The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1)

Very interesting concept, and a good young adult novel. I am intrigued enough by the concept to overlook a lot of the typical teen angst that is so often present, and will most likely read the second in the series.

Midnight..... What is midnight? For some it is an instant that marks the passing of one day and the begins of another. However, for others that call themselves "midnighters" it is a much longer period of time called the "Blue Time." What is Blue Time, well you will have to read the book to find out just like newcomer to Bixby, Jessica Day did.
As did a few others that all play a part in the intriguing story. Such as the Seer, Mindcaster, Polymath and the Acrobat. Jessica will learn what it is all about the dangers that the Blue Time bring, what the Darklings are, as well as what her skill might be if she is as they call themselves "a midnighter" as well.

Okay, Scott Westerfeld is among one of my top favorite authors, I have read almost every of the books he wrote.
Okay, the story line is both creative and stereotypical at the same time. The first time I read it, it was AMAZING, but I just re-read it, and I can see a lots of ways that this book is not as great as I once thought.
First, it's a chick who finds a super-boy (Jonathan) and later some others. She has to keep this secret until someone is about to find out and get in real danger... Sounds just like Twilight in general terms.
Second, the writing style is only okay. I love Scott Westerfeld's books, but other than the team being able to drive, it's almost as if they are middle-schoolers. They're supposed to be going to high school.
And third, why did they mention the funny tasting water? I re-read the whole thing and I see only one reason to mention the water, to illustrate that Bixby is not a normal town. Okay, I think we all figured that one out on our own, especially when Constanza is writing an essay on the strange things of Bixby.

At midnight, the world freezes and blue light covers the area. Only four kids, calling themselves Midnighters, are able to move around during the mysterious hour. When Jessica Day comes into town, she pretty much destroys the equilibrium between the Midnighters and the darklings, creatures who are able to come out during the midnight hour.

It's a fast-paced book, with a wide variety of personalities depicted through the five children. So far, however, they seem a little one-dimensional, but perhaps that is because of their talents as Midnighters. There is the seer/lore reader, the empath, the polymath, the flyer/jumper and Jessica's mysterious power (which we only find out within the last few pages of the book). For some reason the darklings are intensely after Jessica so with her presence things are chaotic, and she unwittingly brings together the other four (the flyer didn't really like the seer).

I read Westerfeld at first for his commended Uglies series, but this is also a fast, entertaining read. While not a social critique like his more famous series, fans of supernatural creatures should like this book. It leaves with a slight cliffhanger but nothing so dire I feel I must buy the second book if the public library doesn't have it (it does).

Jessica has just moved to the small town of Bixby after living in Chicago. But other than size, temperature, and scenery, she also discovers something else very different about the town. Every day at midnight the rest of the world freezes but she, and several other kids, get an extra hour. Unfortunately other, older and scarier, things also inhabit this time.

Jessica meets the other kids; Midnighters as they call themselves. Each has a special talent related to the secret hour. Jessica must have a talent but hers is not obvious. Nor is Jessica sensitive to light in the same way as the others. To make matters worse, the dark things seem to want her dead. She must be a threat to them so it becomes important to figure out just what her special talent is and it could be dangerous.

This is a very nice start to a series. I don't know how long they plan to go with this but it is off to a fast start. Only one part bothered me. Midnight is the true midnight, not one artificially created by time-zones, daylight savings, or other man-made definitions. That is fine. But apparently the arbitrary man-made definitions of latitude and longitude do have an effect. I found that to be inconsistent. Otherwise, the book was quite good and really kept me guessing. There is still plenty to learn about the secret hour and I look forward to the next volume.

Midnighters: The Secret Hour is a glorious book. It was captivating and it kept me intrigued. Everyone can read this book; it doesn't have any particular gender dominance, making it very versatile. I would recommend this book to everyone, to those who read and to those who don't. This isn't a super-hard book that takes fast readers months to complete; this is a fun story that will subsequently make you read very quickly. Once you get in it you never come out. I enjoy the suspense and the imagination that comes from this book. This is one book I won't forget. Looking forward to the next ones.

This book was right. Written in the right time, for the right audiences and in the right way. This book takes everything that kids love; adventure, rebellion, humor, slight horror and teenaged lust and mixes it with the cleverness that adults die for in literature. It was also marketed exemplarily, it catches the eye of a kid on the shelve and it holds an adults attention as he/she reads the back cover.

Surpassing even that, the sheer genius of the concept and the zealousness of the author makes the read worth while, upbeat and a fun breeze for the late hours. A world of midnight that has its own laws and its own powers and its possibilities makes any lover of fantasy, dreaming or the unknown refresh him/herself as they power through this expressive, exquisite and powerful novel in chunks of a couple of nights. This book is right and those without one should pick a copy up immediately because this novel will give you just what you're looking for no matter what that is.

Mat Perrin, esq.

I had never read anything by Scott Westerfeld, although I heard good things about his book UGLIES. When a friend recommended THE SECRET HOUR to me, and the idea of teenagers messing with time seemed to interest me, I decided to give the Midnighters series and Scott Westerfield a try. This novel proved to be a fantastic read and that Scott Westerfield was a great teen author. I definitely plan on reading the rest of Scott Westerfield's work, especially the following two books of the Midnighters trilogy. There's just so many questions I'm dying to find the answer to that quitting reading Midnighters is surely out of the question.

The story stars Jessica Day, the new girl at Bixby High in the small town of Bixby, Oklahoma. Most of the students take a liking to her, especially three very mysterious kids that only talk to each other. Then one night, when midnight is supposed to arrive, Jessica wakes to find that time has stopped for everyone except she and the three mysterious kids. They have the power to be the only humans to roam through the twenty-fith hour--they are the Midnighters. I love reading novels where the plot involves teenagers who know something that other people don't. It makes the novel so much creepier, and gives you an eerie feeling.

This book was full of action and great fighting scenes. However, I feel like it was missing one important detail, which is why I'm giving THE SECRET HOUR four stars instead of one. Suspense. A great thriller for teens should have a lot of suspense. Although it kept my attention, I felt like there weren't many parts that had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out what's going to happen. I don't really mind that much, as this novel is mostly a simple introduction to Midnighters. If it had been a stand-alone book, I would've been upset with it. But it's not, and I know that the series is just going to get better.

Scott Westerfeld really knows how to get a reader into the lives of a character. By the end of the book, I was really able to feel for the characters, and I can't wait to see what's going to happen to them in volume two. The second of the Midnighters is sure to be way more intense, and I can hardly imagine what Scott Westerfeld plans to do. It's so hard to find a good young adult series these days, and thanks to great authors like Scott Westerfeld, the idea of teens finding a good book is not a lost cause. I can't wait to read the rest of the Midnighters series, because it's clear that it'll be a big hit--among teenagers AND adults.

This book is pure delicious wish-fulfillment: a secret hour, secret powers. The pure freedom of movement when everyone else is frozen. The buoyancy of midnight gravity, the cool surety of midnight math. Even the monsters are delicious, though hideous and hairy, sparking blue at the touch of thirteen-letter words.
No fluff here; this is about the darkest enemy humans have known, the struggle to discover what you're good for, and the bone-deep connection between friends who share thoughts but can never touch. Spooky, weird, and lovely.

Jessica Day has never been faced with life threatening dangers around every turn, has never had to run away from things that want to eat her, or has never had to name a clean piece of tungsten alloy a thirteen letter word. All she has ever known is her perfect little life in Chicago, but all that is ripped away from her when she and her family move to Bixby, Oklahoma. There, she will learn of all those dangers in a world of mythical beasts and magic alloys where numbers destroy and those chosen few hold the powers of midnight. There is only two rules: stay alive and don't get eaten. It is the secret would of the midnight, where Jess and her friends will have to work together to stay alive long enough to figure out what Jessica's powers are, or end up Darkling food.

Scott Westerfeld has a pretty interesting mind, coming up with unique books. I adore the Uglies series, and I like the first book of this trilogy too. It's really interesting to see a time that nobody else knows of, even if it's completely fictional. It seems like this book has all the elements of a good YA novel. But to me it was lacking. Maybe I had high expectations because of how much I loved Uglies. Either way, I'm not in too big of a hurry to read the second one. Maybe if I can get ahold of it easily I will, but I'm not going to go out of my way to read it.

The first book of the Midnighters is defenatly the best one since you just start learning about the characters and the "Secret Hour".

The book starts out with a girl named Jessica Day who moves to Bixby, Whyoming (sorry about the spelling) and she finds Bixby to be a very, well odd place. Jessica keeps having these dreams were she wakes up at exactly midnight and finds everything to be frozen in place and time stops. One night when she has this dream a cat appears on her window and she follows it. She then gets attacked by this big panther but gets saved by some kids who go to her school. She learns that she actually isn't having dreams but is in a secret 25th hour were bad things like draklings live. But the people who saved her who are also midnighters are wondering why these things are attacking her, will she be able to find out before its to late?

I have read several books by Scott Westerfeld so I was willing to take a chance on a new series and I thought the premise sounded interesting. This first book really set the stage for the books to come, introducing the characters and a little background. The "ending" really made me want to read the next two books in the series to find out what happens next!

I really loved this entire series. The first book is about Jessica, who moves to Bixby and finds herself in the midnight blue hour, with few others. It is interesting to explore this hour within the book and all the creatures that inhabit it. The first book pulls you in and doesn't let you go until the series is up! I suggest buying them all at once!

At my school we have group book reports. Well, for this book report, me and my friends decided to do "The Midnighters" So I headed down to the nearby Borders with my mom, and picked up a copy of this book. I thought it was going to be very boring, but it didn't dissapoint me... for most of the time. The beginning is pretty slow, but once you get to the middle of the beginning, you'll be in the 25th Hour!

I was interested in this book mainly because it is based near where i live. However, Westerfeld must had never visited the area before writing the book. A few mistakes he makes is saying that Oklahoma is flat which is only true in some areas but definitely not in the Bixby area which is lush with trees and rolling hills. Another part is that her dad says he can see lightning in Texas which again can not be done because Bixby is in the Northern part of the state and along with the trees, hills and mountain range between here and the state line it can't be done. Another is saying things about the desert areas but this area is full of trees and green grass. Lastly there isn't a Broken Arrow County but there is a city called Broken Arrow.
I had read the Uglies, Pretties and Specials and was looking forward to reading a wonderful book by Scott Westerfeld but these things made it hard for me to get into the story because I thought he would have done more research on the area his book is based. I still give it four stars because it is a great idea and could be good for those not familiar with the area.

A wonderful book that will entrance all in its mind pleasing description of the wonderful midnight world. The nightlings fighting to destroy their soon to be greatest enemy, a simple 15 year old girl, Jessica Day. The characters each holding onto a special gift. A Seer, a Mindcaster, a Polymath, and an Acrobat. All of these things will help them find Jessica's gift, and protect her from the nightlings. But along with unraveling the mystery of Jessica Day, they also start to discover, and solve, other mysteries. Such as why they had never seen so many nightlings, or why it seems that only their town can experience the true midnight. What will the next book hold for these exciting characters?

People of all ages will adore this well writen novel. Even if you or some one you know will LOVE Scott Westerfeld's hit. It is creative, imaginative, entertaining, thrilling, humorous, and mysterious. Midnighters, in my opinion is WAY better than the Harry Potter series (that is A LOT to say.) It kept me reading way past midnight.

Came acrossthis series, and it sounded interesting. Read the sample first and I liked it, and got the book. The first, maybe 3 chapters, good. Then I found myself skipping pages to skip all the boring parts! And there were tons! I read books with a good attitude so ill have a chance at really liking them, but it was impossible to like this book. It seemed so slow, Id rather read fast paced books. If u liked all the Percy Jackson books, the maze runner trilogy, and the hunger games... it doesn't mean you will like this series.

After reading other reviews I found that it must just be me that doesn't like this book, because all others seem to thoroughly enjoy it. As for me, not so much. I thought that it was a little to "imaginary", at least for me. I am more into realistic fiction. Although I didn't like it I do think that it would be a good book for a younger audience.

I recently looked at Scott Westerfield's Web site, because I love the Uglies series, but I am saddened after reading a description of the Midnighters series. The main premise is identical to that of a popular video game series called called Shin Megami Tensei: Personathat began 8 years prior to the first Midnighters release.

In Persona, an extra hour exists at midnight and only a select group of teenagers remain awake during this hour. During this hour, called "the Dark Hour," the teens must fight "shadows" which are dark creatures.

Created in Japan, Persona 1 came to the United States in 1996 and remains an extremely popular video game series in America. Persona 4 was just released. [...]

The Midnighters series began in 2006.

I find the similarities a bit too parallel to be called a coincidence. I understand that all artists and authors must draw from inspiration, but a secret hour at midnight where only certain teens can fight the dark creatures? That's ripped.

I still enjoy the Uglies series, but I must say that my trust in the originality of Mr. Westerfield's ideas has weakened. I expect a special brand of originality from young adult literature authors and this correlation fails to impress.