Review: Blue Noon: Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld

Synopsis: From Amazon
The Midnighters have emerged victorious from their greatest challenge. They now know much more about the secret history of Bixby and, with the halfling dead, the Grayfoots' link to the darklings has been severed. But the cost is high. Rex's horrific experience in the desert has left him damaged, painfully suspended between light and dark. Melissa's violation of Dess's mind and the shameful revelations of her past deeds have shattered the uneasy bond among the five teenagers. What they need now is some time to heal, but what they get is the surprise of their lives when the blue time arrives in the middle of the day. It seems the walls between the secret hour and real time are crumbling, and soon the dark creatures will break through to hunt after centuries of waiting. And as if that wasn't enough for Jessica to deal with, her little sister, Beth, is becoming more and more determined to crack the secret of midnight - a goal that could have consequences more dire than she can ever have imagined.

Review:
I really dislike writing bad reviews, I am not going to spout about this book, I am writing the review in order to maintain my reading record and to confirm my issues with the plot.

We are dropped into the middle of the action with a slightly disturbing start following the end of Touching Darkness and the incident involving Rex and the Darklings.  Although Rex and Melissa's relationship deepens throughout this book I felt as if they had had a personality transplant. Which really confused how the reader related to them and their interactions with the other Midnighters.

There was a lot of recapping throughout the book, sometimes necessary due to the many tangents that the plot undertook, but a little boring when you have already read the other books.

There was some very unsettling, nightmarish imagery (for me anyway with the snake depictions). I literally felt as if someone had been inside my head and pulled my nightmares out, then written them into the story.

The finale of the story took on an overkill quality with a myriad of disasters striking the Midnighters. Making the plot rather inconceivable. I found this a real shame as the middle book in the trilogy really held my attention and made we want to continue reading the series. The ending was anti-climatic and confusing, I was left thinking WTH???

On a positive note: I loved the use of the 13 letter words which really helped improve my vocabulary. Plus the use of math was ingenious even if I didn't completely understand it.