NICOLE'S REVIEW: The Dark Light by Sara Walsh

Title: The Dark Light
Author: Sara Walsh
Format Acquired: Hardcover

Publication Date: August 28 2012

Publishing House: Simon Pulse

ISBN: 9781442434554
Source of Copy: Fully Booked

Summary:

Mysterious lights have flickered above Crownsville for as long as Mia can remember. And as far as she's concerned, that's about the only interesting thing to happen in her small town.

That is, until Sol arrives. Mia's not one to fall for just any guy, but she can't get intense Sol - or the brilliant tattoo on his back - out of her mind.

Then Mia's brother goes missing. Mia's convinced that Sol knows more than he's sharing. But getting close to Sol mean reevaluating everything she once believed to be true. Because Sol's not who Mia thought he was - and neither is she.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

Strange lights flicker over Mia's town and she's somehow convinced that they're related to the missing boys. Then Sol appears, he's the new guy in town with a strange tattoo on his back. The same tattoo that her brother has. When her brother goes missing, Mia's pretty sure Sol's got something to do with it, or at least has an inkling of the strange disappearances. She's now determined to do whatever it takes to bring her brother back home, like stepping into those strange flickering lights.

Speaking of strange lights - those lights send whoever calls them into another world that overlaps with ours. Its got magic and demons and other supernatural things that go bump in the night. This is the world that Mia enters when she steps into the light, right smack in the middle of an ongoing war between this evil magician and the king of their realm.

Mia is an unremarkable character. She's not very interesting and can be annoying sometimes. Running into the middle of things without any idea what she's doing? Yeah, that's a sure way to get yourself hurt. I mean she's obviously incapable of protecting herself in light of the fact that she can't wield weapons and has no fighting skills to speak of and she wants to siege the enemy castle/base? Right. I wasn't very fond of the way she pined after Sol too, I mean yes he's a pretty boy but that's just about all I got from him. I mean he's a warrior, he's part of a rebellion to overthrow an evil sorcerer and all but aside from that... Nothing. He's not very swoon-worthy.

Why didn't I enjoy the book? It's boring. And the characters didn't help either. There was too much information crammed into the story. So much was happening all at the same time and I'm not exactly sure why, or how, but the story was extremely slow paced despite all the things going on. 

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