Scott Westerfeld writes young adult fiction that is geared toward females and one thing about his writing that I admire is the fact that he knows what it takes to captivate a teen girl when she reading... the love interest. As a young girl no matter what genre you prefer to read, it all comes down to the relationship that is presented. And it doesn't change as you get older... I'm 25 and I still look for romance in my books. The problem with some male authors is that they just don't realize how important it is for us to have that element. I have always been pleased with the relationships that Scott creates. As women, it is all too easy to fall in love with the male lead in any story, the fact that he is fictional makes him even more appealing, and Scott seems to understand that.
But I never expected that Westerfeld would end on such a depressing note with this series. When you love seeing a couple together in a book, you never imagine that the author won't allow them to be together (unless of course you are reading Shakespeare.) Though the plots and overall idea of the Midnighters was very interesting, I had banked a lot on Jonathan and Jessica's relationship, as well as Rex and Melissa's. These two pairs were completely different from each other but made each of the characters "existence" so much easier to bear. For every amazing aspect of their world there were at least two more bad elements to deal with.
Besides all the "lovey dovey" (as Michael would put it) stuff another major facet of these books was the powers that each of the Midnighter's wielded. Dess is a polymath and even though her explanations of the extreme mathematical processes made my head spin, she also got me started on some weird behaviors... like counting long words to see how many letters are in them as well as calculating certain numbers I come across to see if they are darkling-friendly. I can't help but laugh at myself when I catch myself doing these things.
Jonathan's power was definitely the most appealing to me. Technically it isn't flying but a lack of gravity that makes it so he can jump very high and stay in the air longer than you would expect. The funny thing is, when i dream of flying, it is exactly how Scott describes Jonathan's ability in the books.
Even in the last book I still didn't feel as though Jessica's ability was emphasized enough. She was supposed to be such an integral part of the book, needed by the other Midnighters, fully despised by the darklings and yet she seemed to just blur into the background. The only thing that made her stand out was her relationship with Jonathan.
I adored Rex's character but his power was nothing too exciting for me. Melissa for me was the opposite, her ability is what made her special not so much her personality. And of course the way they needed each other just made them both more interesting. Being together since they were so young gave them a very strong connection.
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