Paperback: 342 Pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
This electrifying new trilogy blends the best of paranormal and dystopian storytelling in a world where the war is over. And the vampires won.
Humans huddle in their walled cities, supplying blood in exchange for safety. But not even that is guaranteed. Dawn has lost her entire family and now reluctantly serves as the delegate to Lord Valentine, the most powerful vampire for miles. It isn’t until she meets Victor, Valentine’s son, that she realizes not all vampires are monsters....
When I first heard about Darkness Before Dawn, I couldn't not become obsessed with it. It blends dystopia with paranormal, which for me is just the perfect mix. Darkness Before Dawn didn't disappoint and left me even more eager to the next installment: Blood-Kissed Sky.
The plot was extremely well-done. Everything fell in the right place and right time for me; yet the twists were still just as unexpected. I loved the dystopian aspects of the novel, since dystopia is my favorite genre. I still find that the authors (written by a mother and son team!) could have spent less time with Dawn's mixed feelings towards Michael and Victor and instead focused more on the fascinating aspects like on the relationship between the humans and vampires or even on Dawn's political life. Another thing that bothered me were the romantic scenes! They were sometimes TOO kitschy. I mean, the guy has lived for over hundreds of years and he has never seen someone as brave as Dawn?! She is not even that brave!
The characters were mostly amazing. Dawn was a determined and strong main character. Yet I didn't like that she couldn't be a bit more open to Victor's different life style; she was just too stubborn even though it was evident that he was a nice guy. I loved Victor; he was just plain swoon-material and I liked the different sides to his character; I can't wait to see how being in charge will change him in the next novel. The side characters didn't have such big roles but I liked all of them and hopefully we will still hear from them in the sequel.
Darkness Before Dawn was certainly a strong beginning to the trilogy. It surely had its faults but I wasn't that bothered by them. Some questions were left unanswered but this is a trilogy, so I will be expecting answers in the next two novels. I can only say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and I hope you will all enjoy it too!
J. A. London is the mother-son writing team of Jan and Alex Nowasky. As Rachel Hawthorne, Jan has written many novels for teens, including the popular Dark Guardian series. Alex, a recent graduate with a degree in Historical Studies, enjoys combining history and fiction to create unique worlds. Website
I loved Darkness before Dawn! I don't know why, but it was just so easy to ignore the flaws of this book and just simply enjoy it. I really can't wait for the next one. And what a title!
ReplyDeleteI love dystopians, but in the YA genre they can sometimes be hard to pull off. But, vampires and dystopia...you have my attention! lol I'm going to have to check this one out.
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