Thoughts on 'Burning Midnight' by Will McIntosh.
Burning Midnight is a book set in a world where superpowers are just one cheque away. Their world is covered in colourful spheres the size of marbles that, when you obtain a matching pair, give you an ability. Slate Grey spheres give you enhanced singing ability and Mustard's give you high intelligence. Other than the spheres there aren't many differences between our world and theirs. This makes the book a very easy read as our world are similar enough for it to not feel too foreign. The book follows David "Sully" Sullivan, a teenage boy living with his single mother in Yonkers, New York. They are very poor and Sully makes his money by selling what little spheres he has in a flea market every Saturday. After meeting Hunter, a teenage girl with a tragic past, he finds two new spheres, Gold and Midnight. This leads him on a wild chase across the world to find the second Midnight which, when burned, will change the world forever. The book is full of twists and turns and has you constantly on the edge of your seat. With an ending that leaves you breathless, it was a nice change from the typical nice, happy ending typical of the genre.
One thing I enjoyed about the book was the amount of uncertainty surrounding the spheres. No one in the book fully understands them or how they work and this creates an element of mystery, like the book has secrets it is yet to tell. You feel like you have to read on because you have to find out what the spheres are and where they came from. You hear all the different ideas people have about where the spheres came from and what they are. Many people believe it is a religious occurrence, that it is a sign of the impending apocalypse. Others believe that it is a purely scientific phenomenon and dedicate their lives to studying it. This is very similar to our world as it is like the debate between creationism and the Big Bang Theory. In our world, there are so many things that are debated on between science and religion. it was very interesting for me to see this exchange explored in the book. Later on, in the book, you find out that the spheres are actually Aliens and when you burn the spheres you let the Alien into your body. The entire way through the book I couldn't wait to find out how the spheres worked and this was definitely not the answer I expected. This unexpected turn into the world of extra-terrestrials definitely took me by surprise and definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book.
The characters in the book are all well rounded and interesting. Having introduced a new factor into society and everyday life, it makes sense that the characters in the book would not only behave differently in everyday life, but would also have had different experiences and therefore have different stories to tell. This made the book more exciting, and I looked forward to hearing what the characters had to say. Hunter, for example, is one of the books biggest mysteries. As the book progresses you start to learn more and more about her traumatic past and how this relates to her reactions in the book. Their experiences were so different to mine, it was nice to have something so completely different, but yet so similar. Many books I have read are either too similar to my experiences and are therefore boring, or they are too different from my experiences and are therefore too hard for me to relate to. Burning Midnight is a book that finds the perfect balance between familiarity and excitement. I know that there is a lot of poverty in Auckland and a lot of homelessness. Hunter and her mother used to live in the streets, where her mother died of hypothermia. This is something we often see in our own society and getting the perspective of someone in this situation made me feel more connected to the issue.
In conclusion, the book 'Burning Midnight' is an exhilarating read that kept me on the edge of my seat with its many twists and turns. It ended in a completely unpredictable way that filled all of the plot holes and managed to satisfy me. the ending was both idealistic and realistic as it gave a satisfying conclusion but not in a way that was unrealistic in terms of the plot. The book related to our society in many ways including references to poverty and the discourse between religion and science. This made the book both comforting to read and at the same time exciting enough to keep reading. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the way it made me think about the different kinds of people that inhabit my own universe and the stories they have to tell and how their experiences shaped their lives. It also made me think about how maybe neither the scientists nor the religious are right, maybe the answers of our universe are something neither side could possibly imagine.
One thing I enjoyed about the book was the amount of uncertainty surrounding the spheres. No one in the book fully understands them or how they work and this creates an element of mystery, like the book has secrets it is yet to tell. You feel like you have to read on because you have to find out what the spheres are and where they came from. You hear all the different ideas people have about where the spheres came from and what they are. Many people believe it is a religious occurrence, that it is a sign of the impending apocalypse. Others believe that it is a purely scientific phenomenon and dedicate their lives to studying it. This is very similar to our world as it is like the debate between creationism and the Big Bang Theory. In our world, there are so many things that are debated on between science and religion. it was very interesting for me to see this exchange explored in the book. Later on, in the book, you find out that the spheres are actually Aliens and when you burn the spheres you let the Alien into your body. The entire way through the book I couldn't wait to find out how the spheres worked and this was definitely not the answer I expected. This unexpected turn into the world of extra-terrestrials definitely took me by surprise and definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book.
The characters in the book are all well rounded and interesting. Having introduced a new factor into society and everyday life, it makes sense that the characters in the book would not only behave differently in everyday life, but would also have had different experiences and therefore have different stories to tell. This made the book more exciting, and I looked forward to hearing what the characters had to say. Hunter, for example, is one of the books biggest mysteries. As the book progresses you start to learn more and more about her traumatic past and how this relates to her reactions in the book. Their experiences were so different to mine, it was nice to have something so completely different, but yet so similar. Many books I have read are either too similar to my experiences and are therefore boring, or they are too different from my experiences and are therefore too hard for me to relate to. Burning Midnight is a book that finds the perfect balance between familiarity and excitement. I know that there is a lot of poverty in Auckland and a lot of homelessness. Hunter and her mother used to live in the streets, where her mother died of hypothermia. This is something we often see in our own society and getting the perspective of someone in this situation made me feel more connected to the issue.
In conclusion, the book 'Burning Midnight' is an exhilarating read that kept me on the edge of my seat with its many twists and turns. It ended in a completely unpredictable way that filled all of the plot holes and managed to satisfy me. the ending was both idealistic and realistic as it gave a satisfying conclusion but not in a way that was unrealistic in terms of the plot. The book related to our society in many ways including references to poverty and the discourse between religion and science. This made the book both comforting to read and at the same time exciting enough to keep reading. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the way it made me think about the different kinds of people that inhabit my own universe and the stories they have to tell and how their experiences shaped their lives. It also made me think about how maybe neither the scientists nor the religious are right, maybe the answers of our universe are something neither side could possibly imagine.
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