BLOOD BEYOND DARKNESS by Stacey Marie Brown

Amazon.com – Fire In The Darkness – Book 2

Amazon.com – Dwellers of Darkness – Book 3

Amazon.com – Blood Beyond Darkness – Book 4

Genre: Mature/Adult/Fiction/Fantasy/Romance/Adventure

Plot: After months of searching, Ember and her friends have finally located the Sword of Light, the only weapon capable of destroying Queen Aneira and ending her rule. This is Ember’s destiny. Or so she thought. Now a pact to save the man she loves changes everything.

In this final installment in the Darkness Series, when the truth comes to light, Ember will learn some things are better left in the dark as her world is ripped even further apart. It is no longer a rabbit hole, but a never-ending black void full of endless lies, betrayals, and secrets.

The fight for Earth has begun, and Ember will have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save millions of innocent lives and those she loves.

But this price may be too high—even for her.

Opinion: This is book 4 in the Darkness series by Stacey Marie Brown, and let me tell you…it’s on f*****g fire. I did a review on book 1, Darkness of Light, where I ranted and raved about how AMAZING the first book was. Though I did receive the first book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I naturally had to order the rest of the series on my kindle right away. So instead of giving you a play by play of each book, and because I honestly didn’t want to take the time to write a review in between each book (yeah, it’s that good), I decided that I would just review the last book in the series. This way I can give a general review of the entire series as a whole.

This series started out with our main character, Ember, discovering the truth about why she is so different from everyone around her. Not only is there actually mythical creatures and demons in the world, but she is a mixed breed that is called a Dae – a half demon and half Fae (fairy). This series takes the reader into the life of Ember as she struggles to find out about a world that she should be calling home. As Ember struggles to grasp her new reality, she and her fellow dark dwellers are forced to now deal with the war that is slowly brewing between the creatures of the darkness and the creatures of the light. Soon Ember is taken under the wing of Lars, the Unseelie King of the Dark, to be able to control her powers and defeat Aneira, the Seelie Queen of the Light who wants to steal her powers and destroy Earth. Soon the first knight of Queen Aneira, Torin, tries to help Ember and claims that he would do anything to keep her safe. But Ember has to decide who she can and cannot trust, and in this world, just because creatures are from the light…it doesn’t mean they are good. As the complicated relationship between Ember and Elighan starts to grow and become something more, Ember discovers that she has a much deeper past into this other realm and with Torin than she might think. This series is full of blindsiding twists, heart wrenching drama, and magnificent adventures that will keep readers on edge until the very end.

I finished this series a few weeks ago, but I have just now gotten around to finishing up my review for it. This series definitely has a lot of the same themes as The Mortal Instruments, but ends up having more mature content in it once you get past the first book. I could not put this series down, and the only time I did was so that I could eat, sleep (very little sleep was involved I will admit), and go to work. Since I have already compared this series to The Mortal Instruments, I might as well give a few more options as to how they are similar and different. Firstly, the obvious fact that the Darkness series ventures from being YA Fantasy in the first book to Mature Adult Fantasy throughout the rest of the series whereas The Mortal Instruments stays in the YA genre. Secondly, the overall storyline is about demons, Fae creatures, gnomes, magic, and a yearning for the realm of the magical to want to abolish Earth for making them hide for so long. Thirdly, we have a love triangle between our main heroin and two VERY different brooding male characters. Elighan is very much like Jace from The Mortal Instruments in the sense that they are both arrogant, obnoxious, and have an overly fantasized notion in their heads that they are the most terrible thing to walk any realm. So be prepared for the exciting, and at times annoying, flying emotions that surround Torin, Ember, and Elighan. Fourthly, deaths are not always as they seem to be. No, I will not explain further. 😉

I loved this series, but of course I wish there was A LOT less sexual content. I am not one for that genre at all, so the fact that I so willingly and easily looked over those parts of the series and can STILL claim my love for it…must tell you how amazing it really is. I am honestly very surprised that this series is not more popular or more well-known. These are books that you can get completely lost in and that will make you forget what a social life even is. Though I do wish the main character, Ember, could be a bit less melodramatic about everything, I still think she is one fierce female and a force not to f*** with. I thought the ending was perfect, I loved the twist and how the author showed that not everything is what it seems or about one character.

If you haven’t bought this series yet, YOU NEED TO GET ON IT!! I cannot stress this enough, you NEED to read this. It’s a YA/Adult Fantasy that has the volume on full blast and refuses to be turned down. Enjoy this as much as I did, you need it in your life!