Blue Noon [Import] [Paperback]

Scott; Westerfield, Scott Westerfeld (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: ATOM (November 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904233848
• ISBN-13: 978-1904233848
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,076,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Westerfeld's teen novels include the Uglies series, the Midnighters trilogy, The Last Days, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and the sequel to Peeps. Scott was born in Texas, and alternates summers between Sydney, Australia, and New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't Stop Talking About Midnighters, September 27, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Midnighters #3: Blue Noon (Library Binding)

I believe I've started an epidemic. Many of my friends, irked by the fact that I won't shut up about Midnighters, are reading the books and enjoying them just as much as I do. But Book 3, Blue Noon, is the one that really made Midnighters stand out in my mind as one of my favourite sets of books (yes, I'm mad about Harry Potter and I adore Artemis Fowl and Bartimaeus, and this ranks right up there with them).

The thing that really makes this book outstanding is the characterization. As a writer, (Okay, kid who likes making up stories, same thing)I can't enjoy a book unless it really has well-developed characters and a character-driven plot. All five of the main characters are real people with good and bad traits and interesting personalities.

*THIS IS LOTS OF CHATTER ABOUT CHARACTERS. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE CHARACTERS, YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS*

To me, the most compelling is Rex, who was my favourite character in book one in his nerdy incarnation and who I continued to love as his personality dramatically changed through the end of books two and three. Because Rex is not all Rex anymore... he's half darkling, which is both a blessing and a curse. (The darklings are the evil beasts that were Rex-and-company's enemies, so that makes life complicated.) Like his friend Melissa, I watched Rex evolve with confused disbelief, still recognizing the character that I knew and loved but frightened by the thing that he was becoming. Spooky.

Melissa's personality, meanwhile, has taken a turn for the better. Thanks to her mentor, Madeleine, Melissa has learned to control her talent of mindcasting and has become calmer and more logical. This is interesting, because it's strange to watch her support Rex through his psycho moments and calm him down when it used to be the other way around. The book comments that it seems strange that Melissa is becoming saner while Rex is going "six kinds of crazy," and that it's almost as if there wasn't enough sanity to go around for the five of them.

Jessica has an interesting role in this one, as she's having conflicts with her daylight life, in her family and soforth. In the end, she's forced to make a... *DUN DUN DUN, SPOILER* sacrifice, which is an extremely touching ending. All I can say is that you come to like Beth (her moody younger sister) more than you did before. Jessica for some reason seems the most difficult midnighter to describe personalitywise, as she's the most normal, I suppose.

Jonathan's part is depressingly small in this one. He doesn't have as much of his easygoing, lighthearted Jonathan charm that made fangirls sigh in the first book-- in fact, he seems a bit moody. He's torn, because he doesn't want darklings to take over the world, but he does want to be able to fly all of the time. Jonathan is a great character and I like him very much (but not as much as Rex, who holds a special place in my heart), and I wish there was more Jonathan action in Blue Noon.

Dess is also a bit moody, as she's upset about Melissa invading her mind in the second book, but she has some seriously awesome action and some wonderful Dess-like lines. (She has a great sense of humour. The author said on his website that Dess was his favourite of the midnighters, and it shows in his writing.) Dess has her shining moments in the second book, but the very end of the book makes Dess dear to all readers. My favourite Dess moment in the book was one part where they were discussing Halloween, and the following discussion ensued:

Dess: So the goth holiday is for real?

Rex: Celtic, actually. The Goths were from Asia.

Dess: No, I meant the kids in black!

Melissa: Uh, Dess, mirror check?

Dess: What, this dress is charcoal!

Dess and Melissa calling each other goths becomes a bit of a running joke in this book. It has a perfect balance between humour and darkness, one that's often very hard to strike.

The plot is absolutely enthralling, but if I were to describe it all, this review would be longer than the book itself, knowing me. All I'm going to say is, the blue time is no longer merely during midnight, and the darklings have a sinister plot(like there are other kinds of plot??)to take over.

My only quibble with the book is that (and you, the reader, probably won't care about this, because I seriously doubt that you are as immature as I am) there is a tad bit too much romance for my own taste. True, the romance is very touching (Jess and Jonathan is pure sweetness, and Rex and Melissa is extremely interesting, almost a complete plot on its own), but there are ways to express a deep relationship without saying "and then they kissed" every few sentences. In fact, the Rex/Melissa kiss at the end of book two was so dramatic and beautiful because it was the first one. Making them kiss about as frequently as they, say, breathe, takes the impact away from the kissing. (Of course, this is just my opinion, as I'm too young to be romantically involved with anyone and am still pondering life's little mysteries like 'where do you put your noses when you kiss?')

I'm sorry for ranting on and on like this, but I'm extremely passionate about these books, and if I had it my way, everyone who enjoys reading would have a copy of them. And don't quit after reading the first book! Blue Noon is the best of the bunch.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Third Time Still A Charm, August 11, 2006

By 

John A. League (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnighters #3: Blue Noon (Hardcover)

I bought Scott Westerfeld's Midnighters #3: Blue Noon back when it came out in March because I'm just that way, but I didn't get down to reading it until last week.

(An aside: that was stupid. Why wait so long? The thing only took two days to read, and only that long because I didn't have to wait in the doctor's office as long as I anticipated. So go on and get the three books and read them, back to back to back, if you've not already. If you start now you can be done in a week.)

Holy wow, Batman. What a good book.

Westerfeld took a darker turn in Midnighters #2 and accelerated down that path in this volume. Beyond just a ripping good tale, he explores the rugged terrain of fear, power and their uses, while drawing together disparate plot points from the previous books that tie up the series satisfyingly. He does, however, leave just enough hanging and unresolved at the end to give it a genuine feel--including the bitter twist at the end.

I note with both trepidation and excitement that Westerfeld seems to have deliberately left the door open for future Midnighters stories. I hope that he won't become a victim of the "genre-series-that-never-die" syndrome, but given the results of these three books, I'll certainly give a chance to whatever he puts out next.

Highly recommended

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor Ending To A Great Series (spoiler warning after paragraph 2), November 27, 2009

By 

Lifelight (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnighters #3: Blue Noon (Paperback)

Wow. Scott W. has stuffed Bixby, OK with five believable, distinct main characters. Even Jessica's family, with Beth (the little sister), workaholic mom, and stay-at-home dad Don seem real and not types. And he's given us a dark, intense story that moves and jumps like Jonathon's acrobatics.

So what do you say when 98% of a trilogy keeps you ripping through pages and neglecting important life duties, only to have the climactic end fizzle, stumble, and fall flat? It's not just artistic license that I personally don't like. It's not some bittersweet, catch-in-the-throat sadness. The ending is horrid.

Spoilers ahead: despite the main plot lines about the darklings and the dangers found in dusty Oklahoma, the reader (by the third book in the trilogy) has the greatest emotional investment in the two teen couples: Jonathon and Jessica, and Rex and Melissa. We are hoping against hope that Rex and Melissa will have a happily-ever-after following years of struggle and staying by each other. The author arbitrarily rips our hopes apart. Jonathon and Jessica don't get what they want either; they are ripped apart, too, but at least this is done with poignant artistry and purpose. Our emotions are deflated and left there. This is truly an artless ending with the one exception of Jessica.

I, along with other readers here, hope that this is not the last book in the series. It would lower my opinion of the writer's skill if it is.