The Midnight Society by Rhonda Sermon

Rhonda Sermon, Midnight SocietyThe Midnight Society by Rhonda Sermon
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Midnight Society is Rhonda Sermon’s debut YA fantasy novel. It was published in May of 2016.

This review is spoiler free.

I picked up Rhonda Sermon’s The Midnight Society on a whim. I don’t typically read Urban Fantasy, but I LOVE time travel, so I thought I’d give it a go. My overall impression of the story was very good! I really enjoyed the concept and interactions between the characters.

Summary

The Midnight Society is about a girl, Cate, in Witness Protection. She goes to school, has to keep up appearances, and blend in so no one notices there’s anything special about this girl. When an unforeseen, and quite mind-boggling, turn of events turns her world upside, she must struggle to keep up her cover while sorting through the mystery.

She quickly finds out about two groups of time travelers with two very different missions. The Midnight Society is a group bent on keeping history the way it happened, even if that means people died and terrible events took place. The opposing group, called the Maligo Order, wants to fix history by preventing disaster or killing wicked tyrants.

My Review

I felt like the beginning opened up a little slow and cliche for me. Cate is in school. It seems lots of books open with kids in school. Perhaps it’s since I’m no longer a kid and no longer in school that I just don’t like this type of opener, but it is YA Fantasy which is aimed at teens. Granted, the YA readers of years gone by are now my age or older, so there’s that.

But once the story got into the time traveling, I really got interested. Rhonda’s take on time travel is unique. No gadgets or gizmos, no power source or fuel needed. Characters just appear and disappear at a whim. The trick is only certain characters with the right kind of blood can do it and it’s excruciatingly painful until they’re granted a special power or something, I don’t really remember that bit.

The characters also can’t visit any location in the past where they previously were to prevent a paradox or clash. The “magic” prevents this from happening, it’s just not possible.

There’s also an interesting take on the butterfly effect. Changes don’t take place until midnight each day, and a character that is about to experience a change goes through fever like symptoms, so they and their friends and can seek to fix the timeline and prevent the change, or embrace it depending on their goals.

That’s just a look at the time traveling mechanics. What about the plot? The story revolves around Cate. Who is Cate? Why is she in Witness Protection? And why are the Midnight Society and the Maligo Order so interested in her? You’ll have to read to find out. The questions and mystery are strong enough to string you along and keep you interested throughout the story.

While the beginning opened a little slow for me, by the end, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I needed to know whether Cate’s timeline was changing and how it would adversely affect her. Would she be better for it, or would her whole world fall apart at the seams?

The Midnight Society is a riveting story filled with romance, mystery, and intrigue. Oh, and there’s a bunch of really cool magic and action as well!

Be sure to grab a copy of The Midnight Society if you haven’t done so already.

Looking for another review? Check out Omens of Fury by Sean Hinn

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