Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers Pages: 512
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on February 5, 2019
Series: Courting Darkness Duology #1
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy & Magic
Death wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning…
Sybella has always been the darkest of Death’s daughters, trained at the convent of Saint Mortain to serve as his justice. But she has a new mission now. In a desperate bid to keep her two youngest sisters safe from the family that nearly destroyed them all, she agrees to accompany the duchess to France, where they quickly find themselves surrounded by enemies. Their one ray of hope is Sybella’s fellow novitiates, disguised and hidden deep in the French court years ago by the convent—provided Sybella can find them.
Genevieve has been undercover for so many years, she struggles to remember who she is or what she’s supposed to be fighting for. Her only solace is a hidden prisoner who appears all but forgotten by his guards. When tragedy strikes, she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands—even if it means ignoring the long awaited orders from the convent.
As Sybella and Gen’s paths draw ever closer, the fate of everything they hold sacred rests on a knife’s edge. Will they find each other in time, or will their worlds collide, destroying everything they care about?
Courting Darkness is the first book in the young adult fantasy Courting Darkness Duology by author Robin LaFevers. The Courting Darkness duology is a spin off the young adult His Fair Assassin Trilogy. That trilogy has shamefully been on my to be read pile for years! I have all of the books just sitting on my shelves mocking me for not reading them. Luckily, this is a spin off series and doesn’t need to be read after the original trilogy, but I am totally kicking myself for never reading the trilogy because Courting Darkness was so good! I loved it so much, and now I am bumping up the His Fair Assassin trilogy to the very top of my TBR.
In Courting Darkness, our main character is Sybella, who is also one of the main characters from the His Fair Assassin trilogy. I loved the way Robin LaFevers tells a story. She doesn’t just tell, she weaves a tale. Her writing is atmospheric and dark and totally delicious. The other main character in this book was Genevieve. While I was immediately drawn to Sybella, it took me longer to warm up to Genevieve. I ended up really liking her, and I hope we get to see a lot more of her in the next book as well.
I am a huge fan of duologies. I love that they feel like a really long standalone, but you don’t have to wait forever for the series to be complete. It is always so hard for me to read all the books in a series, because it takes years for me to keep up with them and wait for them all to be releases.
I think If I were going to go back and do it again, I would read His Fair assassin series first. I would recommend that if you have the option, because even though it isn’t strictly required, I do think it helps to give you context on the characters and the world. This was my first time meeting Sybella. Now I am even more excited to go back and to read her story in the original trilogy. Robin LaFevers does such a great job at keeping the reader guessing. Courting Darkness was a book that kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire novel. I loved the dark vibe of the book. This will be perfect for fans of dark fantasies.
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Congrats on the release! I love the character art!