Review: Darkfall

Title: Darkfall
Author: Janice Hardy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Page Count: 432 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 5/5 Stars
Check out my interview with the author HERE

Description:

War has come.

Nya’s the one who brought it. And the people love her for it.

With Baseer in shambles and Geveg now an impenetrable military stronghold, Nya and the Underground have fled to a safer location—without Tali. Nya is guilt-ridden over leaving her sister behind and vows to find her, but with the rebellion in full swing and refugees flooding the Three Territories, she fears she never will.

The Duke, desperate to reclaim the throne as his own, has rallied his powerful army. And they are on the move, destroying anyone who gets in the way.

To save her sister, her family, and her people, Nya needs to stay ahead of the Duke’s army and find a way to build one of her own. Past hurts must be healed, past wrongs must be righted, and Nya must decide: Is she merely a pawn in the rebellion, a symbol of hope—or is she ready to be a hero?

Review:

I will do my best to keep this spoiler free, so don’t worry if you haven’t read it yet.

Ah, the bittersweetness of ending a fantastic series. The final installment did not disappoint, and it had all the aspects of the other books that I enjoyed so well. There is the strong heroine first of all, and the well developed minor characters, the unique setting – I absolutely love the idea of a fantasy set in a tropical environment, and the whole moral aspect of the book where the Nya has to constantly make choices about how she should and should not use her unique powers.

I will say, that if you haven’t read the other books The Shifter and Blue Fire first, you should. The author goes back to re-explain some things, but I think someone who doesn’t already know the story would be very lost.

I loved the different twists and turns the plot had in the book, it was exciting and engaging, but didn’t feel forced, which is something that I’ve run into lately.

The great thing about this book is that it can be compared to other YA novels that are out there, but Janice Hardy always puts her own spin on things. Because, yes, Nya could be compared to Katniss very easily, and Tali to Prim, but they really are unique and altogether different though they share certain similarities (that wasn’t a spoiler by the way, those similarities could be gleaned from previous books as well). Plus, I like reading characters that in some ways resemble each other and see how different authors approach things – which segues me to my next topic: Danello.

What a breath of fresh air he is. After all the dark, mysterious, self-loathing, disturbed, picture perfect Abercrombie model love interests that have popped up on the YA scene lately, I can not tell you how great it is to have a down-to-earth, steady eddy fictional boy-friend for once. Not that I hate ALL characters who fit the former description, I do have my exceptions *cough* Jace *cough* I’m just saying it gets old after a while and it’s nice to have variety.

In conclusion, this series is great if you haven’t read it I highly recommend that you do. Yes, I can hear your groaning as you look and the looming mountain on your bedstand/GoodReads account that is your TBR pile, but seriously, it’s worth it.