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That's my reaction to this book and the events that transpired.  It's a good thing I read it on Kindle because I'm less likely to throw that than I am a physical book.  I love this series and these characters.  If you need a fantasy series to read so you too can make incoherent noises like me, this is it.
How many days until book 3?  I can't count that high.

Downloaded this book not realizing it was the second in a series, and still loved the premise! Was unable to finish because obviously, but the writing was compelling, and I will definitely read the first!

I ended up borrowing the audiobook and listened to this one. I listened to all 25+ hours of it. And im pretty sure I understood about 60% of what happened…

I’m trying to wonder if this is one of those slow middle books in a trilogy and it’s building to the epic final book or if it’s because of the audio. Maybe both? Idk this middle one was not as good.

I’ll still read book three.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-ARC! I will be reviewing and/or showcasing this book on my social media accounts when I can. Thanks again very much appreciated and looking forward to this book!

On one hand, I think it's very ambitious of TS to cram as much content into this book as she did, but man. This felt sooooo much longer than it actually is. Which I suppose could be a good thing if you're really vibing with the story and can't get enough of the adventure. But for me, I began to feel disconnected from the narrative and characters.

The main thing that prevented me from loving this was just how much the story was trying to accomplish. There are too many POVs and, with all of the characters being separated, it feels more like a collection of individual stories rather than one cohesive novel. It seems more convoluted and chaotic to me personally, rather than an exciting and action-packed story.

I can still understand and appreciate what TS is trying to accomplish with this kind of storytelling. I know a lot of readers enjoy this kind of narrative, so it's definitely just personal reader preference. Not a bad sequel by any means, just too long and drawn out for my own enjoyment.

A great follow up to the first book!

I had so much fun reading it. The world-building continues, the characters fill your heart and the story is intriguing and I couldn't ask for more.

Do you ever have a book that logically you know you shouldn't like - that book that does everything that you usually complain about in a review - and yet you cannot help but absolutely love? For me that book is The Midnight Kingdom by Tara Sim, a book that commit absolutely many of my personal "fantasy book sins" and yet had me engaged and enthralled across its many pages.

The Midnight Kingdom is a very different book than its predecessor, the City of Dusk. City of Dusk was fairly contained and, despite having many POV characters, was all centered around a single conflict. Building off City of Dusk's cliffhanger (and yes, you absolutely need to read the first book because Sim throws readers directly back into the action), The Midnight Kingdom throws caution, and its many characters, to the wind. This creates a book that is big, bold, and very (very) scattered.

Our favorite young chaos queers are pretty much separated for the entirety of this middle volume. Some of them are just travelling to different countries, while others are trapped in different realms/universes/planes of existence/what have you. If you hate when fantasy books, particularly middle books, sprawl, you will hate this one. The characters at times feel like they are in their own books, with goals that are interrelated, but in such a convoluted way at times that it seems like they are having completely different adventures. This does have the dreaded side-effect of slowing the narrative way down, especially in the beginning, as each plot/character arc only gets to move incrementally before we are shot off into another POV.

This is usually something I put on blast in my reviews, but here it is just so much FUN. Sim doesn't hold anything back, and each of the character's storylines is full of magic, politics, and more. It at times felt like Sim wanted to make sure that every cool idea she had made it on the page - and so you get a book with demons, angry gods, zombies, magical bones, elemental magic, shade magic, multiple queer romances, the Underworld, a world where it is always nighttime, astrology, an East Asian inspired country, a South Asian inspired country, evil aunts, a talking head (literally), and this just barely scratches the surface.

Oh, and the macguffins! So many macguffins! Every character is on some quest to find some object, and at times there are even macguffin quests layered in another macguffin quest. It did honestly get to the point where I couldn't keep everything straight and I was just vibing with the plot. Overall, the narrative tends to get lost in the forest by looking at every (and I mean every) single tree, until it all comes crashing together in the final 10%-ish of the book.

But here is the kicker - I never cared that the book was moving around and going off on all of these crazy quests. Sim's world (or worlds I guess!) is bursting with so much creativity that I was a kid in a candy store. I couldn't wait to see what new random magical thing Sim was going to pull out of her bag of magic tricks next, and I was delighted to just whip around this universe and see all of the cool things that were bursting out of Sim's creative brain. As I mentioned before, this won't be the book for everyone for this very reason. There is a a LOT of worldbuilding and things being explained to you, but Sim does it in such a way that I actually wanted to be lectured at. Oh, now there are four evil kings that rule this realm that were destroyed by this magical woman who may or may not be an ancestor to one of our characters? Tell me more! Oh, there is a magical scythe thing that can kill them? Tell me even more!

More than anything else, I think what caused me to keep coming back were the characters. Most of the characters in this book are not likeable (though some are!), but you spend so much time with them that you really get a sense of what makes them "tick". They are chaotic, messy, emotional, QUEER, and act as billiards balls that just keep ricocheting off each other, sowing more (often unintentional) destruction in their paths. They mostly all have the same goal from the end of the first book - destroy the gods who are ruining their lives - but Sim inscribes individual and complex motivations behind that goal into each character. Some are doing it to be noble, some to erase or run away from their past, and others for purely selfish reasons of power. I really enjoyed experiencing how characters would subtly act in different ways as they strove to accomplish their goal in the way that would best set themselves up.

In many ways, I found The Midnight Kingdom to be a more successful version of The Atlas Six. They both try to do the same thing - throw a bunch of hot young people with magical powers who are also kind of insufferable but also interesting and queer into a plot together and see what sticks. But while Olivie Blake decided to go down a more dark, serious, and oft-tedious route with the Atlas trilogy, Sim understands that this kind of book only works when you absolutely GO for it, finding the fun and adventure of throwing kind-of-unlikable people together. The Midnight Kingdom is a FAAFO kind of book, but in the absolutely best way I could use that expression! Sim does FA and she does find out, and what she finds is a book that makes for a fun and compulsively bingeable read.

So, yeah there is probably way too much going on in The Midnight Kingdom. And if anything I said here is an absolute "no go" for you, you might want to avoid. But if you like fantasy books that are unafraid of being weird and big and creative and magical, give this series a shot!

Concluding Thoughts: Tara Sim returns to her Dark Gods trilogy with a middle book that should not work, but I absolutely enjoyed it. Sim separates her characters across nations and realms, giving each a macguffin quest that feels like they are in different books until the they reach the climax. However, Sim's books are so full of magic, creative ideas (SO MANY IDEAS), and chaotic queer characters that I couldn't help but fall in love and blow through this book. This book won't be for all readers because it is so scattered and chaos-driven, but if you like big worlds, big stories, queer characters, and evil gods, give this one a look!

I loved City of Dusk so I have been eagerly awaiting this next book. It is so good!! I love the multiple viewpoints and felt this helped keep the pace moving quickly. Now to patiently (and excitedly) await the next book!

This was a fantastic continuation of City of Dusk, and I really enjoyed being back in this world! The setting, the characters and having multiple POVs all really work for me, and I can't wait to jump into the third! My only complaint is that I don't yet have it in-hand.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book so much. The City of Dusk was an amazing read that really set the scene and executed superbly. The Midnight Kingdom, though, not so much. The world building continued to be amazing, but the readers are really torn in different directions with the spread out story. Just when I would get engaged with one of the arcs, the perspective would change to another character arc, and I’d have to build up the momentum again.

For those who can just sit down and consume a book in a few days, this is probably a good read for you. Honestly, I ended up having to take written notes, and that’s just not very conducive to an enjoyable read.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

While I’m rating this (at 4:44) 4 stars, I was very disappointed with a majority of this book. I absolutely loved the first one, but most of this really let me down. I continued to love the characters, but the plots weren’t fun for me. I disliked every Rian/Phos chapter, quite boring. Nikolas’s were almost as boring, except for him ripping his own eye out. That one was fun. Angelica’s were also sucky imo. I didn’t like that plot. It felt like sm yet nothing at all. I was hoping for her and Cosima to be more, but they barely developed.


That being said, Julian and Risha>>>> my children. They made this book what it is-with the added Taesia. Rishas chapters were the best. I hadn’t cared much about Jas in the prior book, but the way she cared for him and their interactions made me sad by the end. They were rlly cute. Is he gone now? I refuse to believe it he’s a part of her. Julian and Taesia also😐 why did we not get more romance the romance in this book was so stunted 😭 they’re my fav shit yet I wasn’t even giving crumbs I was given atoms. Taesia’s ending will ultimately make the next book better, but I’m still upset about it. She’s gonna do some dumb shit and regret it. Julian has to save her from herself though. I believe in him🙏🙏

Thank you Netgalley for this arc.

4 stars.

There were many excellent things about this book which I will circle back to, but let's get the negative out of the way first. I feel like this book simply tried to do too much. All of our characters were off in very different places doing very different things in a way that made the placing just feel off to me. We eventually circled back and tied everything together, but if we had narrowed in and had maybe one perspective less it would have tightened up this book significantly. That being said, the looming menace of Phos was just so good, and the exploration of trauma from the events in book 1 I thought was extremely compelling. I love this world and all the messy deities that inhabit it and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Thank you to the publisher for send me an copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so fun to read. It was my first Sci-Fi book. It builds off the first book. So please read the first one. There is soooo much that is going on in the book and I love it! I love the world building and the different descriptions of each setting. This is a multi POV and I love reading each one. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time because you didn’t know what was going to happen next. I am so excited when to read the next book!

I enjoyed these characters as they are scattered around the realms, doing stuff and getting into trouble. Sims’ writing style is slick and grounding at the same time, very detailed and emotional and still smooth. But the pacing was very slow, hence why it took me a long while to finish. It felt disjointed, which was the point, but it couldn’t grab my attention. The ending felt very convoluted, like there was no plan, no thinking, just the doing and maybe hoping for the best. Nikolas, my poor, sweet, broken boy. 😞 I will absolutely continue to the next book. There are some BIG tasks ahead of them. Good luck, my dudes!

Thank you yo a goodreads and Orbit for an eARC! This series has me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

So good I had to run out and buy a special edition. I can’t wait to see how this story concludes

This book is actually a sequel and I did not realized that before requesting it. I'll be reading book 1 and get to this one at some point.
I have heard amazing things, im sure its great

Thank you to the publisher for my arc!

Midnight Kingdom is a fantastic sequel to City of Dusk, we pick up right where we left off but the stakes are higher and more is at risk. A fast paced delight I couldn’t put down!

This book has some wonderful world building and I definitely enjoyed it. It didn't take me long to get through it. Some parts did get a bit slow but otherwise, I enjoyed the characters and overall plot.

3.75/5 stars

An action packed sequel that furthers explores the creative, complex world Sim has constructed.

I think this book suffered a little from "second book in a series syndrome." While we certainly saw more action scenes and got lots of character development, I wonder if it is just trying to do too much. I enjoy books with multiple storylines/timelines, but this one felt a little overcomplicated and chaotic at times.

I still think the world and concept Sim has created is very interesting and I am excited to read the final installment to find out how the story ends.