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A review by hermes262
Darkness Fair by Rachel A. Marks
4.0
While I wasn't as invested in this as much as the first book (which was beyond amazing and had me holding frantically to the edge of my seat), it was still good, and the characters remain enjoyable! Marks writing style keeps me just as invested as JK Rowling's would. She has a penchant for creating very well-developed characters, even those who stick around for just a few pages. I would have preferred a more engaging plot, but give me a slew of amazing characters that I care about and I'll read them eating popcorn for two chapters (okay, maybe not, but still). I recommend at 3.5-4 stars.
Aidan, Kara, and the gang continue to crack me up. There was less bonding time with the game as a whole, but it was nice to focus more in depth on our main characters. The demons are getting scarier and more powerful, so it's interesting to see the mythology grow. Especially the angels coming into play now (can't believe I just typed that sentence). If you enjoyed the first one, you'll enjoy this one. And it seems to be leading into some pretty intense stuff for book 3!
Darkness Brutal was an amazing book, fast-paced with lots of mysteries. This book didn't have as many mysteries involved, and the Rebecca storyline was not my cup of tea. It was teenage pining angst which was written somewhat realistically, I thought, but again, not my thing. I didn't necessarily how Rebecca was important enough to get her own POV. She was separated to the point where it made sense. Kara's my favorite character, but she's too close to Aidan to warrant her own POV. Rebecca solves this dilemma, but her POV could have been wiped out and the story would've remained the same, more or less.
This was definitely a bridge to the third book, which I'm okay with. The demon scenes were great. The Ava twist was surprising. Should I have seen it coming, maybe? But I didn't. I would like to know why she's going batshit crazy. Something has to have caused this transformation. She was always a bit... off, but she was willing to do bad things to save her family. She wasn't psychotic to this level. But she's also been dead for a few weeks, so who knows? It does explain why the wraith was cooperative with Aidan in helping find her.
The twist where Ava's father wasn't actually a bad guy was good. Scary what Ava was able to do with him though. We'll see where this goes in book 3. Glad Kara's okay, and also content that they settled the whole teenage pining angst storyline because I could not do that in book 3. Especially because it doesn't look like Rebecca is going anywhere. I actually liked Rebecca a lot in the last book. But her POV is much different than the character she portrays. I did not imagine such a sarcastic teenage girl stereotype from how she was portrayed in book 1. Just threw me off. I don't know if her character was changed for plot purposes or if she's just so introverted you couldn't tell. I have a feeling it was both.
All in all, a good read. I liked the first book much better, but I'm rounding this one up because I expect very good things from book 3. And again, good characters = fun read. So, you know, good times. I recommend.
Aidan, Kara, and the gang continue to crack me up. There was less bonding time with the game as a whole, but it was nice to focus more in depth on our main characters. The demons are getting scarier and more powerful, so it's interesting to see the mythology grow. Especially the angels coming into play now (can't believe I just typed that sentence). If you enjoyed the first one, you'll enjoy this one. And it seems to be leading into some pretty intense stuff for book 3!
Spoiler
Darkness Brutal was an amazing book, fast-paced with lots of mysteries. This book didn't have as many mysteries involved, and the Rebecca storyline was not my cup of tea. It was teenage pining angst which was written somewhat realistically, I thought, but again, not my thing. I didn't necessarily how Rebecca was important enough to get her own POV. She was separated to the point where it made sense. Kara's my favorite character, but she's too close to Aidan to warrant her own POV. Rebecca solves this dilemma, but her POV could have been wiped out and the story would've remained the same, more or less.
This was definitely a bridge to the third book, which I'm okay with. The demon scenes were great. The Ava twist was surprising. Should I have seen it coming, maybe? But I didn't. I would like to know why she's going batshit crazy. Something has to have caused this transformation. She was always a bit... off, but she was willing to do bad things to save her family. She wasn't psychotic to this level. But she's also been dead for a few weeks, so who knows? It does explain why the wraith was cooperative with Aidan in helping find her.
The twist where Ava's father wasn't actually a bad guy was good. Scary what Ava was able to do with him though. We'll see where this goes in book 3. Glad Kara's okay, and also content that they settled the whole teenage pining angst storyline because I could not do that in book 3. Especially because it doesn't look like Rebecca is going anywhere. I actually liked Rebecca a lot in the last book. But her POV is much different than the character she portrays. I did not imagine such a sarcastic teenage girl stereotype from how she was portrayed in book 1. Just threw me off. I don't know if her character was changed for plot purposes or if she's just so introverted you couldn't tell. I have a feeling it was both.
All in all, a good read. I liked the first book much better, but I'm rounding this one up because I expect very good things from book 3. And again, good characters = fun read. So, you know, good times. I recommend.