In El’s fantasies, she pilots a fighter jet for the intergalactic fleet. In reality, she’s a mechanic whose social grid ranking guarantees she’ll never advance beyond the lowest grunt work, and a slave in all but name to her cruel and self-centered stepmother and stepsisters. The most she can hope for is a few stolen moments of happiness practicing on her sisters’ flight simulators, or talking to … to the mysterious stranger she met on an illicit night of stargazing.
When the queen announces a competition to find new pilots for the fleet, El knows this is her chance to escape. But her stepmother will never let her compete—and then she learns that her new friend, the one person she thought she could trust, was hiding a secret that changes everything between them.
It’s a good thing she has a lot more friends than she thinks she does.
Exciting, fast-paced, and hopeful, this science fiction retelling of Cinderella is the first in the Rove City series.
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I have a very weak spot for Cinderella retellings. It’s hard to explain why the story of Cinderella, and therefore all different versions of it, speak to me like this. I guess it’s the idea that no matter who we are wonderful people can fall in love with us. Or maybe it’s because it’s one of the few stories where the heroine is kind and loving and forgiving and obedient and still gets her happy ending, without having to change. When I saw this on BookSirens I therefore didn’t hesitate.
I’m so glad that I gave this story a chance! The setting gave this story a really original touch. Although the story is relatively short the author manages to give a thorough description of the world and how life is organized within said world. Therefore it’s also easy to understand why El is stuck in the situation she is in. It’s not just because she loves a house or place. She simply has no other choice. She has to stick to the life she’s given. There’s no way out.
I also really loved that in this story El isn’t longing to go to the ball. Although I’m one of the first to get angry when people say that El is just waiting for a prince to save her, it’s quite clear in this case that her desire to participate in the challenge has absolutely nothing to do with the prince. She wants this for herself, because it might offer her a chance to get a better life, because it might be her way out of the situation she’s in.
However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any romance in the book. The romance is quite subtile and it’s for sure not the main focus, but it’s clearly there. And although it’s not the main focus, the connection between El and her prince is there from their very first interaction. Their connection is also clearly based on their personalities. They just click. They can be themselves around each other and they can look at the other without judgement. And that? That’s what true love is about!
I can’t wait to read the rest!
I’m a sucker for a well told Cinderella story. I’m a sucker for good scifi and SFR. Put them together in the (very well written) Midnight Wings by Ariele Sieling and, oh yes, you’ve hit my sweet spot. El is a great heroine and I love the updating here (she isn’t being deprived of attending a ball but of getting pilot training). Add in neatly drawn characters and a wonderfully reimagined plot and the result is a winner I’m happy to recommend.
I am a huge fan of retellings, So when I saw that this book I knew I wanted to read this, when I saw it was the first book in a series I grew excited. I’ve never read a science fiction retelling of Cinderella before, and while not my favorite fairy tale by far I still enjoy the twists I read when a author takes a hold of Cinderella’s story.
Sieling’s Cinderella is pretty different, in Midnight wings her name is El, and is a mechanic dreaming of becoming a jet pilot. El’s stepmother, Patricia, and step-siblings, Lonnie and Bree are pretty horrid to El, as to be expected. Patricia is in fact very cruel and you will immediately hate her. The city and social structure of Rove is pretty interesting, I won’t go into too much detail but they live on a ship traveling through space.
El and Ri’s (Prince Charming) relationship is a bit fast, but with a page length of 128 pages it’s hard to really develop or do slow burn. Also, because the short page length the ending did feel rushed. I felt like Sieling was setting up the story where it could go in different directions but ultimately just went for the fastest conclusion.
This book has a lot of surprisingly emotional layers to it, that was only hindered by the short length. Did I like? Yes, but I could have absolutely loved it had it only developed a bit more. We have a main female character dreaming about flying a jet, while also being a mechanic (I personally love any female characters where the author has them in a STEM career or hobby. I will read next book in the series where Jack and the beanstalk will be Sieling’s next focus.
Overall, an interesting take on a old classic.
Midnight Wings by Ariele Sieling is a fun retelling of Cinderella. As someone who loves fairy-tale retellings but doesn’t read a lot of science fiction, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.
The elements of Cinderella were clearly there, but the protagonist, El, was her own. Not to mention that’s she’s a strong female lead. There was great character development throughout.
The sci-fi parts of the story were just as great. The author put a fun, unique twist on the fairy-tale that created a pretty cool world.
One complaint I have about this story was that it was too short. Not only did I was a little bit more, but it felt rushed. The story isn’t even 200 pages. As a novella, it’s fine but the pacing was still off. Even though the description and character development were well done, it felt as though everything was trying to be crammed within its pages.
Overall, it was a good read and I do recommend it to people who love fairy-tale retellings and/or science fiction.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Midnight Wings, Rove City Book 1, is a fantastic retelling of Cinderella by Ariele Sieling. This creative story is set on Rove City, an intergalactic spaceship made of hundreds of smaller pods. El, the Cinderella character, is playing a fighter pilot game and scoring really big. She goes for a walk to the greenhouse and meets Ri. Instead of a ball with special shoes, The Queen is having a competition to qualify for training as a pilot in Prince Rian’s squad. El loses the dried rose that Ri had given El on one of their nightly visits. I don’t want to spoil this wonderful story and give to much away. Midnight Wings is a novella and can be read in one sitting. I couldn’t put the book down and can’t wait to read Book 2. I received an arc for free and am leaving my review voluntarily.
I really enjoyed this book
I love fairytale retelling and sci-fi so this one really interested me. This book is a sci-fi type retelling of Cinderella.
The author does a really good job of character building. Our protagonist, El, has to do the bidding of her stepmother and step sisters just like Cinderella. Because of this, El feels doomed to live this life and the reader will feel very sad for El. There are times when El is down on herself and I found myself yelling no don’t think that way. There’s always a way out. El is a character who those wanting to improve their fate can relate to.
The author takes writer’s license with the fairy godmother part and the reader will be very surprised to find out who the fairy godmother or should I say godmother’s are. They are definitely not who you expect. I really enjoyed this part of the story as it shows that people can be kind.
This book was very enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next one in the series. If you like fairytale retelling, sci-fi, video games or just a good story then this book is for you.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. My opinion of the book is my own and was not influenced by anyone.
This story was an interesting one. I actually liked it a lot and the entire idea of Rove city is very interesting. The characters were easy to follow and overall there wasn’t too much wrong going on here. However, what sorta brought the book down was the one point prevailing through it all that didn’t hold much weight. El’s idea about not being able to go above her station which hinged almost entirely on some sort of evil deception from the prince.
One other plot thing was how her Stepmother didn’t seem quite narcissistic enough. I get that she loved her daughters, however, the argument over one of them getting a job fell flat. If, indeed, once she was old enough for their tax arrangement to change they were not rich enough to afford their lifestyle anymore, the idea of her not literally forcing her to get a job seemed odd. For her, status is everything and I can’t see someone with her agenda taking a chance of her status plummeting because of a lazy daughter. Her love of her children combined with her hate of El just didn’t outweigh her own personal motives. Anyone that self-centred would never allow something to get in the way of their dreams.
Also, there was this plot angle about her bosses son liking her. It went nowhere. He, and his friends, ended up doing what good friends do so it wasn’t even necessary for him to like her. It placed some sort of expectation like is he gonna cause trouble with her love for the prince. Is this a love triangle story? And I hate love triangles so that wouldn’t have ended well. But nope nothing. It literally went nowhere and it would’ve played of better had he just been a true friend. I honestly don’t even know why this was mentioned if it wasn’t going to go anywhere.
The treating El as a slave worked for a while but even with low scores which are important to status in Rove, she had a full paying job. One that her boss respected her talents at. Even if she could never climb the social ladder, she definitely could’ve taken that paycheck and been a poor resident living in a room only say 12X12 feet with the additional space going to a small kitchenette and shower. She didn’t come off as the type of girl who in her early 20s could be guilt-tripped into thinking she had to stay. Without her paycheck, her stepmom would be in serious trouble. Even if she did try to ruin El’s life, hers would be too.
And to the main point. So the prince, RI, didn’t come out with the fact he was the prince. El was doing the same thing not wanting him to know her scores so she’d be more appealing to him. There was no real deception going on. When she found out who he was the anger the betrayal none of that was warranted because even in real life you don’t reveal your whole life’s history on the first and second date. What if it never passed that point?
This was complied by El constantly thinking he would never want her. How does she know this? I mean the guy gave her a rose that only royalty is allowed to have. He broke serious protocol for her. She could actually get him in trouble. That’s power there. And it was all a game in her mind? How? They didn’t even have a real fight when she found out who he was and later, when she was refusing to enter the pilot competition, he insisted she enter. Got out of the transport, walked up to the door and addressed her personally. Like there is nothing, like zero her stepmom could do if she accepted a request directly from royalty.
Lastly considering the pilot competition, considering her circumstance it’s almost inconceivable that El wouldn’t be plotting to use this as an escape from her horrible living environment. She doesn’t want to be there and this could be her only escape and not once, even if she didn’t follow through, did she consider escaping. This entire story was based around her thinking she’d forever be what she was and she had zero drive to get out of it. Even with all the evidence the prince wanted her, even knowing she had some of the best flight simulation scores ever, and her newfound friends telling her she had the best chances to win, and, plot spoiler here but not so much cause we know this is going to happen, even after winning she runs away. At that point she has literally escaped. The queen wants the best and she is the best, even El would know a little bit of subterfuge to get in would be easily overlooked.
This story loses a star because of this plot angle. It was too obvious the prince liked her and there was no real deception. He told her his real name gave her an illegal rose, met her twice before the reveal, was nothing but smiles at the reveal and fought on her behalf to get in the competition. None of this is the actions of a guy playing games. This is directly connected to the fact the whole story is centred around a pilot competition that he helped organised and El never once thinks this is my chance to leave my evil stepmom behind. There wasn’t any real betrayal considering she was also trying to hide who she was and running this plotline of prince vrs low-status vrs lack of will/drive to escape didn’t hold weight. Even in the Disney version of Cinderella she couldn’t wait to get out and even the prospect of going to the ball lifted her spirits. She made her own dress for the chance to go but this El did nothing.
If it wasn’t for the fact this one thing that involved both the prince and the competition was driving the story this might have been five stars. It was an interesting and well-written story. But the lack of desire of El to escape her situation when the chance arose, coupled with her magically finding betrayal after only two meet and greets that was great enough to actually make her angry, didn’t quite make sense and unfortunately they had to for this story to work.
I don’t really read science fiction and I haven’t read fairy tales since I was a kid, so I was interested in reading a mash-up up both genres. However, there was a challenge to read a book out of our comfort zones, so I decided to read one by a fellow author and also like myself, a participant of this year’s The Write Women Book Fest (@thewritewomenbookfest).
The main character, Eleanor, who goes by El, has a stepmother, Patricia, and two stepsisters, Lottie and Bree. Her father died from a sickness long ago and her stepfamily truly treated her in the fashion of the traditional Cinderella story. So not having a family besides her stepfamily, El was trapped in her life, based on social grids.
Midnight Wings takes place in the future. Rove City is an intergalactic spaceship, comprised of hundreds of smaller pods, all connected by tunnels, which ultimately led back to the center tower. The entire city is run by a queen, the current queen being Queen Amina. Big brother seems to be in full effect, with cameras all around.
On top of all of the work that El was expected to do inside of the house, she also had a job outside the house, in a machine shop, repairing spaceships and other aircraft. She enjoyed her job and was good at it. When she had a few moments to herself, she played video games, especially her stepmother, Patricia’s, simulator, of which she was also good at, along with spending a few moments alone at Rove City’s beautiful greenhouse. Those three activities would play an important role in El’s life.
Anyway…
Midnight Wings was a very enjoyable read, very refreshing and entertaining. And although most of us have read and know the fairy tale, Cinderella, Ariele Seiling’s version is imaginative, evoking emotions I wouldn’t have expected while reading it, and just plain fun. I would classify it as a book for tweens on up, mostly because younger children might not understand some of the words and terminology although they might also enjoy it if it is read to them.
I definitely look forward to reading more from this author.
I love a good space opera. I’m also a sucker for a fun fairy tale retelling. Midnight Wings combines the two, and it is delightful.
El dreams of being a fighter pilot. But with her stepmother and stepsisters trashing her reputation to lower her ranking on the social grid, taking everything she earns at her mechanic job as “payment” for keeping a roof over her head, and filling the rest of her waking hours with chore after chore, she figures the closest she’ll ever get to being a pilot is the flight simulator.
But when a contest is announced, with the winner to be a fighter pilot, El thinks maybe this is her chance to escape her life of drudgery. Of course, nothing goes like she envisions, and her hope of breaking free begins to dwindle. Thankfully, she’s going to get a little help from some unexpected sources.
This was really an enjoyable read! El and Ri remind me of Theo and Galian in S. Usher Evans’ Madion War trilogy a little bit. In both, we have an underprivileged young woman who wants to fly/is a pilot, and life circumstances bring her into contact with a young man of the royal persuasion. Different settings, and the story unfolds differently from their meeting, but similar in that regard. It’s also a bit more practical in execution than the fairy tale on which it’s based, which I enjoyed. I’m not a hearts and flowers kind of girl. I much prefer El as a jet mechanic and aspiring pilot, doing her best to kick butt and take names, than the original Cinderella fleeing at midnight and leaving a delicate glass slipper behind. El is my kind of girl. Not afraid to get dirt under her nails, and not downplaying her skills for a man.
Midnight Wings isn’t what I’d call a full-length story, so there wasn’t quite as much world-building as I’d like to see. However, given that it’s the first in a series, I’m hopeful that subsequent entries will flesh out Rove City a bit more.
Overall, I found it a solid, well-paced read, and if the ending wasn’t really a surprise, the main character is absolutely a different spin on the original. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Sieling’s work and meeting more of the characters in the Rove City universe.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary advance review copy from BookSirens and the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
It is so hard to move past abuse, isn’t it? El definitely had that problem with everyone, not just her stepmother and stepsisters, putting her down and keeping her down. What I found heartwarming are the people who began to look at El for herself, not for what they heard about her, particularly her co-workers. All it takes is someone believing in her and showing it for El to step up and spread her wings. Wha’s more is that assuming a colony ship situation, this story is so plausible, plausible enough for a youthful sci-fi fan to start dreaming along.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a fun tale! I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s sci-fi spin on the classic Cinderella story, and her writing was a pleasure to read. The character development was great. The descriptions of the space city were perfect – not too much detail, but certainly enough to let me visualize the world. It’s exactly what I was hoping for in a fairy tale retelling featuring space cities and fighter jets. Don’t just bookmark this one…buy it, read it. You won’t regret it.
I’ve already ordered the next installment in the Rove City series and I can’t wait to dive in!
This book stays very close to the essence of the traditional Cinderella story with a space opera twist. The author does a good job of using the setting to explain El’s trapped position and lack of options. You could see the influence of other generation ship space opera in some of the scenery of this book, but it did a good job of making it its own. The social rankings and housing shortages are all too real and believable given some of what is happening in our world today.
One major departure from the traditional story that helps make this a modern retelling is that El had the skills to save herself, she just needed the opportunity, and maybe a few friends. She wasn’t looking for a fairy godmother or a prince and promises of happily ever after. The romance is a sweet, slowburn friends to lovers type.
I had a few concerns with the science (particularly the physics), but this is more of a fantasy in space than hard sci-fi, so I will let it go.
Overall, it was an enjoyable, well paced read with an intriguing peek into book 2 of the series at the end.