One Sentence Summary: The House Heirs have all been separated and work to return to Vitae, but the gods will do everything in their power to control them for their own ends.

(Note: Spoilers for The City of Dusk lie directly ahead)

The Midnight Kingdom picks up not too long after the events of The City of Dusk. At the start, we find a void in Vitae where the palace used to be and Angelica without her instruments to direct and control her magic; the palace now pulled into the realm of Noctus where Nik and his supposedly dead brother Rian are under the control of their god Phos and Taesia, Julian, and Fin are prisoners; and Risha is trapped in Mortri with Jas’s soul. And we can’t forget Dante, who has a secret demon he’s made a bargain with and a mission to stop his aunt from destroying the world. No one is where they expected to be, doing what they expected to be doing, after their plan to stop Dante and Taesia’s aunt fails spectacularly on Godsnight. The Midnight Kingdom was certainly an epic read as it introduces the reader to realms beyond Vitae as well as more of Vitae itself and brings in the gods and their own goals, trapping the heirs in impossible situations as they try desperately to reunite.

There’s a lot in The Midnight Kingdom, a lot of characters, worlds, and events happening, but, when taken individually, it felt like a lot less happened. I found myself most fascinated by the realms themselves. I liked how Vitae was opened up and Angelica was sent as something of an ambassador to Azuna, which resembles Asian cultures, but, being Asian myself, this culture fell disappointingly flat. I enjoyed it, though, especially since we get to see one of Angelica’s stepsisters, and I thought Angelica’s characterization and growth were fantastic. But most of the culture felt a little too devoted to death. Mortri was fascintating to me. I liked that it planted a living person in the realm of the dead, and it felt suitably menacing despite her connection to the god. The history and society crafted was far from pleasant and I really enjoyed learning all about it. Then there’s Noctus, the shadow realm. Taesia and Julia unexpectedly have to team up with a princess and her protectors as they travel the land for special items all while Phos threatens the world from close by. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for a human to live in a realm of what felt like perpetual night, but I felt it every time the story brought the reader back to Taesia and Julian.

I liked, too, that the gods played a bigger role. They are, of course, scheming and absolutely not at all benevolent. Instead, they felt power hungry and manipulative. There are five of them and the only one that actually kind of felt helpful was the fifth god, but I enjoyed how all the heirs fought against being taken over by their god. Phos was particularly frightening as he’s physically taken over his family’s heirs and clearly has a plan that involves annihilation. What I didn’t like so much was that part of the story involved getting Rian free from Phos and, by the end, there’s yet another possession and it made me feel like not as much progress had been made as I would have liked. Though I am looking forward to see how that’s dealt with in the last book, which I imagine will truly be epic considering everything that happened in this one.

The Midnight Kingdom switches from character to character frequently. The chapters are not overly long, so I struggled to feel fully invested in any of them. Each of the heirs has their own story line mostly separate from the others, so I felt like I was being yanked out of one story in favor of another. It gave me the sense of a continually moving and increasingly complex and disturbingly violent story, but it also helped get a lot of the boring travel out of the way, which I felt also came at the expense of really getting to know the characters. They were always doing something and it seemed like they were jumping from one thing to another. There were also stretches where some characters were absent, and sometimes those felt more interesting. It felt like there was a lot going on, but no one character was really doing a lot.

Angelica surprised me in this book. I was not a fan of her in the first book, but she more than made up for it in this book. Accompanied by a thief she’s turned into her personal protector, Cosima, she travels to Azuna seeking allies. But Azuna isn’t quite as she expected, and her god Deia seems to be stalking her. Angelica is left virtually powerless without her instruments, so this book really saw her struggling with that while a new power seems to be awakened in her. She was forced through so much and even more was taken from her that she really had to transform into a caring leader, and that was absolutely fantastic. I wasn’t as much of a fan of her romance as it felt like an aside shoehorned into the story so everyone could have a romance. I liked it, but I thought it could have been done better. On her own, though, she was amazing and really impressed me in this book.

Risha was one of my favorite characters in the first book, and she continues to be so in this book. She’s strong and has a kinder heart. Her family’s domain is death, so I felt she was a little more understanding and tender, which was really played up in this book. She’s stuck in Mortri with the spirit of the man she fell in love with and a talking head who offers his services as a guide in exchange for Risha finding his body. I really adored her story and her journey as it was also a journey into discovering Mortri and Risha’s family history. She’s so strong and wonderful, even if I thought the Indian culture her family is inspired by could have been better explored and given richness. Her romance was tragic, but so sweet, and now I’m wondering how it’ll play out further in the third book because it really did feel lovely to me.

Taesia felt like the central character in the first book, but she felt relegated to a more minor role in this one even as she travels with Julian. I liked these two together, and their romance is bittersweet while also cutting deeply. I loved them together in this book, especially since they fall in with Noctus residents who have painful stories of their own. Their story felt more straightforward, though, involving a search for items and a return to where it began. There were some horrifying things revealed in their story line, but I also kind of felt like it didn’t move quite as much as the others. I was actually mostly bored when the story switched to them, so felt more invested in their personal relationship than in what they were actually doing.

Nik’s story hurt my heart the most. His god is using him, and Phos definitely has some major leverage on him. Even though most of his chapters had him in his head, they felt the most revealing. It was kind of a like a deep dive into who Nik is and what’s important to him, and the strength he had to show to protect and save the people he loved most. Nik is such a noble soul, and I was glad to see that played a big role in his story in The Midnight Kingdom. Of all the romances in this book, and there’s quite a number of them, I adored Nik and Fin the most. They were so sweet.

Then there’s Dante, his younger sister Brailee, and Risha’s sister Saya, all of whom are on a mission to stop Camilla from acquiring Deia’s Heart. I loved Dante and his demon, and the two young women were fun, but also felt a little under-utilized. There’s a lot of story in this story line, but it kind of felt compacted into fewer chapters. I found myself most fascinated by this part of the book and wished more of the story had been with them. It felt like a lot of the magic in this world could have been covered by them, but it felt more focused on a goal than discovery.

The Midnight Kingdom has a lot to it, but, when I take each character alone, most of it didn’t actually feel quite as interesting, so I think the way it was woven together worked well to keep my interest. I wasn’t a huge fan of this book since it did sometimes feel like it suffered from middle book syndrome now and then, but it does have me interested to see how the last book will go. This one also felt overly brutal and violent, and I just wasn’t a fan of it. Overall, this felt like an important story that set up what should be an interesting conclusion, but there were still parts of it I didn’t feel quite as interested or invested in.


Thank you to Angela Man at Orbit and NetGalley for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

4.5/5
Thanks to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

Hey......now that is an ending....holy moly!!!
City of Dusk left all of our MC's separated and fighting for their lives and this story has to tackle relating all of their individual experiences while bringing them back together. It's a huge challenge to weave all the separate threads in a way that builds the tension to the concluding events and Tara does this very well here. The story builds slowly but it never feels like any of the characters is stuck to long in one situation or doing something unnecessary. As you begin to see how everyone will be reunited the last 20% just flies off the page and it is terrific. You definitely feel the danger to multiple characters and of course things did not go as planned so it really sets up so many possible ways for things to evolve in the final book.
Dante's journey is a favorite and his relationship/bickering with Azideh is fun but this deal between them is probably the one thread I have the most worry about how it will resolve, as I clearly need Dante to survive and be okay. After City of Dusk Nik and Fin were my favorite ship and thank you, I loved these two and how they fought for what they wanted, I hope they get to heal and find some happiness dang it!! I love how all of these characters have developed over the course of these two books and the world building and magic have been top notch.

Thank you so much to Orbit for giving me a chance to read this.

I will state ahead of time that I have a love hate relationship with this book because I was not originally made aware that it was a sequel. So I felt compelled to read book 1 and then read this one. I honestly wish that I had actually read this one first. Even if it was slightly confusing to begin (if I had), it would have captured me more than book 1 did.

I enjoyed this book but felt like I struggled with so many POVs that you're following at least 4-5 individual stories if not more. Which can be hard to keep track of.

Now I will say that in the end, I think this series is going to be something very interesting as it develops. I cannot wait to see where it goes.

This book has so many things to love! The world building is really intriguing and if you really enjoyed The City of Dusk, The Midnight Kingdom has even more challenging situations for the characters to handle. There are angry/manipulative Gods, cool monsters, new characters, amazing cultural representations, and some excellent twists and betrayals. The story is a great follow-up for Book 1.
Unfortunately despite all of that, I personally found it hard to digest at times. Much like Book 1, I struggled to follow the story due to the varying viewpoints with even more side characters to keep track of. I feel like this is one of those books you have to Marathon through, because whenever I had large chunks of time to read it was very gripping. However, if you’re going through this reading a chapter here or there or whenever you have time, it’s so easy to lose track of what’s happening in the different storylines/locations/character arcs/etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for providing me a digital advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Overall, I enjoyed this one! There was fantastic queer representation. Even though it is advertised as adult, it reads more as YA or a crossover novel. The characters were endearing, and the prose was really good.

There were parts of this book that I loved and parts that I hated.

What I loved:
- exploring new worlds like Noctus and Mortri; we only got Vitae in book one, so it was fun getting to further explore this universe.
- the addition of the side characters; they added so much depth and enjoyment to the different storylines. In particular, I enjoyed learning more about Cosima and Fin from book one. I loved the addition of Val (until I didn't lol), Kenji, Asami, Lilia, Marcellus, and Kallen.
- the magical creatures; Yvri the wyvern was a great addition to Angelica's story with his dry wit. I also absolutely loved the addition of the demons, especially Azideh.
- the ending; I really enjoyed having all the different storylines converge finally at the end. For me, that's where the book really shone.

What I didn't like:
- how long this book felt; I know it's almost 600 pages, however it was such a slow read that I felt like I was never making any progress.
- how many storylines were happening; for me, there was way too much going on. I found it hard to really get invested in any one plot because we would sometimes go 5 or 6 chapters before returning to it. I wish we cut out one plot and focused more on some of the other things happening. The one I disliked the most was Risha's. It felt so disconnected to everything else that was happening and it was pretty boring for me.
- the repetitiveness; it felt like I was reading the same thing over and over at times. Again, I feel like the book could have been condensed a bit to pick up the pace a bit.

Overall, I enjoyed being back in this world with these characters. I will definitely pick up the third book based on the ending of this one. It led into a potential plot that I think I'll enjoy more as a whole.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for a gifted advanced copy of this book in addition to my honest opinions.

I’m sorry I forgot to review this book before it was archived. I do appreciate the ARC! I enjoy books with many POVs and this book definitely delivers that. I find the author’s writing style descriptive but still easy to follow. This isn’t a book for people who aren’t a fan of world building, though! Luckily I am.

The Midnight Kingdom was a beast of a book. Under no circumstances should anyone try to read this story without reading the first book. There was so much going on, and things picked up right where book one left off. My only real problem with this book was the number of POVs/settings and the impact they had on the pacing. There were so many POVs that there were times it felt jarring to switch and others where the story would go so long before returning to a POV that I'd forget what was happening. That being said, I did like each of the subplots individually. I just didn't enjoy jumping between them so much.

Now that I've got my one major qualm out of the way, let's talk about the things I loved about The Midnight Kingdom. The world-building was breathtaking and added so much lore to this world. The magic took on new, fascinating dimensions, and I loved getting to finally experience Mortri and Noctus, as well as some new parts of Vitae. I walked away from this book feeling like I understand the magic and the realms, which wasn't really the case after finishing book one.

I still loved the characters in The Midnight Kingdom. Although, my favorites did shift a bit. I never would have guessed that Angelica would become a favorite, but here we are. She had such a fantastic journey in this book, and I appreciated how her motivations changed. In The City of Dusk, she largely seemed to want power for the sake of power, or because her mother wanted her to get it. In this story, she came to recognize that her desire for power came from feelings of inadequacy. She also grew to understand that power is best used to help people, especially those you care about.

Taesia. Taesia. Taesia. She was still a favorite of mine in The Midnight Kingdom, and she still had the personality and tact of a bull in a china shop. Her constant struggle with reconciling doing her duty and her personal freedom was compelling to read. All she wanted was to live her life without all the responsibility of being an heir, and now she found herself facing off with a demented god bent on destroying an entire realm. She stepped up in some big ways, and the end of her story here broke my heart.

I couldn't end a review of The Midnight Kingdom without discussing the ships. lol. There were so many pairings I wanted to see and most of them got at least a couple moments to shine. The romance was a bit lacking, which makes sense considering the life-altering circumstances, but I loved the moments we got. Nik and Fin did kind of get shafted, though, because Nik was stuck in his own head for most of the book. So, they didn't do as much as I'd have liked. Although, it did provide representation of dissociation, which was interesting to read. Also, I'm now shipping Dante and his demon because they are perfect for each other and will be together forever anyway...

In general, The Midnight Kingdom was a solid sequel. I enjoyed this outing with some of my favorite disaster queers, and I'm definitely anxious to see what happens to them next. I want them all to get their HEAs even though it seems doubtful. This book was a roller coaster full of magic and new realms, and it provided plenty of moments that made me gasp, cheer, and feel genuinely horrified. Therefore, I rate this book 4.25 out of 5 stars.

The Midnight Kingdom by Tara Sim is the second book in the Dark Gods series. The first book did not receive much attention upon its release, but I enjoyed it. The mystery, the uniqueness of the world, and the idea of five friends fighting for the crown were enough to keep my interest in spite of its slow start. As for the sequel, it is the type of story in which Ms. Sim had multiple directions from which to choose. With the five heirs and sidekicks in different locations, she opts for all of the above for The Midnight Kingdom.

As with the first book, you must wade through more world-building before the action heats up, something Ms. Sim keeps to a minimum. Unfortunately, she also does not recap anything from the first book. It took me a few chapters before I recalled details about the characters, their powers, and how the first novel ended. Once you get past that point, the story clicks.

The Midnight Kingdom follows each of the characters on their individual journies. While many authors tried to accomplish this and failed, Ms. Sim pulls it off by making each subplot compelling and surprisingly emotional. These subplots are unique in that each heir faces a very different challenge. Some tests of loyalty and desire are physical in nature, some mental, and some emotional. All are packed with twists you don't see coming, and all contain their own form of horror.

The journies the heirs are on serve two purposes. For one, they help forward the overarching plot. More importantly, however, they also develop the characters much more than you usually see in a fantasy novel. Through each decision an heir makes, we learn more about what they consider worth the fight. We also get insight into their mental states, which becomes key knowledge towards the end of The Midnight Kingdom.

Despite my struggles to remember any details of the first book, I ended up enjoying The Midnight Kingdom. The complex nature of the book, with its multiple subplots and shifts in POV, enhanced the story. I also appreciated the opportunity to get close and personal with the characters. It made me care about them, which, therefore, kept me vested in their stories. Plus, the ending of The Midnight Kingdom took a very unexpected turn, which only makes me want more of this intricate and dark novel.

Wow. I thought that The City of Dusk was promising, but I never would've predicted the sequel would be one of my favourite books of the year. This had a little bit of everything and I would absolutely recommend it, especially if you're the sort of person who love The Locked Tomb.

<b>POVs:</b>
So we've still got a lot of POVs going on-- 7, to be exact. The main six are in third person limited and a chapter may switch the POV character part way through, and the last POV is in first person (mysterious, ooOoo). In the first book this was difficult because all of the POVs need time to start their respective storylines and introduce all their characters and backstory. For Midnight Kingdom, I was invested in all the different POVs and suffered each time we changed because I just wanted to keep going with the story I was in!

I do really like how the writing gets rather playful in the way it handles Nik's perspective, but it's not a straightforward style so I can imagine other readers being slightly frustrated or confused by that.

<b>The Pacing:</b>
There's a slight disservice that each storyline mirrors the others. If one is going on a quest, it seems like they all are going on a quest. If one is getting betrayed, it seems like they're all getting betrayed. They are paced in tandem and all crescendo at the same time, so I think that telegraphed a few things and maybe made them overall a little less impactful.

<b>The Plot:</b>
There is soooooo much plot here. And lore! And world-building! I honestly don't even know what to say because it was >600 pages and I was engaged the whole damn time.

<b>Sequel:</b>
Generally when reading a sequel I am looking for: expansion of the world, expansion of the magic, furthering of the plot, and new discoveries. If I can fall in love with the characters and seem them grow/their relationships grow then that's perfection.

And this did all the things!

<b>Selling Points:</b>
I don't wanna spoil but I will just briefly mention some highlights--
- a sarcastic, talking decapitated head companion
- a demon called out on his nakedness who puts on a brief fashion show
- sorankun (essentially dragons)
- the author mentioned how much she learned about both volcanoes and blackholes while writing this book

<b>Pop Culture:</b>
I mentioned The Locked Tomb above because there's something in this writing style that felt very reminiscent of the inherent sarcasm and dry humor of Tamsyn Muir, as well as working in memes and pop culture to a very large, dark Fantasy world. There'd be modern slang like "Love that for us," and references that were so very clearly Brooklyn 99. And I had a blast with that!

<b>Do you hate eye stuff?:</b>
All eyes are endangered here. Proceed with caution and at your own peril.

<i>I received an ARC from NetGalley and Orbit, all opinions are my own.</i>

It's my own fault for not checking if this was a series. That being said my reasoning for not starting books in the middle of a series. I thought the book was fine at first but as the story progresses I can't find a character to like or be interested in. The story had it's moments of good story craft but other times not so much. I enjoyed what storyline I could follow reasonably well. I will not be picking up the first book in the series. Until next time Happy Reading!

I had a really hard time getting into The Midnight Kingdom despite enjoying the audiobook for The City of Dusk. I think I may wait to read this on audiobook. I think the world building is excellent, might just be a personal preference for me to feel connected to the characters being enhanced by an audio book.

*phew* this was quite a ride! and the cliffhanger? I need more!!! The battle picks up fright after the last book. The "friends" and heirs are dispersed across kingdoms and must work to save the entire world.

This was a satisfying follow up to the first book in this series. The political intrigue seemed to take a step back and more action was present in this book. The cast of characters was increased from the already large cast it was from the first book. So that was surprising but it wasn't too hard to follow overall. The world building continues to shine for me but I felt a few of the characters fell flat. Overall a good read that I'd recommend.

Where the city of dusk was full of political intrigue and magic, the midnight kingdom is non stop adventure and action.

We once again follow the heirs, who are now scattered after the events of City of Dusk. The characters continue to grow and develop and we meet a few new characters who bring an even wider breath of life to this book. I truly enjoyed it and the only bad part now is waiting for the third book!

Thanks Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Midnight Kingdom, the second book in the Dark Gods series by Tara Sim, was a magnificent read. This book was such a strong follow up to The City of Dusk.

This one picked up right where we left off in the first book. In true second book fashion this one was a lot of setup to get ready for the finale. A packed first half leading into an action packed ending. My favorite!

Tara Sim sure knows how to keep her audience captivated through a lengthy book. Her writing is so beautiful and captivating. I am so grateful for the opportunity to read this one.

Thank you, NetGalley!

An ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions remain my own.

This was a satisfying sequel to The City of Dusk. Once again I enjoyed the characters and the world, but it took me longer than I would have liked to finish it.

If you liked The Jasad Heir, you’ll most likely enjoy this. I plan on reading book 3 when it comes out.

I am a big fan of Tara Sim. I think she’s very good at creating characters with depth and interesting worlds to put them in. This book certainly lives up to that standard.

That said, this series had a pretty large cast to start with - four primary characters, five secondaries that get a lot of attention - and it’s only gotten bigger in this book. You’re still mostly following the original four but the number of relevant people they interact with has increased significantly. Also, many of those secondary characters became more prominent in this part of the story arc.

Over the duration of the book, the characters are all scattered across different realms, and the chapters are not split by POV. So there are points where you might be following two or three of the main characters in the same chapter but in different places/situations. Which I think can get a bit confusing if you’re not paying close attention.

None of this makes the book bad in my opinion. The reason I bring it up is because I generally listen to Sim’s books while working and this is definitely one your better off physically reading. I think it will be easier to follow changes in perspective and also the more subtle details of the overall story if you do. This is definitely more of a high fantasy and heavily detailed approach to storytelling than her previous works. Likely because it is targeted at an older audience.

All of that aside, I did enjoy this book. I think it’s a good continuation of the previous setup and it wasn’t filler to draw out the final battle just because. We got a chance to see the characters deal with the consequences of their actions which is always interesting for me. We also got to see them struggle with right and wrong, though I’d argue the vast majority of them are morally grey regardless (and I love it!)

I think this book (and series) is great for someone who wants to get into high fantasy but isn’t ready to tackle the massive ones like Mistborn, Realm of the Elderlings, ect. Or someone is who is transitioning from YA (which Sim has written in the past) to Adult Fantasy.

If I had one request going forward, it’s more Nikolas.

Thank you for providing an ARC for me to review.

I struggled a lot with this one. I had to DNF around 30%. It’s too complex for me. I had no idea what was happening and who everyone was that far in.

I don’t think it’s a bad book. I just don’t have the capacity for it. I’m sure many will adore it.

I will not be reviewing this on other medias as I feel I did not finish it and cannot give a full opinion.

A strong sequel! Definitely picked up right where book one left off. There was a lot going on but I was enjoying all the different plotlines. I liked the fact that we got to travel and experience the different realms more in this one. I liked all of the new characters that were introduced. With the original characters/heirs, Taesia is still my girl but Rishi grew on me a lot with her journey through Mortri (the realm of death). Also, Angelica's journey and her character development almost had me actually liking her. Just a little though.

My only critique is that I did feel the book dragged in some areas but overall, I'm looking forward to book three. This was my most anticipated book for 2023, so thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the ARC!