Review of Midnight Days

            I recently finished reading Land of Midnight Days by Katrina Jack. For me, this was a special book to read because I had the privilege to read part of it before it was published and was able to contribute to some of the editing. I was also one of the people who encouraged Kate to keep chasing her dream at the times when the publisher and agent rejections were getting her down, as they do to all authors. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I’m in this book in my own little way, because there’s a certain graffiti dragon that never would have appeared had it not for me and a list of dragon books I was making.

            I don’t think I've ever read something classified as urban fantasy before, so this was a new experience for me. Interestingly enough, I don’t think I’d like the genre (though I’d need to read more of it to know for sure), but this book... this book is wonderful. It follows the story of Jeremiah Tully, a half-Elwyn (elf) mute musician who was abandoned by his family to be raised by an ogre of a man. From the first moment I encountered this character, he ingrained himself in my mind. He’d lived a life in which nothing good ever happened, yet he was still able to find happiness and peace within himself and his music.

            Every character in the book has their own unique, complex personality. As I read, I constantly had the feeling that there was far more to be known about each character and that they had interesting histories – often I discovered I was right as, throughout the book, bits of those histories were revealed. I’ll admit that there was one point where a character had a personality flip that, while it was built into the character from the start, happened a little too fast, but other than that one moment I found the cast of this book completely believable.

            The world in which the story takes place is so realistic that it could be taking place next door, were it not for the remnants of a demon army terrorizing the city. Katrina’s writing style immerses the reader in the book and assumes they already know everything about the world, but at the same time teaches what unfamiliar terms mean through what occurs – this is extremely difficult for an author to achieve. She also gives the reader an in-depth view of the poverty-stricken side of her world, showing just how bad the underbelly of society can be, yet she does so tastefully and without offending.

            The only criticism I can find for this book is that, in my opinion, it’s lacking a handful of commas that could make the reading a bit smoother in a few places. Other than that, I have to say that Land of Midnight Days is an excellent read and provides fast paced, page-turning entertainment. I invite you to join Katrina and her fascinating characters as they strive to survive in their world and maybe even save it.

            You can find Land of Midnight Days here and Katrina Jack's blog here.

            I hope you enjoyed my first book review. If you didn't, don't worry - I'm a slow reader, so it'll be a while before my next one.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.