Review: The Midnight Dance by Nikki Katz

Title: The Midnight Dance

Author: Nikki Katz

Publisher: Swoon Reads

Release Date: October 17th 2017

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: When the music stops, the dance begins.

Seventeen-year-old Penny is a lead dancer at the Grande Teatro, a finishing school where she and eleven other young women are training to become the finest ballerinas in Italy. Tucked deep into the woods, the school is overseen by the mysterious and handsome young Master who keeps the girls ensconced in the estate – and in the only life Penny has never known.

But when flashes of memories, memories of a life very different from the one she thinks she’s been leading, start to appear, Penny begins to question the Grand Teatro and the motivations of the Master. With a kind and attractive kitchen boy, Cricket, at her side, Penny vows to escape the confines of her school and the strict rules that dictate every step she takes. But at every turn, the Master finds a way to stop her, and Penny must find a way to escape the school and uncover the secrets of her past before it’s too late.

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My Thoughts

This book jumps right into the action. I definitely found myself flipping through the pages, curious how everything would turn out and what had happened to make Penny go to this school, but because it started so fast, I didn’t find myself understanding a lot and had more questions than answers. Penelope is a dancer at a ballet school ran by the mysterious Master. As she spends her days dancing with the other girls, she starts to notice some gaps in her memories and irregularities. She starts to investigate the school and her past with the help of Cricket, the kitchen boy. But as she delves deeper, she finds herself not in control of her own thoughts and needs to break away from the manipulations of the puppet master in charge of it all. 

The plot is interesting. I found myself wanting to know more about what happened to Penny and why she is in the school. I also wanted to know more about the Master and Beppe, their past together and how they became the people they are in the present. It is a fast-paced story and didn’t really have moments where I was dragging to continue.

One thing that bothered me was how quickly things start moving. In retrospect, it makes sense since we’re kind of waking up to the reality just as Penny is, so her beginning isn’t her true beginning. There was a lot more before that we’re not aware of as the reader, just like the characters. Despite knowing that, though, I wish we had more time with Penny and the characters so I could feel a connection with one of the characters.

There were also random characters just thrown in there, or characters without much of a backstory to understand their motives. For example, Prince Jacobus. He’s in there for one section and I didn’t really get why. He didn’t really offer anything to the story, except he has an injured leg? I didn’t see the need to have him there. And then there’s the Madame. I didn’t understand her reason for working at the school.

As I was reading, I found that many of the problems Penny faced were resolved almost instantly by someone just thrown in there or she’d figure it out instantly. I don’t want to get too into it since discussing this would spoil the story, but I noticed it happening more and more as I got closer to the end, and it really bothered me.

We went back and forth between the present and the Master’s past, which was insightful, but I wish it had more information. I had a lot of questions at the end that I think could have been answered in these chapters if they had those details. Like why a ballet school? Why girls? How did he gain so much power? What was the science behind everything?

There were a lot of dark topics I thought the author could have gone into. For example, one of the characters we meet later on in the book suffers PTSD. It was kind of glanced over, and how she started to come to terms with everything happened suddenly. It kind of bothered me that her history wasn’t really discussed, and it took someone telling her it would be fine for her to suddenly be fine. Another topic is the Master’s reasons for the school. The book didn’t really explain why he had to have a ballet school, but what bothered me more was who he chose as “students”. I don’t want to get into it, because it might spoil the plot, but as I was reading, I kept on thinking, “Wait, he is what I think he is, right?” Sorry to be vague, but when you read it, I think you’ll know what I’m alluding to.

Also, last minute thought, why did the summary have to say handsome Master and attractive kitchen boy? Why did it have to mention their looks at all?

The story is definitely interesting and I wanted to know more about Penny’s past as she started to regain control of her memories. However, I didn’t feel that the characters were developed (which might be because of the story itself, where you have to ask are the characters really themselves?) and I couldn’t connect with them. At some points things Penny seemed to go into trouble easily, and then get out of it just as fast. I would recommend this book, but I don’t think it’s one I’ll be rereading.