Review for Darkness Fair (Book 2 in the Darkness Cycle series)

Darkness Fair (Book 2 in the Darkness Cycle series)

By Rachel A. Marks
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication Date: Feb. 2nd, 2016
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Format: Paperback and Audio Book
Amazon Buy Link: HERE
Goodreads Link: HERE
Em's Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Link to first book in the series: HERE

 Book Blurb: Against the backdrop of an ancient battle between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness, Aidan struggles to control the newly awakened and enigmatic powers that seem to be his only hope for rescuing Ava, his little sister, trapped somewhere beyond the Veil. As he gravitates to Kara, the beguiling and dangerously unstable girl who helped him realize his abilities, a terrible mistake of fate is revealed that points him back toward Rebecca, whose role is becoming more critical to the battle. And no matter what his heart wants, it might be too late to stop the pieces already in motion. Without knowing the sacrifices that will be required of them, Aidan and his motley crew of friends—each with their own role to play—must face the demon threat head-on. They’re the only ones keeping the growing army of Darkness at bay, and if they fail, the future of humanity could be lost.

Now I have the fun job of reviewing the second book in a series and not try to spoil the first one. Rachel Marks needs to put a seat belt warning on her books. From the start to the end, you are on a fast paced journey with something happening every chapter.

The Darkness Cycle Books (in case you didn’t know) follows Aidan, a young man that learns what he powers he was born with, mean to the universe. And you will enjoy every page of it. Or at least I did. As I stated in my last review, you don’t get the normal YA “what is this? How am I doing XYZ thing?” Aidan, thankfully, knows MOST of what he can do, and as he grows and trains, he can learn MORE of what he can do. I LOVE that. We get too many re-hashings of the same idea. A main character finds from some *whiggles fingers* source that they have POWERS or are MAGICAL (Yer a wizard Harry) Sure, Aidan doesn’t know all his powers, but it would also be boring if he was ALL POWERFUL from the word go.

 I LOVE how Rachel Mark, once again, took a trope and smashed it until it was something new and enjoyable. I am talking about the “Love triangle” this time. First this book is in dual POV between Aidan and Rebecca, which was a great way to just get what Rebecca was thinking. Normally I am not a fan of POV changes. I feel a lot of authors do it to save time or because they think me, as a reader, can not figure out the story like I can figure out how people around me in real live feel by body language, tone of voice and other actions. But, this worked well, never once did I say “oh shit love triangle ahead, prepare to watch this book sink.” Without giving anything away in the story, I was impressed, and never felt it took away from anything in the story, since it is SUCH a part of the story.
If you have not given Darkness Brutal a read, stop reading blog post and pick it up now, and get Darkness Fair (this book) why you are at it. If I can read them in 1 day, you can get them out in no time.

 Now I have to WAIT to see what happens. Damn Cliffhangers.