Touching Darkness (2004)

Exciting story ( )

A nice followup. The stakes are higher, some of the implications of the central premise are expanded. It still feels a little by-the-numbers but the characters have enough depth to keep me interested even when the plot is a little rote. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It focused on the other midnighters, Melissa, Rex, and Dess. Melissa, Rex, and Dess got more developed as characters, we learned their pasts. Sadly, Jonathan and Jessica remain as shallow as before. Jonathan was annoying before and still annoying. The only slightly confusing part was Dess's part with the physics and calculations and the whole history part of it. It took a couple reads to fully understand the physics and calculations Dess was doing, but I still found it slightly dull. I didn't really think ALL of it was necessary to understand Dess's chapters. I really liked how each midnighter got their own chapter this time, versus every single chapter being about Jessica. Jessica was so silly and naive sometimes I wanted to slap her. It was hard to believe that she was the hero of the story. Jonathan and Jessica seems like they were younger and much more immature than the rest. Melissa and Rex's pasts were finally revealed and then, you finally get why Melissa acts the way she does. In the first book, she was kind of annoying, but now I understand. The plot twist at the end was surprising. I thought it would be the cliche plot, the superheroes save the victim at the last second before something bad happens to the victim. Jessica is too late to completely save Rex from his horrible fate, but she still manages to help Rex. This book was definitely darker than the first, where their group was all happy and helping each other and were all like "I love midnight". This book digs deeper and shows that their group really is dysfunctional and that midnight is dangerous and that their powers aren't necessarily good. I was going to give it 4.5 stars, but apparently that isn't an option so I'll just round up. ( )

A very fascinating entry to the YA genre! I love that this series is fresh and different! I dont believe I have read anything like it! The characters are not all likeable, but the are original and different! A good read for all ages! ( )

After reading the first book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one! I have to say, Touching Darkness did not disappoint me. I was delighted to be back in Midnight and back with the 5 Midnighters

I am so happy that this book explored the other Midnighters rather than just focus on Jess, as I felt that they needed a little more attention in the first novel. Touching Darkness did just that, and I was utterly fascinated with the focus on Dess and her mathematics. I am also really happy to see the Midnighters a little less "Go Team" and have more problems between the 5 of them. I felt this made them completely more realistic, more like 5 teenagers who are put in this situation together.

I was completely fascinated (and creeped out) by the halfling and the evil that came along with the Darklings. Westerfeld did an amazing job creating this image and showing the Midnighters horror at it - it certainly drew me into the story even more than I was before!

This book was a great follow up to the first novel, and if you have read the first one, this is a must read! ( )