Emotional and heart-wrenching, Midnight Star was the ending to the Young Elites Trilogy that by the end, I didn’t know I wanted. It was heavy with so much feelings, to say the least, and it was actually quite fun to be Adelina without the armor. I saw the evil she had lived through and there were times when I couldn’t help but not disagree with the new Queen of Kennettra’s cruelty. Marie Lu had created this inhuman anti-hero and seeing firsthand her humanization, the breakdown of her own illusions as she comes face to face with her demons, connects the reader to the real Adelina Amouteru.
"You cannot harden your heart to the future just because of your past. You cannot use cruelty against yourself to justify cruelty to others."
This connection served its purpose really well when the final chapters came rolling in and tears came running down. I’ve commended Marie Lu’s skill with playing with emotion before and here I am, praising her again. She got hold of my heart in this book and it must be fun messing with it with every tragedy that befalls the characters and every body that falls dead.
However, I had some issues with the love story and aspects about the mission-type storyline. For one, the Magiano and Adelina relationship felt forced at times, as if it was there for plot and ending-plot. I think I could’ve been fine if they were just close, trusted friends and that doesn’t take away the bond they had developed throughout the book. I got to say though, the hidden pool was real steamy, if you know what I mean.
Another was the whole idea of alignments and the whole "adventure to save the world" storyline. In my defense, due to certain circumstances involving stupidity, I wasn’t able to read the Young Elites (but I stayed so that’s saying something) and after being immediately introduced to the Elites’ capabilities in the Rose Society, the whole “alignments to certain stones” sounded off. Adelina also seemed to put a lot of blind faith on Raffaele’s hunches about their entire journey, especially as she considered him as an enemy.
This branches on to how there were inconsistent characterizations from the previous books and a lack of fleshing out - Maeve and Lucent, anyone? Sometimes supporting characters simply become a bokeh in the background, only called on stage when needed because plot. I don't know if it was just me or because of Adelina's perspective but the tone of the entire book bordered on depressing and dragging (emotionally heavy, didn't I say?).
Nonetheless, I personally consider Midnight Star's ending a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy and the whirlwind of Adelina’s story, although the areas leading up to it are just quite. Throughout the whole series, Marie Lu did a tremendous job bringing to life such a strong and punishing yet internally tortured anti-hero and relating her pain and struggles. And with the position Marie Lu left her in, I honestly hope she finds her peace and happiness. (Notice that I only focus on Adelina?)
There's definitely some love and not-quite-life-but-question-mark in this book.
Before saying goodbye to this series, I would like to special mention this Goodreads review I have discovered where she expounds a few points to wonder that I couldn't and also, perfectly describe my reactions to certain deaths in the book (and she also managed to make me realizes a few other flaws here and there).
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