Nightfall is an odd one, because I definitely liked the idea and the atmosphere well more than the actual book, so much so that I pushed through to the end. I am absolutely not the  kind of reader who must finish everything she starts -- I abandon things all the time -- so that I kept trucking is decidedly in this book's favor. That said, I still wasn't super jazzed about Nightfall, so. 

 

Three teenagers -- a sibling pair and another boy -- live on an island on a planet where the seasons are incredibly long. (Think Game of Thrones without the incest.) The entire community of the island comes in the spring, and leaves 14 years later in the fall. At that point, the island is given over to ... something, and everyone must leave their habitations just so. The teens get left behind in the push off the island, and must either make it through Night, or get off the island somehow in the cold and dark. 

 

The environmental stuff was bananas good, and I was all in on the descriptions of the changing seasons and the changing island. The teens, maybe not so much. Several footballs are hidden for so long that it was almost insulting, plus it just made it hard to care. I also didn't find the ending particularly satisfying, but, per usual, ymmv. Winter is coming, I guess. 

I was going to reshelve this book and move on with my day, but the arresting cover made me turn it over and read the back. Done. Sold.

'Nightfall' is about 14-year-old Marin and her home, an isolated island that enjoys fourteen years of daylight. With nightfall imminent, Marin helps her family and her friend Line, who is head of his household after the death of his parents, prepare to depart the island to wait out the long night. There are some unusual rituals. The placement of furniture in specific places, the placement of knives and bizarre trophies, and a cleansing of each house. To stay behind through the long night is unthinkable. At least the adults refuse to speak of it.

There's a difficulty, however. The boats that arrive to bring the Islanders to safety come early and there are fewer of them. In the rush and confusion, the adults dismiss Marin's concern that her friend Line is missing. It dawns on her where he might be, and convinces her twin brother Kana to help her find him. They don't make it back to the boats in time.

The three of them are about to find out why the islanders leave their homes for fourteen years rather than face the night.

This was an excellent juvenile thriller/fantasy, it created a new world and brings the reader into this dangerous situation with a minimum of exposition for a mg/ya book. I could have used a little more insight into Kana's experiences (can't say more) and a little bit more to the last act of the book, but it was very satisfying nonetheless. There is a sibling book out now and a sequel possibly on the way.

 

Next (Companion, not a sequel): 'Edgeland'

Yep, the ending sucked! It started out great, with the islanders preparing to leave and the tension building. Then something happened, I won't say what because I don't want to give the story away but basically it turns into a survival story for some of the residents. That was all good, I was still enjoying the story up to that point except I think they could have done a lot more with what they had though. They had the perfect makings for a great story -28 years of night, the isolated island and the night curse etc. but it just wasn't used to its full potential I don't think.Then we come to the end and it just fell flat on its face! I seriously got the feeling that the authors had a deadline coming up so they just threw together what should have been a good lengthy ending into like five pages. It was so blatantly rushed compared to the rest of the story that I can't honestly believe that it was suppose to be that way. It was unbelievable. I'm sure I'll probably still read the next one though because I'm always curious to see what happens next.

The sun only comes out every 28 years on the island where these people live & when the sun finally sets and the tide goes out, they have to leave on boats and head South. But they can't just leave -they first have to prepare their houses in these creepy ways- like some twisted version of Feng Shui. That's about as far as I've gotten but it's been good so far and the tension is building so I'm looking forward to reading more tonight after everyone goes to bed. : )

 

 

I liked it. It was different and the plot was fairly original although I did have some deja vu here and there of other popular stories/fairy tales. The characters were likable and as before they were even left behind, I began developing theories. While my basic idea of what was going to happen when night fell was correct, the story ended up being a bit more fantastical than I originally thought. There were some imaginative creatures and an added mystery/subplot involving one of the main characters in the story which was quite interesting. All in all, the book was fun and unique with a decent amount of adventure and suspense. My 12 year old son is now enjoying it as well, and while he usually has one book at home and one at school, he is enjoying this one enough to be traveling with it back and forth. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of an ending but maybe there will be a sequel in the future that will answer my lingering questions and ideas about what happens to the characters next.