Stalking Darkness

by Lynn Flewelling

Reviewed by Ruby

Picking up right where Luck in the Shadows left off, Stalking Darkness answers the questions raised by the first book about the strange disks and why Nysander refuses to talk about them.

With war brewing Seregil and Alec find themselves on the trail of a saboteur in league with their enemies. To make matters worse their friend, Beka Cavish, has ridden off to war; Seregil had found himself falling in love with Alec, but not daring to tell him in fear of ruining their friendship; and old enemies have tracked them down.

Rhìminee is attacked and Alec kidnapped and tortured by Mardus and Vargûl Ashazai. Seregil and the others must rush into the lands of their foes to save not only him, but the rest of the world.

The best part of this book is the villain. So many times I have found myself ridiculing the villains because they are doing evil things for the sake of doing evil things. Not in this book. Mardus is goal-orientated, intelligent and completely psychotic: all the qualities that make a good antagonist.

Now before you finish this book, make sure you have the third one ready at your side or else you'll regret it. This book is defiantly a must read.

Grade: A

Reviewed by Coral

Oh, Ruby's not going to like what I have to say about this book.

I enjoyed it, even if I felt it suffered from the same pacing problem as the first book; still too many stretches where it seemed like nothing was happening and where the plot wasn't moving forward at all.

The other issue I had with it was Seregil and Alec's relationship. My sister told me enough of the series before she convinced me to read them, so I already knew they would be getting together. Still, for me, I thought it kind of came from nowhere. There were a few places where Alec was thinking about it, but I feel it could have been fleshed out more.

Grade: B