By Kelly Bridgewater
Synopsis:
The Darkwater Claims All Who Enter It.
All But One.
When one man is brutally murdered and the priest he works for mortally wounded, Willet Dura, reeve to the king of Bunard, is called to investigate. As he begins to question the dying priest, the man pulls Willet close and screams in a foreign tongue. Then he dies without another word.
Willet returns to his task, but the clues to the crime lead to contradictions and questions without answers, and his senses are skewed. People he touches appear to have a subtle shift, as though he can divine their deepest thoughts. In a world divided between haves and have-nots, gifted and common, Willet soon learns he's been passed the rarest gift of all--a gift that's not supposed to exist.
Now Willet must pursue the murderer still on the loose in Bunard even as he's pulled into a dangerous conflict that threatens not only his city, but his entire world--a conflict that will force him to come to terms with his inability to remember how he escaped the Darkwater Forest--and what happened to him inside it.
When one man is brutally murdered and the priest he works for mortally wounded, Willet Dura, reeve to the king of Bunard, is called to investigate. As he begins to question the dying priest, the man pulls Willet close and screams in a foreign tongue. Then he dies without another word.
Willet returns to his task, but the clues to the crime lead to contradictions and questions without answers, and his senses are skewed. People he touches appear to have a subtle shift, as though he can divine their deepest thoughts. In a world divided between haves and have-nots, gifted and common, Willet soon learns he's been passed the rarest gift of all--a gift that's not supposed to exist.
Now Willet must pursue the murderer still on the loose in Bunard even as he's pulled into a dangerous conflict that threatens not only his city, but his entire world--a conflict that will force him to come to terms with his inability to remember how he escaped the Darkwater Forest--and what happened to him inside it.
 |
| From Amazon |
My
Thoughts:
I have read the first series by Patrick Carr, The
Staff and the Sword, and I enjoyed it. It has everything I would want in a
fantasy series. Intrigue. Action. A unique setting that is fully described with
different characteristics. Carr’s newest series, The Darkwater Saga fulfills
these similar requirements.
One of my favorite things about Carr’s writing
is his ability to create a different world and make it jump off the page. Even
though the world of Bunard is totally fictional, Carr uses descriptive images
to bring the world to life, so I can suspend my belief and join Willet on the
journey to solve the mystery. Carr captures the essence of a true fantasy novel
like Tolkien and Lewis and invited me in to join the conflict on the page.
Speaking of the conflict, I was amazed at the
unique tension in this story. Carr intermingles mystery with his world of
fantasy, involving the gifts that every person has been created with by God.
This takes a different path for the story. The conflict also centers on the
social order of those who have the gifts and those who do not, which is
comparable to the hierarchy in the world’s society today.
I did have an issue with how the story was
written. There is A LOT of prose and not that much dialogue. As someone who
enjoys reading a story that moves at a fast pace, The Shock of Night does not really move along at a nice clip. I
trudged through the pages after pages after pages of description and back
story, making it easy for me to put the book down and hurry into another book
that I could lose myself in. I found it really hard to get into and wanted to
put the book down a number of times. Actually, I did. I went to other books,
but knew I had to finish this book in a timely fashion, so I picked it up again
and skipped a lot of pages that were filled with prose.
I read the prequel novella, “The Divine Right”,
and I recommend anyone to read that one before they jump into The Shock of Night. There is a lot of
key information that needs to be understood before reading the actual series.
In true literary fashion, Patrick Carr’s The Shock of Night welcomed me into a
world of disbelief that is filled with suspense, intrigue, and action. Get past
all the prose and the story will capture your attention.
I received a complimentary copy of The Shock of Night from Bethany House
and the opinions stated are all my own.
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Purchase The Shock of Night
What aspect of Patrick Carr’s writing sparks
your interest in the fantasy genre?
No comments:
Post a Comment