ARC Review: Burning Midnight

About The Book:

  Title: Burning Midnight

  Author: Will McIntosh 
  Pub. Date: February 2nd, 2016
  Publisher: Delacorte Press  
  Pages: 320

  Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

  Rate: 3/5 stars

Synopsis :

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 the 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 greater the improvement—and the more expensive the sphere.

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 priceless, 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.

Review:

I picked up this book at New York Comic Con, surprised to see that it had one of the coolest descriptions of a book that I've ever read. One day, these colored spheres started popping up out of the blue. The spheres could mostly be found in man-made structures like pipes. They all had different uses depending on their color. For example, some of the least rare spheres were Slate Gray and Lemon Yellow - enhancing singing ability and growing an inch, respectively. Some of the rarer spheres gave perfect memory and high IQ - Canary Yellow and Mustard. These spheres have different values ranging from hundreds to millions, depending on the rarity. Some people devote their entire lives to hunting these spheres and some people have an emotional investment in them - which brings us to Sully and Hunter.

Sully sells spheres at a market. His business has been drying up due to the fact that there are now heavy hitters in the sphere selling business, such as Alex Holliday who scammed Sully out of over a million dollars when he was a kid. He was at his booth when he meets Hunter, a girl wanting to sell him a sphere she found. Soon, Sully and Hunter set out together in search of more spheres. I loved the characters in Burning Midnight. They were multidimensional and I felt that I've really come to know them on a personal level. It's been awhile since I could really connect to a character, but something about Sully and Hunter made me love them immediately. You learn a lot about their past, their personalities, their desires. I think they will appeal to even the most critical readers.

I was so upset when I found out this book would only be a standalone. I wasn't fully satisfied by the ending. It was almost just like a giant short story. By that I mean, not all questions have been answered but just enough to conclude the basic plot line. Definitely not enough to wean me off of this world, that's for sure. 

Burning Midnight's plot is as revolutionary as The Hunger Games and Divergent. It's unique, imaginative, and makes you wonder what would happen if these spheres actually did pop up. If this book was a series, I'd easily give it five stars. Unfortunately, for a stand-alone, I was left with more questions than answers which is what lead me to give it three stars. I hope one day Delacorte Press and Mr. McIntosh change their mind regarding leaving this a stand-alone. Because I'd DEFINITELY read a second book set in this world. 

- Jocelyn