Review: Fire in the Darkness (Darkness #2) by Stacey Marie Brown

Title: Fire in the Darkness

Series: Darkness #2
Author: Stacey Marie Brown
Publisher: Twisted Fairy Publishing
Published: August 31, 2013
Pages: 408
Genres: New Adult, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Source: Ebook
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It's been four weeks since Ember Brycin witnessed what her powers are capable of. The Electrical Current Storm has turned Seattle, Washington into a natural disaster zone. The death toll is in the thousands with countless others homeless and hungry.

And Ember is the one who caused it. Something she will have to live with every day.

Those people who were unable to escape either turned quickly into gangs or live in shelters. Ember, on the other hand, can’t do either. With a price on her head and a Dark Dweller on her ass, she is constantly on the move. Both Light and Dark are hunting her for their own purpose to use her as a weapon or a pawn in the war between the Unseelie King of the Dark and the Seelie Queen of the Light.

Em needs help but doesn’t know who to trust: Lars, the mystery man Torin told her to find? Torin, the Seelie Queen’s personal knight, who has sworn to keep Em safe? Or Eli, who wants to turn her over to the Unseelie King, but whom she has an undeniable, intense connection with?

No matter what she chooses she will probably lose—her life or everything and everyone she loves.

Goodreads / Amazon

MY REVIEW

DISCLAIMER: This review MAY contain spoilers. 

Stacey Marie Brown really upped her game with the second book in the Darkness series. I'm pretty impressed with how much better it was than the first book. I really enjoyed the first book, but there were a few things that I felt needed refinement. Most of those things were definitely improved in this book.

The flow of the story is much better in this book. I felt that the first book dragged in the middle a bit, but this one didn't suffer at all in that respect. Everything was spaced out very nicely. I liked the plotting much better in this book. The story is engaging, intriguing, and will keep you wanting to read more. You will absolutely want to know what is going to happen next. The plot really does thicken and get so much better.

I liked the world building much more in this book as well. The first book felt more like a contemporary to me since the paranormal aspects were hidden from the main character for most of the book. This book changed that. We get to see the Otherworld in addition to Earth in this book. I really liked the distinctions between the worlds in the writing. 

I loved the addition of new characters in this book. I adore all of the side characters and how they become family to Ember, the main character. Both the Dark Dwellers and the Unseelie King's household become family to her and I liked the way it progressed. I still thought that Ember's character had some annoying traits, but I still like her. She can be a little presumptuous and mouthy, not letting anyone get a word in. This is perhaps a legitimate character flaw that is supposed to bring something to the story, but I found it cringeworthy to read about. I kept yelling at her in my head when she flew off the handle without giving letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. 

I am still on board for the hate-to-love trope being played out in the romance between Ember and Eli. I did feel like their coming together wasn't entirely convincing in the first book, and I still feel that way. It happened too quickly for my liking. But I enjoy their romance as a whole even if it didn't come together in the best way. Ember and Eli are still angsty with each other, though I didn't get the unhealthy "domestic abuse" feel from it in this book like I did in Darkness of Light. I do enjoy their snappy and aggressive banter. It is greatly entertaining. Deep down it shows that the characters are in love, even if they fight it for their own reasons. I have no doubt that their romance will get even heavier in the rest of the series. I am also enjoying the "love triangle/not a love triangle" thing going on with Torin. Torin is in love with Ember and she cares for him, but she has never claimed to love him in the same way. I loved the dreamscape scenes when Ember would pull Torin, Eli, and herself into them. The jealousy was tantalizing. And honestly, any time there is more than one option on the table for romance it makes things way more interesting. 

The only thing that I remotely disliked in this book was that there were way too many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. It needed a serious overload of editing, but the writing is solid and the story is golden.

Overall, I am so glad that I decided to continue this series. I have no doubt that this series will end up being one of my favorites. I already adore it and I'm not even halfway through it. If you are a paranormal romance or urban fantasy fan then you should try this series!

Check out my reviews for the other books in this series!

Darkness of Light (Darkness #1)

Find my review here.

The first book in this series was really good but this book was ten times better. Which series books have you read that have wowed you from one book to the next? What books have you added to your TBR lately?