Name: A Broken Darkness
ISBN: 9781786183316

Premee Mohamed

Nick Prasad is piecing his life together since the Anomaly, and has joined the secretive Ssarati Society to help monitor threats to humanity – including his former friend Johnny. Right on cue, the unveiling of Johnny’s latest experiment sees more portals opened to Them, and the two of them are thrown together to fight the darkness once more…

A Broken Darkness

In the heartwrenching follow-up to last year’s breakout Beneath the Rising, the war with the nameless things from Beyond opens a new front – as the heroes’ tattered friendship is finally torn apart. “A wonderful adventure, rife with strange heart and weird horror.” Chuck Wendig It’s been a year and a half since the Anomaly, when They tried to force their way into the world from the shapeless void. Nick Prasad is piecing his life together, and has joined the secretive Ssarati Society to help monitor threats to humanity – including his former friend Johnny. Right on cue, the unveiling of Johnny’s latest experiment sees more portals opened to Them, leaving her protesting her innocence even as the two of them are thrown together to fight the darkness once more… “Every reveal is gasp-out-loud astonishing.” Charlie Jane Anders? “A galloping global adventure where lies and privilege are as villainous as the cthulonic forces our heroes must rush to stop.” Brooke Bolander “A perfect balance of thriller, horror and humour; reminded me of The Gone-Away World.” Adrian Tchaikovsky

M. Sosotris

I really liked how this book continued the angst of Nick and Johnny’s fraught friendship. And I like how the character’s flaws propel this personal conflict throughout the story. I will say that, often, I found myself wishing the characters would make it through the next horde of monsters so they could have another conversation. I kept thinking “YOU TWO NEED THERAPY!” moreso than I thought, “Wow, I wonder how they’ll get out of this fix!”

This is part 2 of a trilogy, so I will start by saying I am absolutely looking forward to Book 3, and I will reserve judgement until I’ve read the whole story, but on first impressions, I had a hard time really settling into the story. The characters spend the whole book (as they did at the end of Book 1) incredibly angry at one another. It’s so pervasively negative, that I didn’t find myself rooting for either one to succeed. I just wanted them to talk about their problems and achieve some kind of catharsis. There’s moments of levity amid all the monsters, so it never feels oppressive, but I was so mad at the characters that I couldn’t really cheer for them. But like I said, I’ll wait for Book 3 because it will no doubt complete these character’s arcs.

My other issue (and it’s a nitpicky one) is that the monsters tend to become a bit wallpapery. The characters get so use to their presence after a while that bizarre things happening in the background are met with a “Yeah, we should probably move on,” and so there’s not really a feeling that these things are a threat. The monster design is OUTSTANDING and I love the look and feel of it all, but I wish they felt more genuinely threatening. But with that said, I do like how the focus is on the characters. And there are moments of dark humour that work well with the events in the background contrasting to the lively banter in the foreground.

Overall, I enjoyed this one, and look forward to reading it again once it’s part of the completed trilogy.

A Broken Darkness

Reviews

Highlights