halloween --- and that is when the world as they all know it will end. In other words, the darklings will take over and blue time will envelop them all.

One of the many things complicating their investigation is Jessica's very curious and interfering little sister Beth, who wants to know why Jessica is disappearing at midnight and how she can get involved in the great adventure. Jessica wants to protect her sister but even Jessica is unable to prevent Beth from finding out the truth in a most frightening way.

As the barrier between the secret hour and normal time is growing weaker, other mysteries must be sorted out. What are the connections between the Grayfoot family and the darklings? How is the first Halfling, Anathea, connected to the early takeover of the darklings, and how can Rex and his friends stop these powers from destroying everything they hold dear? And is there a reason they hate and fear Jessica Day more than anyone? Does she have more power than she realizes?

Scott Westerfeld pulls no stops in this third and most exciting installment of the Midnighters series. Giant spiders, flying monsters, gore, magic and unexpected twists --- it's all here and more. First-time readers should start with book one. Midnight will never be the same.

--- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts (stibbetts@maine207west.k12.il.us)