Book Review: Token of Darkness

[osprey_archer]

Yesterday I borrowed Amelia Atwater-Rhodes’ newest book, Token of Darkness, and gobbled it up. (Her books are svelte. I think there’s an untapped market for shorter books.)

I adore Samantha, the ghost girl who prances onto the page with teal-streaked hair and a green-and-orange peasant blouse. But none of the other characters are as vivid. Cooper and Brent, for instance, are distinguishable by circumstance rather than by character, and the sorceress in training, Delilah, falls particularly flat. She seems like an attempt at a multi-layered character, but her layers never cohere into a whole, so she’s contradictory rather than complicated.

Similarly, the plot and setting feel sloppily constructed. A coincidence kicks the story off, another coincidence wraps it up, and the magic that drives it in between seems to be made up on the fly. This book seems to take place in a different universe than her others – magic, but no vampires – and the setting doesn’t feel as lived in as that of the Den of Shadows books.

The setting may be rickety, but the atmosphere is topnotch. The book builds a thick, foggy atmosphere of confusion and fear and forboding. It is this atmosphere that makes it, despite its flaws, a compulsive read: it feels like something terrible might happen, like Samantha really might be evil, and because she’s so wonderful you rush onward to see whether or not she is.

A fun quick read, but not Atwater-Rhodes’ best.

***

I have a weakness for Amelia Atwater-Rhodes books. She wrote vampire angst/romance before it was cool, and her books are a peculiar yet appealing mixture of sappy love story and angst dialed up to eleven on the “awesomely melodramatic” scale.

Atwater-Rhodes’ characters have “I find myself falling in love with a vampire, even though I’ve been taught since birth to hate vampires, because I am a member of a vampire-slaying clan of witches! And my mother and sister will kill me with their own hands when they find out!” angst.

I eat this stuff up like candy.

And she has a sequel to Shattered Mirror, which is my favorite favorite book of hers, coming out in January! I love everything about that book. (It’s the one with the plot synopsis above.) I love Sarah and her relationship with her sister Adiana, and the vampire Nicholas who is the love interest but completely unlike a vampire love interest is supposed to be. He’s sweet and harmless, like a puppy, and also such a weak vampire that his witch girlfriend can totally kick his ass.

He has a badass twin brother, though. I live in fear that in the sequel, the brother will reform and then Sarah will fall for him. DON’T DO IT, SARAH!

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Isn't Amelia Atwater-Rhodes pretty young? (By which I mean, like, your age or so?) I seem to recall a friend of my daughters who got to be friends with her through Deviant Art or something like that.... I didn't realize she was so successful!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

IIRC she's three or four years older than me, and published her first book at thirteen. (That's actually why I started reading her. I felt I should support fellow child writers.)

She's certainly not Twilight successful, but she's got about ten books published so she's doing pretty well.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Your reading her *completely* validates her in my eyes. I just kind of dismissed her when this friend of my daughter talked about her (and now I'm thinking I should reassess why I did that...).

That's awesome! I'm glad she's doing well!

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

So, here's the thing...I know that my baby sister has fine taste in literature and is a way better judge of character than I've ever been, but Amy has always just kind of been Lois' bratty friend in my eyes. Props to her for being the way that my sister and her since-forever-boyfriend met, I guess.

I've never even read one of her books. I should be ashamed.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Wait wait. Your little sister knows Amelia Atwater-Rhodes?????? SO COOL!!!!!!

If you wish to remedy the fact that you've never read one of her books, I recommend Shattered Mirror; I think it would warm the fangirly cockles of your heart. The ANGST! The ROMANCE! The CUTE ANGSTY BOYS! (There are also CUTE ANGSTY GIRLS. Cuteness and angst for everyone!)

Her other books are of varying quality, but I am willing to discuss with you AT GREAT LENGTH which you might like.

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

haha yeah, my littlest sister and her now boyfriend were the original webmasters of the Den of Shadows site...somewhere along the line, Amy made it official. She did this whole thing where she spoke at the local middle school and was all, "and no one believes I know Marvin [my brother]...hey, Marvin!"

It was pretty cool, actually. I don't think they're friends anymore or anything, but there you go.

I guess I will have to read something by her now.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

You're looking for a book to read anyway, right?

Tell me what you think!

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

I read the first chapter last night.

It reads like the kind of fanfic I reject before I even get to the plot. I'm going to persevere anyway. I'll let you know when I finish it in, like, two months.