Drive Back the Darkness by Amy Newman
A kingdom shrouded in darkness. One girl who can save it all.
On her sixteenth birthday, Ellie Lyons discovers her entire life has been a lie. Kidnapped, she finds herself in a strange kingdom—Alladon—a kingdom she was born to rule, ruled already by those who would see her dead. The children have been imprisoned, caged and awaiting a fate Ellie can only imagine, and only she can save them. But to do so, she must master the skills of a warrior and learn to contain the magic that roars through her veins and burns everything she touches.
But when Morfan, the king’s advisor, sends an assassin to kill her, Ellie finds herself falling for the dark, dangerous Devin. Though she knows her life is at stake, but she can’t seem to stay away from him, even as her feelings become strong enough to scare her, and strong enough to disturb Vance, Devin’s second. Vance is the opposite of Devin—blonde, charming, seductive. But his heart holds a kernel of something darker, something that makes him dangerously unstable, especially once he realizes he has feelings for Ellie that Ellie doesn’t share…
Ellie wasn’t my favorite character at first. I thought she was very impulsive and it didn’t seem like she thought before she spoke. Not to be totally rude but she did a few things that made her seem like an idiot. But she realized her mistakes pretty early on and she actually did something about it. That was so great! Once this happened, I adored her. I thought she was determined and fiesty. In a land where magic is normal and everyone grows up around it, Ellie was super out of place by not knowing how to do any magic. Which is so ironic considering how powerful she is. But I enjoyed her magic lessons and watching her learn and grow throughout the journey.
I liked Ellie’s group of friends. They were a random group for sure, but they worked really well together. I liked the love interest between Devin and Ellie, but I would have liked to see them get to know each other a little bit more. It was a bit of insta love, which doesn’t bother me too much as a reader because they did have a pretty powerful connection- but I do know that a lot of other readers really don’t care for insta-love. I also wanted to see some more of his friend, (insert friend’s name). I thought I saw some genuine moments when he was around Ellie and I would have really liked to see that explored more. I hope it happens in the next book because I have a soft spot for him.
There is a huge theme of good v. evil in Drive Back the Darkness. There is a corrupt and evil ruler, but everyone seems to either be under his influence or way too scared of him. For most of the book I was pretty skeptical that Ellie and her rag tag group of friends were going to be able to do anything. But then they got to the palace and city and everything changed. There were quite a few twists and turns throughout the story and I thought they were perfectly placed. About 3/4 of the way through the book I got super excited to find out what would happen. Drive Back the Darkness is a book that builds. It gets better and better as it goes on.
The writing is good and the world is pretty awesome. Every time I learned about a new group of people or animals I got a little more excited. I love seeing a fantasy world pieced together for the first time. More of the focus was on world building in this book than on character details, so I do hope in the next book it focuses a little more on character relationship and development. Other than that though, Drive Back the Darkness is really good and book 2 has so much potential! I can’t wait.
3.5/ 5 gavels |
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