Trigger warnings: Near-death experiences

7/10, this was such a fantastic immersive fantasy novel that shows what Australian writers are truly capable of, unlike the last Australian book that I read. The three main characters were distinct yet similar to one another since they are all witches but have different powers which I liked and I also enjoyed the fact that there weren't any protagonists in this book, usually this is a bad sign but the book more than compensated for that with a brutal competition between two antagonist witches to see who can get the prince's heart and eat it first. This contest stretched throughout most of the book and I enjoyed every single part of it since I was just so immersed in the world building which sometimes is an underutilised aspect of a book but this one uses it to its fullest potential. Towards the second half of the book, the battle reaches its dramatic and unexpected climax when the witches take the contest too far which ends up almost killing them, they do heal eventually but have a great realisation that they are just tools being used by their masters so they broke free of them and the witches even experienced character development since they no longer hated each other and they decided to be allies with themselves. If you like an action-packed standalone fantasy book this one is for you; it's such a shame that it's so obscure, more people should read this. ( )

An interesting story. The idea was interesting, but the vagueness of all the details made this feel more like a fae story than anything else. I would have liked more details about how the magic and the girl's monster sides worked. But I liked the enemies to lovers trope here, and you could really feel the sense of yearning and want here. Definitely one that I will suggestion on to others, especially those that liked "This is how you lose the time war" and "Wilder Girls" ( )

A richly imagined setting inspired by Polish history and Eastern European mythology serves as an amazing backdrop to this YA enemies to lovers Sapphic fantasy novel. This is definitely something different and a great read with some truly unique flavor. ( )

I really, really wanted to like The Midnight Girls because I thought the magic/monster-driven concept at its center was wonderful. There are edges of fairytale to the story – the kind of fairytales that evoke gruesome images, not princesses and pumpkins. It’s not gory, but it is dark, and the trio of competing young women was compelling. Especially when we speak of stealing princes’s hearts… and not in the way you may think. That said, it felt Jasińska wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with the story at times – some scenes are powerfully written, but the threads that tie them together are loose and tangled. It didn’t quite work for me.

We have a trio of servants who work for three witches in three forests – Beata is White Jaga’s servant in the Morning Forest, Marynka is Red Jaga’s servant in the Midday Forest, and Zosia is Black Jaga’s servant in the Midnight Forest. They are tasks with stealing hearts for princes for their witches to devour to make them stronger. Almost every time, Zosia “Midnight” wins the race and Marynka “Midday” hates it. Beata “Morning” just does her best and accepts her place. The Midnight Girls is mostly Marynka’s story of hate and love and rivalry and frustration and finally peace. Zosia’s story is woven in as well, but at the heart, it’s Marynka’s tale. It’s a love story, mostly.

There are a lot of things going on in The Midnight Girls. There’s Karnawal – a winter Carnival festival – and there’s Price Józef’s story with Kajetan. There’s a lot of working relationships that Jasińska clearly wanted to develop, and none of them got quite enough attention, not even the sapphic romance between Zosia and Marynka. For the first two-thirds, I was bored and frustrated, save for the occasional vibrant scene (the ice maze!). The last third caught my interest but it moved so quickly that as soon as things seemed to be developing… they stopped. The book ended.

That said, there’s a lovely review on Goodreads from a Polish reader commenting on the magic, Polish-coded cast, and general setting. It’s a lovely, happy, enthusiastic review and a reminder that there are so many groups underrepresented in literature still, even if they don’t seem so obvious to the casual reader. The sheer joy in this review reminds me how often only the western-most European cultures get mention. While I found the world-building a little awkward (is this real? Fantasy? Magical realism? Jasińska seems to jump but I believe it’s intended to be fantasy intertwined in the real world), it’s clear this book is not for me and it’s made another so happy.

Criticism unrelated to the book itself or the author – this title feels like it was chosen by someone who didn’t read the book. Jasińska stated online that she didn’t title the book herself, so this is not on her. To be clear, there are no “midnight girls”. There is one girl affiliated with “midnight” (Zosia) and three girls who are monsters.

The Midnight Girls is a pass from me, although there are moments and pieces I appreciated. I think that to the right reader, this will be a wonderful read and I appreciate that it exists even if I read too deeply into things like the relationships and the world building and ruined it for myself. I celebrate that this is a YA book with well-represented Polish-coded characters, queer relationships, and dark, spooky sunset magic. ( )

The first third of the story is quite slow and may cause some readers to lose interest. That would be a big mistake. Like a freight train climbing a long, steep grade, then roaring down the other side with faulty brakes, this story suddenly roars ahead, mixing intrigue, danger, bouts of self-doubt and a building attraction between these two girls who are seen by many as monsters. ( )