The evil cat demons are growing in number, but there are far many more spoilers in this review. Because… reviews are no fun without spoilers.
Recommendation: Marks’ writing style remains strong–something about it reminds me of JK Rowling. However, this was a bit disappointing after the amazing-ness of book 1. I didn’t understand what the main plot of this book was, or where it was headed. The new POV of Rebecca was a low-point, sad since I enjoyed her character in the first one. That said, it was still fun, and the cast remains a fun group. The mythology is still there, and it ends with a bang. I believe it’s leading to something great in the final volume. I give it Grade B-.
Darkness Fair, by Rachel Marks
Characters:
- Rebecca has flipped a complete 180 now that she has a POV. I sort of understand why she gets one — giving one to any other character would be too similar to Aidan. However, she was so introverted and closeted in the first volume, it was a shock to see this sassy version of her. I get that it’s different now that we’re inside her head, but something just felt off about it.
- The rest of the cast remains as epic as ever. Aidan remains an easy hero to root for, who makes his share of mistakes. I would have liked to see Kara in a more active role, but enjoyed the parts she was in.
- I did not see the Ava twist coming. She is nutso. Would like to know what happened to her in that coma that made her so… nuts. I was shocked to discover that her father was actually on our side. Aidan totally screwed up on this one.
- It was sad to see Sid deteriorate like he is. I would have liked to have seen him more active, and push the deterioration to book 3. But that just goes to show that I care about the character, and proves Mark has a knack for character development.
Plot:
- The demon scenes remain interesting and thrilling. The wraith was pretty scary. The mini demons still remind me of that FuzzyDemon cartoon. I can’t help but think of them as little cute demonic fuzzy things.
- Marks writing style remains superb. She keeps the plot going, even during the less thrilling Rebecca scenes. She gets into the head of her characters and you feel like you’re there with them. Visually, I can clearly remember the locations vividly from books 1 and 2. Vividly.
- As fun as it is to be with the characters, this does suffer from bridge the gap, second book syndrome. Some books are clearly a bridge to book 3, without any real plot of their own. The plot for this book, I think, was save Kara. But reading the book, I wasn’t sure if it was save the house from the wraith, save Ava, or save Kara. Not much time was spent on Ava, a decent amount was spent on the wraith and Kara, but the epic climax was all about Ava. So… IDK, that just bothers me as a reader. If I had to give a summary of this book, I don’t know that I could. It was just another adventure with the gang, leading up to a surprise twist revealing that Ava would be the big bad in book 3. But it honestly didn’t distract from my enjoyment of the book.
- The Rebecca-Aidan-Kara soulmate triangle was agonizingly tiresome, but it did end well, and believably. I give it props for that. Also, glad that the Aidan-Kara sexual tension is over. You can only have so many make-out scenes in a book before it gets overdone.
Random Thoughts
- I would say I hope we don’t get any Rebecca POV in book 3… but I checked ahead and we do. So… bleh. I like Rebecca, but not her head. I like outward Rebecca.
- Not sure where this Ava storyline is going, but I’m pumped. Really hope that we find out WHY she turned into this crazy monster. She’s a lot of fun, and I’m not against. Just want to find out what snapped.
- Did anyone see that coming? I had a feeling she might be used to open the gates to hell or whatever, but didn’t think she’d go all super villain of her own volition.
- Kara needs more action scenes, am I right?
- The grandma witch lady was pretty badass. Can we seem more of her in book 3?
- No more love triangles, one can hope!
- That final chapter–Aidan’s got his work cut out for him!
Overall: As disappointed as I was with the plot, it was another fun adventure with our paranormal cast. Aidan is still a great POV, and the stage is set for the epic showdown of book 3. Considering all the pros and cons, I grade this as a B-. I’d recommend, because if you liked the first book for its mythology and characters, this book will be worth a read. If you didn’t… well then why would you even want to read book 2? 😛
Confused by my grading scale, click here to find out how the grades relate to star-ratings you’re more used to seeing.