Wednesday 21 May 2014

Book Review: The Dark World by Cara Lynn Schultz

Title: The Dark World (The Dark World # 1)
Author: Cara Lynn Schultz
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: 1 June 2014
Pages: 353
Format: Paperback
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: ARC via Publisher


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373211201/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0373211201&linkCode=as2&tag=nijma-20&linkId=IDAGJU2ZLJ6DGIPE



Paige Kelly is used to weird--in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn't fazed by Paige's propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she'll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that's overrun by demons-and she might never make it home. (Goodreads Synopsis)



The Dark World has an interesting storyline but failed to 100% deliver for me. I felt that too much time was spent on highly stereotypical characters doing the same things such characters have done in a million other books and not enough time was given to world building. The sudden and all consuming love between the leads didn't ring true for me and at times teenage whining seemed to take over the story.

That said, the premise is good and the writing style fine, and since this is the first book in the series, we may find out more about the world and have further development in the second instalment.

I do also have reservations about the cover of the Australian edition which really has nothing at all to do with the story and gives a misleading representation of what the story will be about. I think the US cover fits the book much better and something similar would have been the way to go for the Australian release. It needs something that says YA urban fantasy, whereas this says YA fairy story.


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