GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Book Review: Chance the Darkness (The Dark Series, #1) by L A Wild | I Smell Sheep

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Book Review: Chance the Darkness (The Dark Series, #1) by L A Wild

Chance the Darkness (The Dark Series #1)
by L A Wild

Kindle Edition, 285 pages
November 20th 2014
by Smashwords Edition
In the depths of half-human, half-unknown, twenty-year-old, Summer Keese’s mind, the walls are beginning to crack....

I must be going mad. When my twin sister dies, my whole life begins to unravel in ways I never could have dreamed. A crazy lady ranting in my head, blood-drinking ghouls, a psychotic cult demanding I channel some powerful objects, dangerous men who want to control me.... Total insanity, right? Except, it’s all real.

Then I meet him. Black. Tall, handsome, godlike. The man harbors sinister secrets and lives by his own set of rules—rules I can't begin to comprehend. One minute, he seems to want to save me. The next, I swear he's going to bury me six-foot under. Why can't he just tell me what's really going on?

While searching for my sister's killer in a seedy part of Glasgow, I discover nothing about my life is what it seems. Family secrets, betrayal. Emotions running hot, I make some seriously bad choices. And with the heart of Scotland becoming a paranormal battlefield, I have to wonder.... When did staying alive get so damn hard?



Art student Summer Keese takes an abrupt break from her studies in Glasgow when she must fly to Amsterdam to identify the body of Carla, her murdered twin. Carla’s unprecedented death starts a chain of events in Summer’s life that leave the telepathic twenty-year-old forever changed and constantly on the run. In Summer’s new life as both the hunted and wannabe hunter, she encounters a cast of characters seemingly benevolent and violently malevolent, but all enigmatic. Frenetic plot twists and turns leave the reader entertained, puzzled and wholly absorbed.

I adored this book. In fact, I hazard to say that it’s the best series opener I’ve read in years. Fans of Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series will love Chance the Dark. Wild is undoubtedly influenced by Moning as the books share some similarities. What Fever was to Dublin, The Dark could be to Glasgow. The series are different enough, however, to provide the reader a fresh, but almost equally stunning experience. When I started Chance the Darkness, I did find myself slightly confused by the highly descriptive, dense language. Initially, I had to reread sections to clarify; however, once I got use to Wild’s style, I became lost in the text. There are a lot of facts, elements, and characters, that are revealed first, explained later, and I came to really appreciate this as a reader. It was a more interesting way to tell the story and created loads of dramatic tension during the reading experience.

As a character, Summer is a work in progress. She’s young with a naivety that comes from youth and inexperience. Her most irksome trait has to be her stubbornness. She has tools at her disposal that she refuses to utilize, and I found this beyond frustrating. But in this respect, Summer is not at all unlike other heroines in similar books of this genre. Summer isn’t the born-to-kick -ass assassin. In fact, she gets her ass kicked and sometimes there’s no one there to bail her out, except herself and her own spontaneous instinct. Warwick Black as the brooding alpha is a cold SOB; totally edgy, completely clandestine, and sexy as hell.

Chance the Darkness ends with a cliff-hanger. You will immediately need book two. Good news. Book two, Sense the Darkness is already available, with book three set for July release. Our wait will not be long. I highly recommend this abundantly creative, completely spellbinding book. Take a chance on The Dark Series. You won’t be disappointed.

Four and a half sheep




Bianca Greenwood

About the Author:
L A Wild is an urban fantasy novelist who grew up in England, then later lived in Greece, Glasgow and Milton Keynes before moving to Australia in 2006. She is the creator and writer behind the Dark Series.


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