Darkness Falls by Cate Tiernan

I found the first book in this trilogy, Immortal Beloved, at my local bookstore at the start of last summer. It was one of those books where the cover was just so gorgeous that I snapped it up without ever looking at the back of the book! That turned out to be ok, though, as I adored Immortal Beloved and it ranks among my favourite reads of 2011.

So I knew I wanted this one, the sequel, as soon as possible and though I started with the good intention of waiting until the paperback version was released, I very quickly gave up on that idea because I needed more! There were two options for the pre-order: hardback or large paperback. I went for the paperback but then the publisher didn’t make that version available! Nooooo! Thankfully I was able to get the hardback at no extra cost.

As soon as it was delivered I had my nose in it and I didn’t pull it out again until I’d reached the last page.

Information:

Title: Darkness Falls

Author: Cate Tiernan

Series: Immortal Beloved #2

Publisher:

Target Audience: YA

Genre: Urban fantasy

Length: 398 pages

Story: You can run from your past, but it will always catch up.

Nastasya has lived for hundreds of years, but for some reason it never seems to get any easier. She's left behind her days of debauchery to find peace and forgiveness at River's Edge, a safe haven for wayward immortals. There she's uncovered her family's epic history, reclaimed her magickal powers, and met Reyn, whom she dubs "the Viking god. " Just as she settles into her new life, Nastasya learns that her old friends might be in town....

Reuniting with her gorgeous and dangerous ex-best-friend, Innocencio, Nas wonders if she'll ever be truly free of her dark legacy. Is Incy dangerous, power-hungry, and wicked? Or is he the only one who truly understands Nas's darkness? Either way, Nas is desperate to find out who she really is-even if the answer kills her.

Thoughts and impressions:Immortal Beloved was one of the books that I read while in France last summer. I left it with my mum for her to read but I wish I hadn’t now. She didn’t read it anyway and I would really have liked to have reread it before going into this one. This first book caught me up, took me on one hell of a rollercoaster ride and left me in awe. Everything about Nastasya had me intrigued, always wanting to know more, to understand things better.

As soon as Darkness Falls was delivered to my door, I had my nose in the book. It was one of my most awaited books of 2012… and it did not disappoint!

Things pick up shortly after they ended in Immortal Beloved. Nat is still confused about life, the universe and everything. She’s constantly having to re-evaluate things she thought she knew to fit with the world view she is acquiring staying at River’s. She’s also battling her attraction to Reyn – their past is intertwined in a way that should leave them enemies, not lovers. The reader realises that Reyn is the Viking warrior that this Icelandic princess needs, though! Their relationship does undergo a transformation in this book but there are still many promises for what is to come in the final novel in the trilogy. I absolutely adored the interaction between Reyn and Incy towards the end of the book and what such reactions reveal about Reyn as a character!

Speaking of Incy, he completely fascinated me in in the first book. Everything about him was an enigma that I simultaneously wanted to unravel and leave intact so I could wonder him from afar. He does cme into things in this book and as his enigma unravels a bit, more questions are posed. The final showdown reaches epic proportions. Is it morbid of me that I’m rather hoping that he’ll figure in the next book and that both he and Nat will have to confront the repercussions of his actions as well as the irrevocable damage they did to a hundred years of friendship? I want to see how they would react to the other’s presence when she has to face the man behind the monster and he has to stand before the friend he so badly wronged.

But more importantly, it is through Incy that we are introduced to the portents of what is still to come in the final novel. Incy had some seriously dark magics at his disposal and to think that he was merely the student means that we may only have touched the tip of this particular iceberg.

Once again, Nat has to battle her own worst enemy: herself. She runs and hides from things she doesn’t want to face, like her attraction to Reyn or Incy running the show for her, or she steps in and does more damage than good, like at the store. On top of that, things keep going wrong for her and she’s soon convinced that she is the bane of everyone’s existence as well as her own. This, interspersed with recollections from various periods of her past, makes her a very complicated character who struggles to grow. In fact, she regresses for a time before she’s able to take two steps forward from her one step back.

Everything is put in place for a wonderful, thrilling conclusion. If only I didn’t have to wait until January for its release!

Style: The book is written in a very colloquial, chatty style. I don’t always like this particular sort of style but it works really well here!

Final verdict: I loved it! I want to know what happens next. Is it January 2013 yet? 5 stars

Extra notes: A fair amount of bad language is present. Sex is not.