Midnight Strikes

Midnight Strikes, debut novel from Zeba Shahnaz, might be my favorite book of the 2023. While the first few pages are a bland mix of fantasy-country names and a survey of the political landscape, keep going! By chapter two, I was captured by the premise: what if Cinderella went to the ball and met a handsome prince. But at midnight she got blown up in a coup. Then she gets swept up into a time loop, re-living the ball and her own death. Every time, she tries to figure out: can she save her new love (and her country) from this catastrophe?

The premise is cool enough, but add to that Shahnaz’s excellent sense of pacing (I read most of it in one day) and measured uncovering of character over loop after loop, and it’s a 5-star book for me. It’s true to genre as a young adult heroic fantasy novel. Fans of Diana Wynne Jones, Robin McKinley, and Patricia Wrede will likely enjoy this book.