The Light of the Midnight Stars

By: Rena Rossner

Narrated by: Ana Clements

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Experience an evocative combination of fantasy, history, and Jewish folklore in this lush and lyrical fairytale-inspired novel from the author of The Sisters of the Winter Wood.

Deep in the Hungarian woods, the sacred magic of King Solomon lives on in his descendants. Gathering under the midnight stars, they perform small miracles and none are more gifted than the great Rabbi Isaac and his three daughters.

Hannah, bookish and calm, can coax plants to grow even when the weather is bitterly cold. Sarah, defiant and strong, can control the impulsive nature of fire. And Levana, the fey one, can read the path of the stars to decipher their secrets.

But darkness is creeping across Europe, threatening the lives of every Jewish person in every village. Each sister will have to make an impossible choice in an effort to survive - and change the fate of their family forever.

Praise for The Light of the Midnight Stars:

"Storytelling as spellcasting. Rossner has conjured something vivid and wild and true." (Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies)

"Rossner creates a lush, immersive world through which the sprawling plot meanders, punctuated by moments of intense grief. The result is as lovely as it is heartbreaking." (Publishers Weekly)

"Rossner's tale is as lyrical as the slow growth of roots, the quick dance of fire, and the stately procession of the stars. Blending folktale with history, hope with tragedy, its touch will linger on your heart long after you put it down." (Marie Brennan)

For more from Rena Rossner, check out The Sisters of the Winter Wood.

©2021 Rena Rossner (P)2021 Redhook

Critic reviews

"Rossner creates a lush, immersive world through which the sprawling plot meanders, punctuated by moments of intense grief. The result is as lovely as it is heartbreaking." (Publishers Weekly)

"The Light of the Midnight Stars is storytelling as spellcasting. Rossner has conjured something vivid and wild and true.” (Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies)

"Rossner's tale is as lyrical as the slow growth of roots, the quick dance of fire, and the stately procession of the stars. Blending folktale with history, hope with tragedy, its touch will linger on your heart long after you put it down." (Marie Brennan, author of The Lady Trent Memoirs)

Beautifully Written. Wonderfully Narrated.

The Light of the Midnight Stars is a gorgeous, captivating book set in the 14th century. It is about Rabbi Isaac and his three daughters, all of whom have special powers. When the dark mist comes creeping in, however, can they be saved?

This is a wonderful combination of history, Bible stories, fantasy and folklore that is gorgeously written by Rena Rossner. I have heard some of the Bible stories all my life but they come alive in this book and are so well told.. The Bible stories and folklore are told as "stories within the story" and are fascinating.

Although I received a free digital copy of this book, I also purchased the audiobook because I had a feeling that this would be even better in spoken form. I was right. This is the way the original stories would have been handed down, verbally from generation to generation. Ana Clements does an amazing job as narrator.

This is a finely woven together creation that defies a rating. Five stars is not enough for this exquisitely crafted novel.

My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

overall great storytelling

I loved the Jewish mythology here. hard to listen to at times though- a lot of tragedy and persecution.

Interesting, boring, and depressing

Some really interesting folk lore and fantasy is going on in this story, but the plot is grindingly slow and poorly constructed, and while the book spends almost all of its time on character development, the characters feel very flat. Also, the book is very focused on story telling with characters telling stories within the story, but a lot of the stories they tell are not particularly interesting, or are really straightforward re-hashings of the plot so-far.

Interesting idea but missed the mark

I am a little confused as to how this book made it onto an LGBT science fiction/fantasy book list. I really wanted to like this book. I was super excited for a story based on the magic of Jewish folklore. I think I was expecting more fantasy novel with a Jewish LGBT heroine though and what I got was a collection of diaries on the day to day happenings of a Jewish family who happen to have magic with one LGBT side note thrown in. It is painfully slow and often repetitive. If you like romance dramas, coming of age stories, or historical fiction you might like it.

Confusing

I didn’t like the multiple different points of views that confuse me a lot. Everything else was good though.

Don’t waste your time

Story started off interesting, but halfway through it was confusing and extremely plot driven. There was no emotional relatability with the characters, they were solely punching bags. The author loses all the momentum she built in the beginning. I thought I was listening to a completely different book. It also seemed as if the writer was checking off boxes in what she included as far as traumas and identity politics go. Don’t waste your time. I read well over half of the book and DNF… I just couldn’t do it.

Ehh. A miss for me.

Early on, the story seemed like it was going somewhere, but towards the middle it seems like the editor made the call for the story to be published and there are a lot of trailing ends. Not for me.