Review: Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson (Spoiler-Free)

It's strange, isn't it, how we can push people away because we want to be near them? Isn't that the silliest thing?

This is why I read young adult literature. It is so, so special. I'd pitch this book as We Are the Ants meets The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes. I'm such a sucker for entwined timelines and metaphorical sci-fi elements, and this book delivered on both those fronts. Historical fiction hits so much harder for me when it centers teenagers because they're truly innocent and have so much ahead of them. Midnight at the Electric is the perfect combination of all of that.

What is especially fascinating about this novel is that while there are three timelines, none of them are the present. That is such an interesting decision to make as an author, and I need to further think about its implications.

I'm blown away by how balanced each section of this book is—no POV is more or less engaging than the others; they're all riveting.

The stories of these characters are about so many things, but I think they can all be boiled down to one main conflict: leaving. Midnight at the Electric is a tale of painful goodbyes and how the world forces them to happen.

They stared at each other. So many thoughts were running through Adri's head, but there would never be enough time to say them all. And because she couldn't say all of them, she didn't say any of them.