Toward the Midnight Sun

By: Eoin Dempsey

Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo

Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of White Rose, Black Forest comes a page-turning epic of adventure, suspense, and romance set against the rich and ruthless backdrop of the Klondike gold rush.

Seattle, 1897. Anna Denton is not like the other prospectors traveling to the Yukon on the promise of riches. It’s duty - not profit - that calls her into the wild unknown. With her family nearing financial ruin, Anna has agreed to marry Henry Bradwell, the wealthy King of the Klondike.

She meets Will and Silas, childhood friends, on the steamer north. After the ship docks in a lawless Alaska town, Anna’s chaperones run afoul of local criminals, leaving her stranded. Will and Silas agree to escort her the hundreds of treacherous miles to Dawson City - the gateway to the goldfields - and her betrothed, a man she doesn’t know.

Upon their arrival, Bradwell warmly welcomes them all. But as a brutal winter sets in, relations sour, and Anna is caught between the promise her family made to the power-hungry Bradwell and her feelings for Will. Anna and her companions soon find themselves in a deadly game where few can be trusted and where the greatest danger in the frozen wilderness of the Klondike is man himself.

©2019 Eoin Dempsey (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Fabulous story

this is the first book I have read on the subject of the Klondike Gold Rush and I'm very interested in more stories, whether fiction or non, written on the sunject. I would highly recommend this book.

Enjoyable

I really enjoyed this story. Heading to Alaska this summer and it will give me much to think about while visiting and seeing the sights that were described in this story.

Adventure-Historical Fiction-Justice

Historical fiction is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres. I love how this speaks to different lives and the injustices people face when they don’t fit a “certain” mold. Women’s rights, civil rights, injustices and stereotypes of the Original Americans and their lands, gay rights, and fighting for what You want most. You can read this for the surface level gold rush story or you can dig deeper.

What a great book

It makes you want to go to Alaska in the spring and summer. I have listened the three books mr Dempsey has written . They are all so good waiting for more.

Tale of courage

It amazes me how many people suffered the hardships of the Klondike in search of gold. This story was full of adventure, hardship, greed, and perserverance. It painted a picture of the gold rush that favored the few and took from the many.

excellent story, narration meh

too many male voices with accents for the narrator to handle. very clear though

Narration

I liked this book. The story and characters. I didn't care for the narrative of it. Different voice with "Anna said" "will said" etc. Was a little hard to listen too.

Toward the Midnight Sun

I've heard a lot about Eoin Dempsey's historical romances, and I have to say, I quite liked this one. The setting of the road to Alaska during the gold rush is a compelling one, and the adventure and struggle of that setting does carry a lot of this narrative. The bulk of the first half of the book is their journey north, and I could definitely see this section dragging a bit if you weren't interested in the history of it all. However, the frigid-subarctic survival journey was at least half of the appeal for me, so I didn't mind it one bit.

The second half of the book really picks up with the forbidden romance element, which was also really well done. The characters were tough, interesting, and complex people who didn't always do the right thing and often faced consequences for it. While it's definitely a romance novel, it's not all smooth sailing and perfect romantic bliss.

Overall, this book was a pretty solid four stars for me. It was a good listen, and it only dragged slightly every now and then. I was looking for a historical, Alaskan romance, and Toward the Midnight Sun delivered.

Predictable Story

The ending was predictable. The narrator was excellent. The story was believable till the end.

confused

Show don't tell was emphasized to me when writing fiction. Here we were often told that it was cold but I never felt the cold as when I have read other stories. Then over half way through the book the characters started making choices that seem to have little continuity with what we had been told about them. It is rare for me not to finish a book but it just wasn't worth my time.