The Midnight Star (The Young Elites #3)

                Hello happy readers!  So the weather in Georgia has been a bit crazy going from a few days in the 80's then a sudden drop and it's 52 inside my house right now.  I prefer the cold because I love my fireplace and blankets and getting cozy but I could do without the sudden shifting back and forth my sinuses have no idea what is happening lol.  That said I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead.  I got way off schedule on my last days off because Jessica Jones season 2 dropped on Netflix and I found it as it dropped and thought it would be a good idea to binge all 13 episodes in one sitting instead of sleep so…tonight at work should be fun.  But for now let me share my thoughts on a series ender I was finally able to finish up this year:  The Midnight Star (The Young Elites #3) by Marie Lu.  I previously reviewed the first two titles The YoungElites & The Rose Society.

Rating:  5 Stars

                We have been on a wild ride with Adelina.  She was new to the world of powers and she quickly grew into her powers.  She suffered and she fought.  Now she is queen and she is set to take on the rest of the world.  She had good intentions but over time her cruelty grows and the darkness within her has begun to spiral out against even her.  The past is not that far behind her as she is forced to face old wounds and risk herself to save ever Elite including the world as a whole.  The Roses and Daggers must journey together despite the past pains for the sake of the world. 

                We have been on a journey with Adelina and over time she has gone from a girl who has been through a very harsh and tough life that you wanted to succeed.  When she was cruel it made sense given her history and what she was dealing with.  Overtime she grew more powerful and her anger and cruelty grew to exceed what was needed tipping over the point making her a real villain of the story.  She took the whole revenge thing very seriously.  I felt bad while reading because part of me totally understood her reasoning for some of it.  Her hatred for those who treated the marked badly or differently, turning the tables on them I understood in some way but I also understood it wasn't something that could last because it just flipped the script instead of fixing the problem.  She was also very quick to be suspicious and lash out.  Again I understood given what she went through and knew but it grew each time. 

                I think while this story is very fantasy I could see similarities to mental health in them.  As her own darkness turned on her it became clear that she is also the victim of her story as it was inside her pushing her.  She could know something but then her mind would somehow turn things around until she was no longer sure of things.  That is something I think many people have dealt with and can relate to.  For me I wasn't sure if I would be able to really grow to love Adelina again as I did in the beginning but as this story played on I really did start to feel for her more.  I loved seeing the Roses and the Daggers together again.  It was both hard and amazing to see them come together again both suspicious of the other.  Danger is on all sides it seems but the world is at stake and that puts them in the same boat….at least for the time being. 

                I enjoyed getting to see all my favorite characters and see their interactions.  I loved seeing how the different relationships melded together.  Everyone has changed through the series and watching as the different characters react and grow over time both separate and together was beautiful.  I don't know how much more I can say about the story without reaching into spoilers but to say that for the end…I had the feels.  I was not 100% sure how I felt about it right away but really had to think on it after I had processed it a bit more.  I was expecting my heart to be broken but then it happened in a way that just ripped it out even more roughly than I planned for.  Lots of tears and feels but in the end it was a fitting end to the story that we started telling in book one.  I enjoyed the store Lu wrote for us with these Elites and the world that they sought to save even when it wasn't always good to them. 

                Until next time…