Sometimes, I read a book for the second time and just think, "Is this the same book that I read before?" Well, Rewind Review is my answer to that. In this feature, I will re-review a book that I've previously read and reviewed—but only when my opinions on it have changed.
Title: Midnight City (Conquered Earth #1)
Author: J. Barton Mitchell
Release Date: October 30th 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: signed copy won from author
Earth has been conquered by an alien race known as the Assembly. The human adult population is gone, having succumbed to the Tone—a powerful, telepathic super-signal broadcast across the planet that reduces them to a state of complete subservience. But the Tone has one critical flaw. It only affects the population once they reach their early twenties, which means that there is one group left to resist: Children.
Holt Hawkins is a bounty hunter, and his current target is Mira Toombs, an infamous treasure seeker with a price on her head. It’s not long before Holt bags his prey, but their instant connection isn’t something he bargained for. Neither is the Assembly ship that crash-lands near them shortly after. Venturing inside, Holt finds a young girl who remembers nothing except her name: Zoey.
As the three make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, they encounter young freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and the amazing powers that Zoey is beginning to exhibit. Powers that suggest she, as impossible as it seems, may just be the key to stopping the Assembly once and for all.Previous Rating: 4.5/5
What's the same?
The world-building was still amazing and the characters endearing, but I appreciated those even more during my re-read. The post-apocalyptic world that the author created was very easy to picture in my head, and I can just as easily see this as a movie. Seriously. It's one adaptation that needs to happen.
What changed?
I think I ignored it the first time I read this, but part one of Midnight City just dragged. It wasn't exactly boring, but it didn't keep my eyes glued, either. But patience, grasshopper, because after two hundred pages you'll find that this book is quite the gem. Everything gets crazy on part two—the part that I read in one sitting on both my first and second reads, so it's tried and tested, really.
New Rating:
I LOVED Midnight City, and since I have yet to re-read it I can't say one way or the other if I would find any fault with the pacing the second time around- but I'm glad to see you still gave it a sold 4 stars.
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