Review: Fracture (Night School, #3)

Author: C.J. Daugherty
Series: Night School, #3
Release date: August 20th
Publisher: Atom
Paperback, 400 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

Devastated by the loss of her friend and under constant threat from an unknown spy at Cimmeria Academy, Allie Sheridan is finding it hard to cope.

In Fracture, the third book in the Night School series, she’s not the only one losing it – everything is falling apart. And when Nathaniel begins to reveal his game plan, Isabelle starts to lose control.

As the school slides into a deadly morass of paranoia and suspicion, everyone is guilty until proved innocent. Anyone can be held without proof, and convicted without a trial. No one is safe.

This time Nathaniel doesn’t need to hurt them. This time they’re hurting themselves.

At the beginning of Fracture (which is very appropriately titled, btw), we find Allie utterly broken: angry, defiant, and – underneath it all – impossibly sad. She feels that she can trust no one, not even her headmistress Isabelle, and her grieving heart can’t make peace with everything that happened at the end of Legacy. After a failed escape, Allie returns to Cimmeria with a renewed strength and a taste for revenge. While she still has trust issues, she knows Cimmeria is the only place where she’s even remotely safe, and she intends to stay alive at all costs.

With each installment, C.J Daugherty proves herself anew both as a writer and as a master of characterization. Her protagonist is a 16-year-old who is going through things no teen ever should, so some reactions and rash decisions are normal and even expected. I felt that these parts of Allie’s character were done extraordinarily well. Nothing was glossed over, not the anger, not the guilt, and certainly not the rashness of an emotionally immature individual.

Although present, romance takes a back seat in Fracture as we finally discover what Night School is all about. Carter and Sylvain both play major roles in this installment, but romance is the last thing on anyone’s mind. While I’m usually not one to publicly declare teams, I must make an exception in this case: I am still firmly Team Sylvain. Carter and Allie gave it their best and proved that they’re completely wrong for each other. Carter’s controlling nature rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning, and while Sylvain has made some mistakes in the past, he has certainly atoned for them since.

Again, the third person narration took some getting used to since I find it more difficult to connect with, but Allie’s pain came through so clearly that I soon stopped noticing it altogether. Regardless of the perspective, Daugherty is a very skilled writer with an excellent sense of pacing. I always thought her books were compulsively readable, but the desperate need to keep turning those pages was stronger than ever with Fracture.

If you’ve been waiting for answers about Night School and the organization, rest assured, answers you shall get. There were clues before and I had my suspicions, but in Fracture, the purpose of Night School becomes abundantly clear – and scarier than ever. Night School is proving to be a consistently good series – something we sorely lack. I hope it will get even more fans with the US release date so near.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced this review.