Photo credits: Prawny, OpenClipart-Vectors
Edited by Vaishali
Title: ‘Darkness of Light'
Author: Stacey Marie Brown Series: (Darkness #1) Genre/s: Urban Fantasy, New Adult, Paranormal romance Publisher: Twisted Fairy Publishing Year of Publication: 2013 Version: Paperback ISBN: 9781547086245 R E V I E W...“This isn’t going to be a cute little storybook you can close when you’re done. You open this, and you’re going to be letting things out you cannot possibly imagine. And believe me when I tell you that this is no fairy tale.”…”You still ready to hear a bedtime story?” A B O U T - T H E - B O O K Ember Brycin and her two best friends - Ryan and Kennedy - are social outcasts. Ember’s unique look and mysterious qualities have always drummed up suspicion and fear, the hot topic of conversation among her peer group. 'Freak', 'witch' and 'crazy' are but a few of the names associated with Ember, and she can’t help but feel as if she is descending into the bracket of insanity, if not already there. Seeing bizarre creatures, hearing voices and hallucinating, Ember has seen countless physicians, doctors and therapists over the years expressly after the brutal death of her mother.
Ember is burdened with terrible nightmares, tiptoeing a line of pure unadulterated crazy. Hallucinations of a a gorgeous man with piercing blue eyes called Torin who meets her in her dreams and provides her with nothing but ominous and cryptic messages. Claiming to be her protector, Torin has been watching her for a long time, telling Ember that she isn't safe and nobody can be trusted. He tells her that they are destined to be together, and Ember can't help but feel safe with her imaginary friend.
Hiding, and rejecting the notion of what lurks beneath her skin is anything but normal, Ember has spent the entirety of her life so far avoiding the blatancy of the puzzling occurrences involving her and the mystifying things she can do. Ember has kept these secrets and hidden the severity of her mental state, even from her few friends and her stepfather Mark. Always on the receiving end of suspicion and investigation…and after an incident at school during the Midnight Masquerade, Ember, being a natural source of trouble is the first to blame for culprit. This not the first time her presence has triggered such manifestations. Having had trouble with the police before Ember knows that the odds aren’t in her favour, and her life has been following a downward spiral ever since. Told she must attend Silverwood – an institution for the troubled youth, after being deemed a sizable threat to her teachers and peers.
Here she meets motor cycle riding, roughhewn bad boy, Eli Dragen, who she has an undeniable attraction with, which has nothing to do with his toned, muscular body and animal green eyes (cough cough). While Ember can feel the danger radiating off of him, she feels an instant fiery connection with him, feeling both threatened and comforted by his company. She fears him just as much as she is captivated by him, and she can’t fight the allure of his magnetic stare. Every inch of him seems to provoke Ember in some way, baffled and confused by this connection - whichever way, seems to bring out the fire in her...
M Y - T H O U G H T S...
I want to start this review by highlighting my considerable sense of optimism when starting a new book, irrespective of negative reviews and criticism, giving a story a chance in spite of odds and likelihoods because I believe in fairness and objectivity, especially thoughtfulness when I'm face to face with with the hard labour of writing… also the reason why I don't particularly enjoy giving unfavorable reviews - for the simple fact that I am initiating judgment on somebody else’s treasure, imagining very well the kind of monumental effort it takes to craft a book - the sweat, hours, focus, heart, mind and determination it takes to make one.
But I also have an obligation to be honest to the author and the book's readers, and for that sake I will be. I always finish a book even if it doesn’t agree with me, but I continue in the hope that it will get better. 'Darkness of Light' didn’t…and the reason I think I felt so dissatisfied and disgruntled is because I had much expectation and hope for this to be a good story.
'Darkness of Light' fell into the generic trappings of cliché. The events of this book were too predictable, not authentic and not very well-written. I could see 85% of the plot coming and I would at least have expected Ember to see them coming too but she is often too oblivious and naïve, not able to see that which was staring her right in the face, especially where Eli is concerned.
Eli and Ember’s encounters are repetitive, the prose is repetitive as are Ember's thoughts. The plot had inconsistencies and little trajectory throughout and the story didn’t feel like it was going anywhere - the places it went were foreseeable too. The evolution was minute and more or less stationary and the story descends as opposed to ascending and inciting. As much as I liked Ryan, Kennedy, West, Josh and Mark, there were character inconsistencies, and the characters felt starved of life and development, they were not remotely very fleshed out.
As well as this, there were plot holes in this story and the plot itself was underdeveloped - it didn’t flow seamlessly and wasn’t fully fleshed out. The scene structures felt superficially formed and the content wasn’t substantial or thorough enough, leaving a lot to be desired. The conversations didn’t have a great deal of purpose or direction and situations were resolved too quickly or not at all, seeming rushed. The transitions from scene and dialogue were anything but smooth, and in some ways it felt like I was reading 300+ pages of fanfiction.
I just didn't know how to feel about that. I didn’t feel much depth or expansion, and I know that authors dig deep when they write, but I didn’t feel that at all with this story. I didn’t feel connected, and honestly I felt very little where almost every book I have read before this has made me feel spectrums of emotion. One of the markers I use to discern the greatness of a book is its skill to make me feel, and this fell wholly short on that front. Tremendously.
I knew from the start what Ember was as the book itself falls under the ‘fairy’ genre so the big reveal toward the end of the book was underwhelming in the sense that Ember's identity is one of those few big reveals.
It’s obvious that Ember has some kind of supernatural ability from the start…and if similar events have indeed taken place before and have happened as a result of Ember’s turbulent emotions, it’s strange that Ember doesn’t pick up on said correlations, or that she doesn’t feel the power coursing through her considering the considerable damage that she can do… or maybe she just doesn’t want to face life-changing truths?
Ember is very often said to be strange rather than showing us how she might be considered 'strange', and I personally didn't peg her as a strange character. I suppose I can see her chalked up to being strange because of the strange phenomenon occurring in her presence - and her anomalous appearance - but nothing settles her strangeness to me.
Ember is humorous, charming and sarcastic. She is passionate and defiant, but usually at the expense of common sense and rationality, her instincts and impulses tending to rule her. I like the fact that Ember’s fears propel her as opposed to making her cower and I like her stubbornness, but where she makes up in her determination she lacks in smart thinking and does herself a great disservice in trailing after Eli relentlessly - I would have liked for her to stand up for herself in a more robust manner. I felt that the author tried too hard to make Ember a likeable character, trying to impart all the desired traits we seek in a loved protagonist but It did fall flat and it did ring false.
Eli loathes Ember, he insults and treats her with disdain, and even though Ember doesn’t take Eli’s insolence towards her lying down and combats his verbal attacks with her own retorts, she still chases him and lets her frivolous desires overwhelm her sense of levelheadedness which was exasperating.
I know Ember holds out hope for Eli, but though she tells him personal things of her own accord (knowing very well the type of man he is) yet gets upsets when he is not responsive. I’m aware that she wants him to divulge but I didn't want her to be too needy for her own benefit. She is also unbearably slow on the uptake, overlooks the apparent and takes extraordinarily long to put pieces of this puzzle together.
I don’t mind that Ember’s sense of self – preservation is questionable at times, often being a stickler for trouble and danger - even enjoying the danger - but it presents her as undeveloped and imprudent which discredits her character.
Eli’s rejection cuts deeply into Ember. He has the power to emotionally wound her. Profoundly. Even though they have only known each other for days, and I’m not sure I can understand this reaction unless there is some significant bond that runs deeper between them that the author has chosen not to disclose as of yet - which I imagine there must be - considering some obvious implications. But if this is not the case, her reactions feel out of place.
As much as she tells herself she will stay away from Eli, Ember's curiosity acts as a prompt to chase him all over again (as much as I want to shout at her to stop!). Eli’s extremist moods and instant aggression is one thing; the angst is one thing, but his physical outbursts are out of order; I didn't like the occasions where he gets physically abusive. Ember has no qualms about his manhandling whatsoever, and it would seem that she would let him get away with almost anything- she makes allowances for his conduct. He doesn’t even apologise. He is unreliable and uncaring.
He is also hypocritical in that he is concerned for her wellbeing, raging against her alleged attackers, but then it’s perfectly fine for him to elicit injuries to her himself. His moods are all over the place which I think represents his own inner conflict; wanting Ember but hating her because of what she is. I can’t however, condone that kind of violence especially when it is unprovoked. Fix up Eli! ….
oh, and after he tells her to stay out of the woods, he then leaves her stranded there…twice!
I don’t mind simple writing - because simple writing can often be the best - as long as a story is written, executed and conducted well, but the writing in 'Darkness of Light' wasn't very appealing. It was lacking in intelligence and consistency. The story did not grip me, fulfil me or satisfy me like a hearty, rich story is supposed to... which is a shame.
I LOVE books about fairy mythology and folklore - I'm kind of obsessed with them actually - and I came across this series which sounded fascinating so I took a chance, as we all do. I’m so disheartened however to say that this book was discouraging and sub-standard, letting me down in multiple ways. I'm not a happy human. The synopsis was interesting and had immense potential to be something fruitful and gripping. Saying this, i don't think i'll give up on this series just yet (there's something to be said for carrying on) and i do intend to continue in the hope that it will get better!
“Because once the truth is out, there’s no going back, and you will wish you could.”
I gave this book 2 stars -
C O N T E N T W A R N I N G: Attempted rape and physical abuse.
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M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read ---------------------------------------
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R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● Book Review: 'Fire in the Darkness' by Stacey Marie Brown ● Book Review: 'Beast in the Darkness' by Stacey Marie Brown ● Book Review: 'Dwellers of Darkness' by Stacey Marie Brown ● Book Review: 'Blood Beyond Darkness' by Stacey Marie Brown ________________________________________________________
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