Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour
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| Author | Scott Westerfeld |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Kamil Vojnar & Karin Paprocki |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Midnighters Trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Eos |
| Released | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 297 pp |
| ISBN | 0-06-051951-7 |
| Followed by | Midnighters 2: Touching Darkness |
The Midnighters 1: The Secret Hour, is a science-fiction fantasy book written by Scott Westerfeld. It was published by Eos in 2004. It is the first book of The Midnighters trilogy.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
15-year-old Jessica Day moves with her family to Bixby, Oklahoma after her mother gets a job offer at a high-tech aerospace company. Soon after the move, Jessica awakens to find time frozen, rain stopped in mid air. Jessica discovers that each night at midnight in this small town, she and four other teenagers - each born at exactly the stroke of midnight - can enter a 25th hour of the day that for other people is rolled up so it passes instantly, unnoticed. Within the secret hour, or "blue time", Jessica, Dess, Rex, Melissa, and Jonathan encounter predatory creatures - darklings and slithers - which coexist in the blue time with the midnighters, with only the occasional skirmish.
The darklings usually keep to themselves, only fighting when provoked, and at that usually only slithers, the servants of the more powerful darklings. However, with the arrival of Jessica, the darklings become increasingly brazen, and it becomes clear to the midnighters that the darklings are trying desperatly to kill Jessica; the only question is why.
[edit] Characters
Each of the Midnighters has a midnight-related talent. Desdemona, called Dess for short, is a Polymath. Her skill with numbers is unmatched by anyone in the country, and she is probably much better with numbers than any computer. She is the group's expert on defense and weaponry.
Rex, a Seer, can read the lore, which is the history of all midnighters in Bixby. During the day he wears glasses. Without them he can see the other midnighters and anything touched by darklings or slithers in a strange Focus, while everything else is blurry. He enjoys being in control, and acts as a leader, and dislikes this disrupting his control.
Melissa, a Mindcaster, can read other peoples' minds, but cannot shut them out at will. This leaves her bitter, so the other midnighters, except Rex, have given her the nickname "the bitch goddess." The connection to another person's mind becomes extremely intense if skin to skin contact is made.
Finally, Jonathan, who comes in later in the book, is an Acrobat. During the blue time, Jonathan's personal gravity is reduced, so that he can leap to much greater heights than during normal time. In addition, he can share his weightlessness with others by skin contact. Jonathan's normal weight comes back when midnight passes, so he is constantly wary of his height during the last moments of the midnight hour. Jonathon was not initially introduced by the other three to Jessica, as he no longer spends much of his time with them, due to a personality conflict with Rex.
At the end of the first book, Jessica, whose special ability is unknown to that point, is discovered to be a Flame-bringer, a previously unknown talent. Her ability allows her to use any electronic device and create fire during the blue-time. This makes her a valuable addition to the team, as she can use this ability to be a formidable opponent against the darklings, who fear light, and to a greater extent, fire. Her first use of this power is a flashlight initially named Serendipitous. Jonathan and Jessica are the only ones of the five that cannot use their gifts outside of the blue time.
[edit] Darklings and Slithers
The darklings, and their servants, slithers, are ancient creatures that thousands of years ago were the dominant species on the planet. However, man began to get smarter, and eventually began hunting the darklings; using his creating of new concepts, such as math and its patterns (especially the number 13 and its multiples), fire, and newly crafted objects to harm the darklings. The crafted objects are anything crafted by man, orignally cut stone; but as they got used to stone, what composed effective weapons progressed to bronze and iron, and currently the most effective is steel and other alloys. The darklings were forced to take one hour out of the 25 hour day, and collapse it, creating a sanctuary for themselves, the blue time.
The five midnighters use those things to defend themselves againts the darklings, save fire, which cannot be created in the blue time. In addition, the metals they use must be untouched by darklings or slithers for them to be effective. The midnighters use 13, or three 13 letter names in conjunction with the "clean" metals to create weapons; which, when in contact or close proximity to darklings, attack with a sort of blue lightning. However, the names can only be used once, but the metal can be used several times.
[edit] External links
- Midnighters: The Secret Hour (Official website)
- The Midnighters (A fan site)
