Book Review: Touching Darkness

Title: Touching Darkness
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Midnighters, book 2
Publisher: HarperCollins/HarperTeen
Release Date: 2005
Format: Paperback
Pages: 330
Source: Bought
My Rating: 3.5 stars

The Midnighters of Bixby, Oklahoma, know that their town is full of secrets. These five teenagers are the only ones who know about the mysterious hour at midnight when the world freezes, except for them and the creatures that inhabit the darkness.
But they do not know why earlier generations of Midnighters all disappeared, or why they are now the only Midnighters in town. As they learn more about the secret hour's twists and turns, they uncover terrifying mysteries woven into the very fabric of Bixby's history, and a conspiracy that touches both the midnight hour and the world of daylight.
At the same time, the Midnighters' own secrets start to emerge, including some that were never meant to come to light, changing the fragile dynamics among the five.This time Jessica Day is not the only Midnighter in mortal danger, and if the group can't find a way to come together, they could lose one of their own — forever.
A tale of betrayal, horrifying revelations, and powerful alliances, touching darkness is the second volume of the riveting Midnighters trilogy by acclaimed author Scott Westerfeld.                                     Taken by Goodreads.com 

Review

In the first book we were introduced into the blue time, the time where only Midnighters can walk through it and where the creatures, the darklings, exist. This time we find out that this secret time gets known to non-midnighters that are threating our five midnighters.   

The characters in this book have started to change as the events progress and they are constantly in danger. People, non-midnighters, are following them and they have to make hard decisions. Jessica was more confident in this book since she has the power to defend all five of them since she's the flame-bringer. Also new characters are introduced, characters that want to harm them and also old midnighters are introduced, to help them figure out the blue time. The timing isn't the best though and they find it hard to trust anyone resulting putting in great danger one of them.

The writing was fabulous again and Scott Westerfeld made me actually like a little more physics and understand that after all those math classes, they may come in hand one day. The plot was fast paced. After the initial intro in this wold the pace picks up and it is filled with action-paced scenes and the developing of this new world -the secret hour- that it seems that it doesn't stop from growing. 

Overall I enjoyed Touching Darkness so much more than the first book The Secret Hour and I can't wait for the last book called Blue Noon. If you have read the first one and wasn't so sure about it, give this one a try. It's worth it. It's so much easier to understand it now that you have already known the basics of the Secret Hour. It's one of those series that gets better as it goes. 

Frosy

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