It's release day for Leanna Renee Hieber's new book, "The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker"!!! The sequel to the infamous "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker." Go out and get yourself a copy! Of both, of course, because you'll love them, I'm sure.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher, Dorchester Publishing, in exchange for a review. No money or anything else was given to me for a review.
Type: Historical Fantasy/ Romance
From the back of the book: " With radiant, snow-white skin and hair, Percy Parker was a beacon for Fate. True love had found her, in the tempestuous form of Professor Alexi Rychman. But her mythic destiny was not complete. Accompanying the ghosts with which she alone could converse, new and terrifying omens loomed. A war was coming, a desperate ploy of a spectral host. Victorian London would be overrun.
Yet, Percy kept faith. Within the mighty bastion of Athens Academy, alongside The Guard whose magic shielded mortals from the agents of the Underworld, she counted herself among friends. Wreathed in hallowed fire, they would stand together, no matter what dreams - or nightmares - might come. "
So, I rather assume this is the end of this series, and I'm really sad to see it go. I think so much could be done with these characters, and with the world The Guard lives in. Though the back of the book mentions that Rebecca and Michael, two of the Guard, are featured in "A Midwinter Fantasy" coming in October, though I'm not sure if this is an anthology, or what.
That said... oh my gosh, did this book frustrate me! I felt like through the entire first part of the book, I was waiting for something to happen. And yes, things did happen, mostly character-wise. But I wanted fighting, I wanted action. I wanted all that The Guard was worrying about to come to fruition. And finally, closer to the end of the book, it did. And now that I've finished it, I'm almost glad for that waiting period. Putting myself in these characters' shoes, I have to think of how they feel. They know a great battle is coming, they're not sure when, but they have to keep dealing with the little things. Being frustrated with things not happening quickly enough for me, made me understand how frustrated the characters must be knowing they will be fighting for their lives and everyone else's, but they don't know when, what will happen, or how it will go.
And oh boy, once the fighting and action does start, it doesn't stop. The whole first half of the book was basically the calm before the storm, and the storm hit HARD. How The Darkness looked... I just have to say, that is fascinating to think about. And the final battle between The Darkness and The Guard, all of them, whew. Mesmerizing, fantastic, and maybe even a little epic.
The only fault I could possibly find with this book was the epilogue. I wished things hadn't been cleaned up so easily. I would have rather had some mystery left in the characters' lives. It was too neat and tidy. I had a similar issue with the epilogue for the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. A powerful series is, at least for me, complimented with a very loosely wrapped up ending. I like enough space to create my own ending for the characters, but I'd still like to know if they're okay.
All that said, I'm giving "The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker" by Leanna Renee Hieber a FOUR POINT FIVE out of FIVE. While I can understand the need for the slightly slow pacing in the beginning, and holding off most of the real action until later, I still would have liked to see more action in the beginning half, to push the story further along.
Please, check out "The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker" by Leanna Renee Hieber, and of course, "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker" if you haven't already!
Happy Reading!
~!~ Morning Glow
