The Midnight Accords

A Journey of Black and Red #4

by Álex Gilbert

After three decades of hiding, Ariane is ready to take her place as a respected member of the American vampire society, or so she hopes. The aristocracy of the night enjoys games. Schemes already abound from enemies old and new, but Ariane is not alone and she is not the naive girl she once was.

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Fiction, Dark, Romance

414 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 27, 2022

Reviews

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Journey of Black and Red" is the journey of Ariane, an early-nineteenth-century Louisiana teenager who became a vampire by being in the wrong place at the wrong time - and annoying the world's oldest vampire. Most vampires in this milieu value 'young' vampires and protect them, but Ariane's progenitor isn't like most vampires, and those he turns have an extremely low survival rate. So she starts her journey with next to nothing. At the end of her journey she will either have made herself capable of saving the world - or she will have failed to do so. Book 4 centers on her transition from a lone vampire in hiding to a member of a larger vampire society.

This book does suffer from bad luck in chapter sequencing. Since the books are collections of sequential chapters from a web novel, book 4 starts after the last chapter collected in book 3 and continues for an approximately-book-length number of chapters. In this case, the resulting collection does not have a center of gravity. There is no unifying plot or theme. Think of it as having a bad case of middle-book syndrome.

The language in Journey is anachronistic, to the point where I find myself distracted from the pleasure of reading the story. Sometimes it is too-modern expressions - e.g., in this book "Ask not what you can do for your knight, but what the knight can do for you", in the mid-nineteenth century. Sometimes it is too-modern habits of speech, such as the use of the singular 'they', which is just odd in that setting. Sometimes the language comes from modern technical usage - "test run", "proof of concept"...

I was pleased to read this book. The web novel is coming out a chapter at a time, but I better enjoy it a book at a time. And sometimes the individual chapters are gems.

[Russell Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is a mixed bag for me. We finally get to the point where Ariane joins vampire society, but rather than focus on it, at least half the book goes off on side missions.

A romance springs up and goes from 0 to 100 over the course of what seems a single day and by day two they are referring to each other by "my star" and "my lover," which is nearly always a cringeworthy experience for me in any story.

It really seems like the author can't quite decide what type of story he's trying to write, or maybe he has and is just struggling to pull it off, as the tone and pacing of the story aren't too consistent. Maybe it's just me, but I would have preferred the story to focus on fewer elements and do them well, rather than such a scattered approach. It honestly feels like the author periodically pulls plot scenarios out of a hat. While there's a certain novelty to the variety, it doesn't help with consistent tone or pacing.

Overall, the series has its moments, and I'm interested in certain subplots, but the pacing and the story's scattered feel prevent me from connecting with it too deeply. I may circle back to it and check the next volume in the future, but I'm not too motivated to continue this series for now.

[David Dickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I think this is the last book I will read in the series. I really enjoyed the setting (early to mid 1800s) as I feel you don't find this time period often in novels. Without it, I probably would have stopped reading earlier but there are so many socioeconomic issues you can explore.

This series suffers in that it really feels like each chapter was released on a weekly basis. It lacks a cohesive narrative throughline and focuses more on individual events/plot points. The author is also trying to toe the line between comedy and loosely grimdark. I didn't find this balance executed well. There isn't a lot bad here, I just didn't feel that momentum to keep reading more.

[William Moses Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another great entry in the series. More intrigue, more questions, more progression, and even a bit of romance (that was actually done well in my opinion). A very pleasant journey so far. The only thing that still irks me is a persistent feeling that people are a bit quick to do things in Ariane's favor. Eh, whatever, the story and the rest of it is great, so I'll just put aside the feeling for now.

[Christian Jeffress · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining

Once again, we have another entertaining addition to the series with quite a few things moving forward. The main character has that last found her freedom, even as she delve into a veritable swamp of intrigue, politics, and plots. But once again, as stated in my previous reviews, if you have enjoyed the first three books, you will enjoy this one.

[Felipe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume was official side quest time. Ariane finally integrates back into vampire society, and even acquires a lover, which wasn't half bad tbh. All in all mainly sidequests were done, onto the next.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times I have wanted to give at least four stars for one of the previous books, but until now there has always been something that has really annoyed me. This book still has some minor problems, but it was definitely worth four stars.

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good fun.

[Vilius · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure where in the story this actually is since the story on Royal Roads isn't really split up into books. But I'm sure I was having fun.

[Vero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good installment, although I wasn't a fan of the "romance" - still I very much like the protag.

[Kinsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite in the series. Not much happens in this one, more of a build of for the next one. Just gathering alliances.

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun fun

[Levitate · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are definitely moments of brilliance here and overall I thoroughly enjoyed the read but compared with previous releases this section of the story feels a bit less strong in book form.

Instead of a cohesive whole this is more like an assortment of short interludes that are part of the journey. Definitely still makes for an enjoyable read but less of one I can sink my teeth into as it jumps about.

Consistency and pacing issues are not all that uncommon with RR adaptions as they get divvied up into shorter books so my qualms are minimal but it did pull me out of the world a few times.

Looking forward to the next installment regardless as this series has definitely grown on me.

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The instant love interest/coupling almost made me throw my damn kindle across the room. The dialogue between these two is so bizarre. I really don't understand the author's decision making when it comes to this.

[Ben Mcpeake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on Royal Road, 8/10