A review by lesley_watts
Not Yet Dark by Simon P. Clark
1.0
*SPOILERS*
This started off promisingly enough with the chance encounter of a satanic-type cult trying to defeat Death witnessed by two teenage friends. The appearance of two mysterious teenagers following this event is disturbingly spooky. However, everything goes downhill from then on. I would have been prepared to ignore the heavily artificial 'banter' between Philippa and Danny, had the plot developed well, but it didn't. There was meant to be tension between the two central characters and I kept thinking it might be because Danny has romantic feelings for Phil (it was an overused device that she kept insisting on Phillippa) or that he is gay and trying to let her know, but it turned out to be nothing very much and all resolved by her taking more of an interest in his rugby-playing friends.
There was a lot of padding between incidents which didn't engage me or move the plot on and I found myself skim-reading towards the end. The mystical World Between was intriguing but the whole aspect of Danny being disillusioned with life and being addicted to spending more time there, was touched on but never really developed. I think I would have preferred this aspect of the plot to the satanic suburban fruit-loops and their magic book.
This started off promisingly enough with the chance encounter of a satanic-type cult trying to defeat Death witnessed by two teenage friends. The appearance of two mysterious teenagers following this event is disturbingly spooky. However, everything goes downhill from then on. I would have been prepared to ignore the heavily artificial 'banter' between Philippa and Danny, had the plot developed well, but it didn't. There was meant to be tension between the two central characters and I kept thinking it might be because Danny has romantic feelings for Phil (it was an overused device that she kept insisting on Phillippa) or that he is gay and trying to let her know, but it turned out to be nothing very much and all resolved by her taking more of an interest in his rugby-playing friends.
There was a lot of padding between incidents which didn't engage me or move the plot on and I found myself skim-reading towards the end. The mystical World Between was intriguing but the whole aspect of Danny being disillusioned with life and being addicted to spending more time there, was touched on but never really developed. I think I would have preferred this aspect of the plot to the satanic suburban fruit-loops and their magic book.