Title: Burning Midnight
Author: Will McIntosh
Format: E–arc
Source: Netgalley
Synopsis: Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn’t pay much—Alex Holliday’s stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers—but it helps him and his mom make the rent. No one knows where the brilliant-colored spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at math, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement—and the more expensive the sphere.
When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. One day they find a Gold—a color no one has ever seen. And when Alex Holliday learns what they have, he will go to any lengths, will use all of his wealth and power, to take it from them.
There’s no question the Gold is priceless, but what does it actually do? None of them is aware of it yet, but the fate of the world rests on this little golden orb. Because all the world fights over the spheres, but no one knows where they come from, what their powers are, or why they’re here.
I received this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to read this novel because the idea of there being spheres that when you burn a pair, they make you a little better then when you were before, was very intriguing to me. They can make you taller, your teeth straighter, a little bit smarter. No one knows where they came from, or how they got there, but everyone wants one. Some are more common then others and so are cheaper to buy from Sphere dealers. The rare spheres can sell for millions.
Sully is a sphere dealer at the flea market, buying spheres from sphere hunters to sell. Unfortunately, the big stores like Holliday’s do much better then independent dealers and so Sully doesn’t make much. But he does what he can so he can help his mom out with rent. After she lost her job, they were having a hard time so Sully wants to help. When one day at the market Sully meets Hunter, who has a natural talent for finding spheres, they start to search together. I enjoyed the interactions between Sully and Hunter and really liked their characters.
I was enjoying this novel right from the beginning and loved the idea behind the story. At times I did feel that the writing jumped around a little and some thoughts seemed unfinished, but overall I really enjoyed this novel. It held my attention the entire time I was reading and I couldn’t wait until I could pick the book up again every time I had to put it down.
When I hit around 80%, things in the book got really weird and I was concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy the ending of the book. When it was all said and done though, I enjoyed the entire novel. The ending wrapped up nicely and I grew to enjoy the twist that I originally felt was too weird.
I encourage others to pick up this novel as it was a very interesting story. If you read it, let me know what you think!
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