Publisher: Pocket
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: Simon & Schuster Galley Grab
The man of her dreams might be the cause of her nightmares.
Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn’t at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and sexy-as- sin incubus searching for his sister, convinced Abby has the key to the succubus’s whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invade her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish, as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As she is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, Abby realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there’s no one she can trust to save her.
*Blurb from Goodreads*
This book was recommended to me by so many of my fellow bloggers, so when I saw it available at the Simon & Schuster galley grab, I jumped at the chance to read it.
Abby has gone through some really difficult times in her life, and now that she is part of the magical underground, she is doing everything she can to leave her past exactly where it is, the past. But when her protector goes missing and she gets put on the path of trying to figure out what exactly is going on with her friends, she not only has to face some of her fears, but she has to face Brystion as well.
Brystion is an uber-sexy incubus, and when his sister was discovered missing after the deaths of many other succubi, he will do just about anything to get her back safe and sound. But after spending his days with Abby, will he be able to trade one loved one for another?
The world building in this Urban Fantasy was exceptionally complicated, and I frequently found myself scratching my head in confusion through the first half of this book. Now, I consider myself somewhat quick to jump on the world building bandwagon and sort through everything to understand all the subtle nuances of what exactly is going on, but Pang lost me pretty early on. There are so many different terms that all sound somewhat the same, but had very different meanings, people they referred to, etc. There were times when I felt as if I was coming in on a second book in the series, instead of a first. Call my crazy, but I could have used an info dump!
That being said, I really loved Abby and Brystion’s characters. Abby was completely flawed, and I felt like although she couldn’t really do or get anything right, at least her heart was always in the right spot. I liked that she was somewhat flawed and awkward for a UF heroine. It is so typical to have this total ass kicking, Buffy style heroine in Urban Fantasy, that it was refreshing to see Abby with her bumbling and fumbling along, making and screwing it all up as she went along.
Brystion was absolutely delicious, and the way he and Abby left things at the end of the book almost had me in tears. I want more Brystion back, and I want him heating up the pages with his incubus appeal. Although his motives were questionable, I enjoyed that he was able to recognize where he went wrong, and that he tried everything to go back and make it all right in the end. A great hero doesn’t always get it right the first time, but at least he tries until he does, and Brystion embodies that.
The magical unicorn living with Abby provided some great comedic relief in a fast moving and often dark story. The plot really does scoot quickly, and the book encompasses A LOT of stuff. Thankfully, Pang had great humor to break up the bleakness. The World of Warcraft references had me in absolute stitches (mainly because I’ve totally been there, done that!) and Pang has a great voice that easily bounces between serious and funny without loosing anything.
I will most likely pick up the second book in the series, but I think that I might need to make myself a reference guide before I jump into it, because I don’t want to be as lost the second time around!
All in all, I give A Brush of Darkness 3 out of 5 magical unicorn sidekicks!
2 comments:
I completely agree with you on this review, Minn. I had the same problems with the book. I felt lost for the first half of the book, but I wonder if was done on purpose since Abby was so lost as well and the book was written from her POV. I was kinda frustrated with Abby about how blasé she was about things at the end, but oh well.
Oh, and Phin was my absolute favorite! What a great character! =)
(Dingo Baby)
@Dingo - *waves* Hi! I hope that the next book in the series is a little clearer to me. I agree that Abby was too blase about the end as well.
Post a Comment