Friday, August 31, 2012

Review: The Dark Light

THE DARK LIGHT
Sara Walsh
Paranormal Young Adult
496 pages
Simon Pulse
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Mysterious lights have flickered above Crownsville for as long as Mia can remember. And as far as she’s concerned, that’s about the only interesting thing to happen in her small town.

That is, until Sol arrives. Mia’s not one to fall for just any guy, but she can’t get Sol—or the brilliant tattoo on his back—out of her mind.

Then Mia’s brother goes missing, and Mia’s convinced that Sol knows more than he’s sharing. But getting closer to Sol means reevaluating everything Mia once believed to be true. Because Sol’s not who Mia thought he was—and neither is she.


MY THOUGHTS
The Dark Light is a grand, sweeping story that not only shares with us the journey from normal to paranormal for one young woman, but also shows us just how rich an imagination Ms. Walsh possesses. Reading Mia’s tale is like opening a box of the finest chocolates only to find the printed guideline telling us what's beneath each light or dark coating is missing – we sink our teeth into the story after the first few chapters confident we have at least a general knowledge of what’s waiting for us in the coming pages, but we quickly discover our confidence misplaced and our expectations completely and delightfully derailed. We as readers are proverbial Dorothys wandering into Oz, common elements like a new boy at school with a mysterious past and a possible love triangle lulling us into a sense of enjoyable familiarity before Ms. Walsh literally and figuratively shows us the light and changes the game entirely.

Mia is a beautifully flawed heroine, possessing traits that both earn our admiration when her actions at times belie her young seventeen years, as well as our utter frustration when her behavior serves only to reinforce them. She’s fiercely protective of her younger brother Jay, so much so that she often wants to leap into the fray to come to his aid before taking just a few brief moments to evaluate her situation and come to the realization that her course of action will only result in failure. Despite her love for her brother overwhelming her common sense on occasion, she’s someone with an easy sense of humor and ability to adapt to strange situations and revelations without crumbling, earning our respect page by page as she does everything in her power to keep those around her safe. She’s often an impediment on her journey with Sol rather than an asset, but instead of that being a drawback to the story, it’s something we can’t help but appreciate as she becomes our anchor of normalcy in a fantastical setting.

As the story itself goes an unexpected route, so too does the romance. Initially, Ms. Walsh sets us up with a dynamic we’ve seen on numerous occasions before, with a young woman’s attention split between a longtime crush and the stunning new guy with a potentially dark past, but to our relief the triangle shape quickly topples, leaving behind the beautiful simplicity of a single line that has Mia on one end and Sol standing opposite her. Their chemistry isn’t necessarily blistering, but there’s plenty of tension thrumming between them to keep us intrigued, and we contentedly revel in the fact that our expectations of typical young adult clichés are slowly being ripped away as Ms. Walsh lovingly sets us on new and welcome ground.

There are a few mild complaints with the story overall, namely a fairly quick and seemingly easy showdown with the villain as well as a lack of background for Sol once we learn more about who he is, but we’re so caught up in characters and creativity these issues are but minor blips on our enjoyment radar. The ending is nicely resolved but the door is definitely left open a crack, and we read the last page with the sincere hope that Ms. Walsh is not going to let us walk out of this world and never return.

Rating: 4/5

31 comments:

  1. My thoughts exactly!!!! This story was absolutely great and I so hope that we will get another book, there are so many things the still need to be explored! Mainly about Sol...;-)) Just like you i was a little dissapointed with the romance, but ther than that, this story was awesome tastic!!

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    1. I really, really hope we get another book two, one that gives us more background on Sol and his life up to that point:)

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  2. Oh Dani already got me all worked up to meet Sol and you cemented it! This sounds like a good read. Glad to hear there isn't a cliffhanger...I can handle a cracked door!

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    1. Yay! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! She left it just open enough that there could be more books down the line if she wanted, but not so open that I'd be crushed if things were left as is:)

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  3. I've had my eyes out on this book but what I really don't enjoy in the book is how simple the last showdown with the villain is. But I'm glad the love triangle dies out quickly.

    great review!

    - Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

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    1. I was hoping for a little more of a fight with the villain since he was such a baddie, but it was a minor flaw for me and didn't bother me overmuch.

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  4. Yay for that the triangle topples, I am just so over them

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    1. Me too! She had me a little worried in the beginning and then BAM everything changes and it was awesome:)

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  5. *stares at cover* Awesome review Jenny!!!! This book sounds SO good! Mia sounds like my sort of heroine but it's too bad the romance isn't too brilliant. And the ending sounds great but I generally prefer reading books with cliff hanger endings LOL! Thanks for sharing :-)

    Feel free to visit my blog.
    SeeitORreadit

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    1. Isn't that tattoo on his back on the cover amazing? Love it. Since there are currently no plans for a sequel with this book, you might come to appreciate that the ending isn't a cliffhanger! I don't mind cliffhangers if there's going to be another book, but when there's not, I want a little certainty. I can't help it! I need my HEA:)

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  6. YES!!! Sign me up for this book, that cover is almost hypnotizing!!! And I loved your review. I want to read about romance that go's in a new direction!!

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    1. I was thrilled with the direction the romance took, and how quickly the love triangle angle got taken out of play. I did wish for a little more heat between Mia and Sol because all the potential was there, but the two of them were still very enjoyable.

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  7. Jenny, once again you nail this review! A box of chocolate huh? I am chocoholic so that means I need to read this book!

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    1. I'm really craving chocolate now too. Dammit:)

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  8. Oh wow....that cover is enough to catch my attention but what a great review. This sounds like an amazing read. Adding it to my wishlist as I need to meet Sol now!

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  9. Oh? No love triangle? How sad. (Do you feel the sarcasm? It's dripping.)

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  10. You had me at flawed heroine! I love flawed heroines so much and NO LOVE TRIANGLE? OHMYGOSH SIGN ME UP! *happy dances* Jenny, you're amazing, you know that? You find a book without a love triangle, with an awesome heroine, and which is really good? I need to read this ASAP! Stunning review, dear! :)

    ~Keertana
    Ivy Book Bindings

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    1. YES! I was so worried when it was looking like we were going to get an epic love triangle, but that quickly went away and I couldn't have been happier:)

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  11. Phew! I'm SO relieved to hear that the hints of a love triangle don't actually flourish into something! I have low tolerance for love triangles these days. (I say that, but my last read had one and I still loved it. :D) This sounds like a really great read and I can't wait to give it a shot after your review. And yes, the cover is pretty tempting. ;) Brilliant review, Jenny!

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    1. I did a happy dance when the three just went down to two:) Isn't the cover stunning? I want to lick that tattoo. Probably that's inappropriate to say ;-)

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  12. You convinced me that I want to read this one. I LOVE the way you describe the romance and the way the triangle ceases. Oh yes, love your review! I also love flawed characters. I'm going to run to put this one on my wishlist!!

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    1. WOO HOO! Yay for no love triangles! This story was just so different from what I was expecting, I really enjoyed it:)

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  13. I'm curious about this Sol and his dark past. At first I didn't know that was a tat, I thought it was going to be another angel book with a whisper of wings. I'll keep my eye out for this one. Have a great weekend, Jenny!

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    1. Loved Sol! I would have liked a little bit more information on him and his past because he was so interesting, but I wasn't frustrated by my lack of knowledge:)

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  14. Yay to the non-cliched YA! I've seen this book on goodreads and thought this was adult so I never took a double take. But after reading your review, I am so into reading it now. I'll take any non-cliched YA because they're kinda rare nowadays. ;)

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    1. I agree, they are a rarity! This one starts out feeling really familiar, but then she just sort of turns everything on its head and I loved that:)

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  15. Hmm, I was sitting on the fence on this one, maybe I just hopped off on the, "If Jenny says it's good, I can't miss it, side". I hate when that happens and I already have two piles sitting beside me. Really, what is my husband going to say? And my desk is groaning under the weight of all these books. You are just too damn good at writing reviews.

    Heather

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  16. I love the cover on this, hot! So glad to see you enjoyed it, Jenny and that is resolves nicely as I hate cliffhangers. I'm going to have to pick this up. Wonderful review. :)

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  17. It's always nice when a story goes in a different direction than you expected :)

    Great review! Sounds like a good story to check out,

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  18. "Opening a box of the finest chocolates only to find the printed guideline telling us what's beneath each light or dark coating is missing ..." What? Who would do such a thing?! Lol, I need to know what I'm biting into.

    I wasn't really interested in this one - I'm not a fan of the cover for some reason - but I might have to give it a try. I like that Walsh changes common YA cliches so that they become different.

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  19. Wow, you are fantastic at writing reviews! I loved your metaphor in the beginning, "we sink our teeth into the story after the first few chapters...". Mia sounds like a fantastic character! And hooray for no love triangle, I'm glad that Ms. Walsh is able to write something different from the usual romances in YA! I'll be sure to be picking this one up soon! Fantastic review.

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