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A review by spookshow
The Dark Lands by Christina Bauer
4.0
You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Monster House Books LLC, and the author via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating of 3.5
Myla is now the Scala Mother, Queen of the Thrax, and has her baby Maxon and her husband Lincoln by her side. While appearing on Good Morning Purgatory, she is ambushed by the host as to what she is planning to do about the Viper attacks that have been reported. Leaving the show rather abruptly, she heads off to find out what exactly is going on, as her honorary brother was the one that gave the tip off of the recent Viper attack. Once she finds Walker, she finds out that he is in a bit of a pickle, the Viper is trying to free Lucifer, they've already found his cage and poisoned the guard, Walker knows how to help so has given Myla a watch, if it shows the time everything is fine, but if a countdown begins, something's gone wrong and he needs her to finish the job. So it's a race against the literal clock as the countdown starts and Myla and Co have no idea what exactly what is going on. Will they be able to beat the countdown, save the guard, Walker and keep Lucifer locked up? Or will Lucifer be free to rain hell on Purgatory?
So when I requested this book, I had no idea it was part of a series. This has happened to me quite a few times now, netgalley really needs to put something into series linked books so that the readers know! I'll admit after it happened twice, I began looking up the books I was requesting on goodreads, 1. to find out if they're part of a series, and if so are they the first book and 2. to find out more about the title itself, the average score out of five as well as the length of the book. I've had the displeasure of accidentally requesting books that are over the 600 page mark, and while the length doesn't bother me, I feel like it'd take me longer than I'd like to be able to get through the story and be prompt at getting the feedback in. So yes, I had no idea this book was part of an already established series, so I haven't actually read any of the other books. This was my first book by Christina Bauer, and my first book in the Angelbound series. While I've obviously missed out on a lot of back story, I didn't feel that this impacted my ability to enjoy and understand what was going on in the story.
The pace was quick, and it made for a light and easy read, which was nice. The writing style I incredibly enjoyed. I love how sarcastic, quick witted and just all around sassy Myla is. Bauer has fun with her characters and you can tell, I find that it really makes a story more personable if the writing isn't 'polished' and proper, I guess you'd say. The banter and sass just added an extra layer to this story that I think was absolutely brilliant and was probably the main reason it dragged me in so easily.
The characters were likable and relatable. Myla is just a chick trying to do her best for her son, herself and her husband (and the rest of her family of course) she's trying to adjust to life as the Scala Mother and Queen, and just get to be herself. I absolutely love the little extra personality that Bauer gave Myla's tail. I can honestly say that the tail was my favourite character. I love that it acts independently of Myla, and actually HAS a personality of it's own. It's like a faithful pet and I absolutely love it, it makes me a little giddy I have to say. Lincoln goes alright, he's her husband, father to her child and her King (see Consort for those that worship her), I found his character to be sort of background to everything else. This is probably because I haven't read any of the other books, so I don't have the feel of him at all, this was my first introduction to all of the characters, so I can understand if I totally have things wrong about them. I found the addition of Happy, Jamie, and Obsidian really cool as well. And who doesn't love an all powerful Archangel who has no idea if nappy rash is fatal. I just honestly can't get enough of how personable Christina has made all her characters and their interactions. Nothings super broody, or drama filled, I mean don't get me wrong, there's a lot of drama happening and shit is absolutely going down, but the characters are all pining and whining over how unfair everything is and how devastated they will be when the thing they fail to stop comes to fruition and blah blah blah, cry me a river. Bauer has not written her characters or story like this at all, she has made you feel for the characters, she has the characters worrying about everything of course, but they're not breaking down and having inner monologues about how terrible everything is. These characters worry while they're getting shit done, and if that doesn't make for strong characters then I don't know what does.
The story itself was good, I love that there was the added stress of the countdown to think about, as well as Myla never actually having a gameplan before something happens, she just wings it (a woman after my own heart). I hadn't a clue who the Viper was so that reveal was great, as well as how it was done. I almost feel like the ending was a bit too easy, but as I said previously, I haven't read any of the other books in this series, so I don't know if the characters are OP or that's just how powerful they really are. I also love that the world it's set in is purgatory, not surface Earth, that was a nice change.
All in all, a satisfying urban fantasy read which likable characters and a decent enough story line. I'll be interested to check out other books in this series for sure.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Monster House Books LLC, and the author via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating of 3.5
Myla is now the Scala Mother, Queen of the Thrax, and has her baby Maxon and her husband Lincoln by her side. While appearing on Good Morning Purgatory, she is ambushed by the host as to what she is planning to do about the Viper attacks that have been reported. Leaving the show rather abruptly, she heads off to find out what exactly is going on, as her honorary brother was the one that gave the tip off of the recent Viper attack. Once she finds Walker, she finds out that he is in a bit of a pickle, the Viper is trying to free Lucifer, they've already found his cage and poisoned the guard, Walker knows how to help so has given Myla a watch, if it shows the time everything is fine, but if a countdown begins, something's gone wrong and he needs her to finish the job. So it's a race against the literal clock as the countdown starts and Myla and Co have no idea what exactly what is going on. Will they be able to beat the countdown, save the guard, Walker and keep Lucifer locked up? Or will Lucifer be free to rain hell on Purgatory?
So when I requested this book, I had no idea it was part of a series. This has happened to me quite a few times now, netgalley really needs to put something into series linked books so that the readers know! I'll admit after it happened twice, I began looking up the books I was requesting on goodreads, 1. to find out if they're part of a series, and if so are they the first book and 2. to find out more about the title itself, the average score out of five as well as the length of the book. I've had the displeasure of accidentally requesting books that are over the 600 page mark, and while the length doesn't bother me, I feel like it'd take me longer than I'd like to be able to get through the story and be prompt at getting the feedback in. So yes, I had no idea this book was part of an already established series, so I haven't actually read any of the other books. This was my first book by Christina Bauer, and my first book in the Angelbound series. While I've obviously missed out on a lot of back story, I didn't feel that this impacted my ability to enjoy and understand what was going on in the story.
The pace was quick, and it made for a light and easy read, which was nice. The writing style I incredibly enjoyed. I love how sarcastic, quick witted and just all around sassy Myla is. Bauer has fun with her characters and you can tell, I find that it really makes a story more personable if the writing isn't 'polished' and proper, I guess you'd say. The banter and sass just added an extra layer to this story that I think was absolutely brilliant and was probably the main reason it dragged me in so easily.
The characters were likable and relatable. Myla is just a chick trying to do her best for her son, herself and her husband (and the rest of her family of course) she's trying to adjust to life as the Scala Mother and Queen, and just get to be herself. I absolutely love the little extra personality that Bauer gave Myla's tail. I can honestly say that the tail was my favourite character. I love that it acts independently of Myla, and actually HAS a personality of it's own. It's like a faithful pet and I absolutely love it, it makes me a little giddy I have to say. Lincoln goes alright, he's her husband, father to her child and her King (see Consort for those that worship her), I found his character to be sort of background to everything else. This is probably because I haven't read any of the other books, so I don't have the feel of him at all, this was my first introduction to all of the characters, so I can understand if I totally have things wrong about them. I found the addition of Happy, Jamie, and Obsidian really cool as well. And who doesn't love an all powerful Archangel who has no idea if nappy rash is fatal. I just honestly can't get enough of how personable Christina has made all her characters and their interactions. Nothings super broody, or drama filled, I mean don't get me wrong, there's a lot of drama happening and shit is absolutely going down, but the characters are all pining and whining over how unfair everything is and how devastated they will be when the thing they fail to stop comes to fruition and blah blah blah, cry me a river. Bauer has not written her characters or story like this at all, she has made you feel for the characters, she has the characters worrying about everything of course, but they're not breaking down and having inner monologues about how terrible everything is. These characters worry while they're getting shit done, and if that doesn't make for strong characters then I don't know what does.
The story itself was good, I love that there was the added stress of the countdown to think about, as well as Myla never actually having a gameplan before something happens, she just wings it (a woman after my own heart). I hadn't a clue who the Viper was so that reveal was great, as well as how it was done. I almost feel like the ending was a bit too easy, but as I said previously, I haven't read any of the other books in this series, so I don't know if the characters are OP or that's just how powerful they really are. I also love that the world it's set in is purgatory, not surface Earth, that was a nice change.
All in all, a satisfying urban fantasy read which likable characters and a decent enough story line. I'll be interested to check out other books in this series for sure.