-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Set in the world of the New York Times–bestselling Winner's Trilogy, Marie Rutkoski's The Midnight Lie is an epic LGBTQ romantic fantasy about learning to free ourselves from the lies others tell us - and the lies we tell ourselves.
Where Nirrim lives, crime abounds, a harsh tribunal rules, and society's pleasures are reserved for the High Kith. Life in the Ward is grim and punishing. People of her low status are forbidden from sampling sweets or wearing colors. You either follow the rules, or pay a tithe and suffer the consequences.
Nirrim keeps her head down, and a dangerous secret close to her chest.
But then she encounters Sid, a rakish traveler from far away, who whispers rumors that the High Kith possess magic. Sid tempts Nirrim to seek that magic for herself. But to do that, Nirrim must surrender her old life. She must place her trust in this sly stranger who asks, above all, not to be trusted.
"Lush, swoony, painful, enraging, and as cathartic as a good cry." - Kirkus Reviews
"Despite uneven pacing, Rutkoski offers a captivating LGBTQ love story, atmospheric in the vein of Bardugo's Six of Crows. Charismatic characters and compelling chapter cliffhangers build intrigue throughout." - Publishers Weekly
"The Midnight Lie is unsettling and thrilling, the world intricate and purposeful, and Nirrim a protagonist readers will surely find enthralling." - Shelf Awareness
"Utterly immersive and gorgeous. Marie's stories are the loveliest knives that cut you straight to the quick." - Roshani Chokshi, New York Times-bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves
"Lush, romantic, and powerful. In The Midnight Lie, Marie Rutkoski spins a sensuous tale about awakening to the truth." - Malinda Lo, author of Ash
This information about The Midnight Lie was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Tobias Everke
Marie Rutkoski is New York Times bestselling author of books for children and young adults, including The Shadow Society and the Kronos Chronicles, which includes The Cabinet of Wonders. She published her first novel for adults, Real Easy, in 2022. Rutkoski is a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
If you liked The Midnight Lie, try these:
by R. F.. Kuang
Published 2026
Dante's Inferno meets Susanna Clarke's Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor's soul—perhaps at the cost of ...
by Emily J.. Taylor
Published 2025
The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique returns with another glittering dark fantasy about a deadly mystery that spans worlds and a teenage girl who must risk everything to uncover the truth.
The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac
by Louise Kennedy
Published 2024
Brilliant, dark stories of women's lives by "a very major talent" (Joseph O'Connor, Irish Times)
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
