Hello friends! Welcome to our discussion of Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld. This discussion is part of our 2024 Summer Book Exchange. This year the theme for the summer book exchange was a favorite book from middle school. Michaela chose this book as her summer read!
Content Warning!!! This book contains situations and subjects related to: creepy situations and creatures, bullying.
Spoiler Warning!!! This post is full of spoilers for Midnighters: The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld.
Discussion:
Michaela: Hello friends and welcome to our Summer Book Exchange! This summer we went with a book that was special to us around middle school age. I chose The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld, the first book in The Midnighters trilogy. When I was younger I really struggled with being a slow reader and that kept me away from reading for a long time. Starting around middle school is when I realized ‘hey, there are books out there about stuff that interests me’, and it was kind of that first experience of realizing you can choose the things you like for yourself and not follow your family’s preferences, the school syllabus, or peers' preferences. The Midnighters is one of the series I remember being this ‘aha’ moment for my little tween brain of ‘oh my god I love this’.
Re-reading it, even though I had forgotten a lot of the details of the story, that feeling came back and I remember exactly why I loved it back then. I still really liked it, reading it over 15 years older than I was the first time. It’s so fun to look back at these things and see that my tastes are still quite similar despite being older and a different person, all those versions of yourself are still in there somewhere.
The main thing about this book that I love is the lore. If you know me you know I live for lore, the more complex the lore/timeline/plot the more I love that thing. We only get snippets of lore in this first book but I’m hooked once again because now I feel like I need to keep reading to remind myself of everything that happens. I vaguely remember the ending to the series but like I need to know now after this re-read.
Jac: I also loved The Midnighters when I was in middle school. Re-reading it as an adult, I can see why I loved it so much. I totally related to being a “weird” kid, and I soooo wished that I was special enough to experience a blue hour, too. As an adult, my favorite number is still 13 or 130 or any similar variation - and I’m fairly certain that this series is where that began.
The lore in this book is really fascinating. I don’t find myself quite as entranced by the book as I was when I was younger, so I’m not sure if I’ll keep reading, but part of me wants to just to be reminded of the entirety of the lore. I want to know more about Jess’ powers, and why the darklings and slithers fear her so much. I want to know more about the secrets that Rex and Melissa are keeping, and see Jonathan and Jess’ relationship continue to grow.
One thing that surprised me as I read this book again is how downright creepy some parts are. I always remembered this book having a sci-fi vibe, but the darklings are straight out of a horror movie. Especially the part towards the end where the darkling split apart and thousands of spiders came running… no thank you, hard pass, absolutely NOT. I think my tolerance for creepy was a bit higher when I was younger!
Michaela: My tolerance for creepy has done nothing but decline since I was a kid, everything gives me nightmares now! Just the first time Jessica was running from the panther-darkling spooked me out so much, and I was reading it around midnight which did NOT help.
I think the number 13 was a heavy influence for me wanting to read this book. I’ve always loved odd numbers; 13 and 7 being my favorites. The 13 letter words and 39 letter phrases are such a fun element to the lore. Also so fun to read all the different things they come up with for naming things.
I feel that I don’t feel that same interest in the characters as I do for the lore, but honestly that doesn’t surprise me since I simply can’t relate to these characters in the same way anymore. I’m not a 13 year old being excluded because of my “weirdness” anymore, but I love reading a book that gives a home to that version of me and other kids who feel/felt the same. I was also the new kid, along with being “different”, multiple times so I know that first chapter really hooked me in as a kid. Being new but then also finding out you’re special and important to the new place; dreamy for little 13 year old me.
I thought the tension between the friendships of the characters is still pretty interesting. Melissa hiding Dess from Rex for years and her not telling Rex about sensing the “we must have Jessica Day” right at the end….ooooooo I’m upset. That girl has issues that need to be addressed. And the personality conflict between Rex and Jonathan is good too. I like that the characters have more complex relationships in this book. I also appreciate that the ‘love story’ aspect isn’t overwhelming, I thought it was at an appropriate level for being a middle school age book. Though the rather nonchalant insinuation of SA during the party was a little shocking if I’m being honest, shout out to Constanza for being a girl's girl and getting Jessica out of there even though she misunderstood. That whole scene of Steve baiting her back to the cars was actually unsettling reading it from an adult perspective.
I thought this book ages fairly well. There are some things that don’t quite work anymore in a funny way such as the VCR manual reference! But overall there wasn’t much for language or situations that I thought was an issue, which is nice.
I also love that even now I am oblivious to foreshadowing clues. Her name is literally Jessica DAY and she is the FLAMEbringer. Her eyes aren’t the same as they others, she doesn’t relate to the safety of midnight like the others. She turns the air hanger into a beacon of light that keeps the darklings at bay! And here I am going “oh geez what is her power? Does she enhance everyone else’s?”.....and I’ve even read it before, embarrassing honestly! At least I was absorbed by the story, if not smart enough to see the signs right in front of my face.
Jac: I remember, when I read it the first time, not liking that Jonathan was the love interest and not Rex, but now that I’m an adult I realize it makes much more sense this way, and I like that they didn’t try to make it a love triangle sort of thing. I have a lot of questions about Melissa…. I imagine her gift, which is really more like torture during the other 24 hours a day, makes it really difficult to function, and I wonder if that is part of why she doesn’t seem to be the best kind of friend she could be. I like that there is some nuance to the friendships and dynamics between characters - that’s not something I see given as much thought to in middle grade books.
The one thing that didn’t age very well for me was the use of the “r” word - although I am unfortunately hearing it used a lot more frequently by younger generations again, which is unfortunate to say the least. I’m enjoying the older references to things like the VCR, the lack of cell phones, all of that stuff. We’re the lucky generation that got to straddle the line of the technology boom - it’s honestly crazy how much technology has advanced in just our lifetime. Imagine a modern version of this series… how would the darklings respond to the kinds of technology we have now?
Michaela: I forgot the book used the “r” word until you said it. That was disappointing, it was unfortunately normal at that time to use that word. I really hate that that word is coming back around again, it's truly just so disheartening with all the progress being made with other things. Even people in my life who I remember being angry at others for using it during the time when it was “okay”, are starting to use it; I do not understand it at all.
I don’t think there will ever be any piece of art or literature that can completely hold up to time, but I also think that’s okay. We should be learning and progressing, and seeing things in older works is a good reminder of how things have changed.
Overall I still really enjoyed this book and the story. I think I’d pick up things similar in adult fiction. Currently I lean pretty heavily towards fantasy but this reminded me how much I actually used to read sci-fi leaning things. Reading tastes are a lifelong journey of exploration and even revisiting.
I think that will be all for this one, friends. It’s so fun to revisit an old favorite. Even if it doesn't hit exactly the same anymore, it's still interesting to see where you started and where you are now. Next is Jacilyn’s pick! Until next time friends!
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