Alison Goodman’s ‘The Dark Days Club’ has kicked up a storm of supporting fans, while kicking a lot of demon butt inside its pages.
Set in Regency London, Lady Helen is the kind of character you (not so secretly) wished Jane Austen could have written. It would have made English Literature lessons a whole lot more exciting, that’s for sure.
We’re pretty stoked about this series. But hell, don’t just take our word for it. Yet again we have been traipsing through the interwebs to find out what YOU think. Does it totally kill it?
This time we’re relying on Alisha from Reality’s A Bore and Nafiza from The Book Wars to persuade you over to the dark side of 1800s London.
To start with, and quite importantly, Nafiza says that “the wonderful thing about this book is how well researched it is. Goodman brings the Regency England to life in the pages of this book.” Taking on a historical setting could be tricky but she assures us that “there is a flow to the incorporation of research material into the narrative that’s natural. There are no instances of info dumping.” So there’s no risk of feeling dazed and confused.
Similarly, Alisha points out that “the lore of the demons in the book and the mythology surrounding the Reclaimers is rich and detailed and very well explained, as well as astoundingly original.” And that “you come away from the book feeling like you really did enter the world” and it “is so fascinating that you’re gripped and eager to learn more.”
What about our main character, Lady Helen? Did she win readers over? Alisha says “you get such a sense of her as a person just from one chapter, and I immediately loved her, and was on her side.”
As for secondary characters, Nafiza says “Carlston is an interesting character…He is cynical, jaded, and his motives are not at all pure. He is still very much an ambiguous character at the end of book one and that is fine with me.”
Alisha picks up on the same shady vibes: “I actually really loved his character…He was a bit tough to crack in the beginning, he was cold and rude, but as Helen gets to know him you see more and more of what he’s really like as well as why he is the way he is and he’s kinda perfect.”
Is it love? Well, maybe not yet. Alisha was relieved to find no traces of insta-love here. But, “the pair have some definite chemistry that becomes more and more apparent, and it leaps off the page.”
So, to wrap up, Nafiza: “The first time you read it for the entertainment, then again to figure out the details and complexities you might have missed the first time around and then again to enjoy the construction of the characters and the layered narrative.”
And Alisha? “The book has everything you could want, rich mythology, manners, romance, a fantastic female lead, lively characters, vivid settings, astounding historical accuracy, originality, heart stopping fight scenes, cool gadgets and a perfectly building romance with plenty of cute moments to keep you going!”
Have you read ‘The Dark Days Club’ yet? Let us know what you thought @maximumpopbooks
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