The Stone Light (2002)

I dont know how I feel about this second installment of Kai Meyer's Dark Reflections Trilogy. I loved book one and felt that the initiation into the story held promise for a wonderful experience. There was so much enchantment in book one. The romantic and mysterious Venice, with all it's darkness and sensuality, provided a unique setting for a fantasy world. The author started us out with great characters that were developed well so that we began to like them and to look forward to their adventures. The writing was also well crafted in Water Mirror, I thought this second book lacked both advanced writing and the additional character development that was needed. This installment was just plain goofy. I'm not sure if I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, or Dorothy on the Yellowbrick road to Oz. The story picks up right after the first book ends. It takes us on alternating rollercoaster rides of action scenes between Seraphin, Eft, and the Sphinx battling the Egyptians who are trying to invade Venice, and with Merle, the Floating Queen and Vermithrax the flying lion, that have decended into Hell to try and obtain help from Lord Light. Back and forth from one to the other, the reader gets non-stop, often dizzing action and fantasy scenes with no substance to support it. These scenes are not interesting, they get very tedious, and basically the story does not develop much since book one. I felt like this whole book could have been cut into just a few chapters, so we could then get on with the grand finale coming up in book three.

I also found that the whole invention of The Floating Queen's character, made no sense. She adds no value to the story, her character is often sarcastic and does not aid Merle in her quest at all. She is more of a hinderence to Merle and I fail to understand her purpose other than to be annoying. There was also a few quirky translation issues where certain words or phrases were in error due to the translator not chosing the correct terminolgy appropriate for the sentence or content.

I'm disappointed and I didn't enjoy this much at all. It was bizarre to say the least. I do like creativity and the author usually delivers it, but there was almost too much weirdness and too many totally strange creatures that you could hardly visualize. My opinion is that this series should have been a duet, not a trilogy. I will go on to read the finale of book three to see how it ends and because I did enjoy the first book, but this..I don't know. Kinda goofy! I'm very glad that I read the author's later Wave Walker Trilogy first or I might not have tried it if I read Dark Reflections first. I can see that with Wave Walkers, the writer became more polished with his writing and is now much more talented than when he wrote this Dark Reflections. ( )

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

WARNING: This book is the second in a trilogy.

Okay, so maybe I'm the only one who missed that. When I finally figured it out (the words "Book Two" on the cover were a good clue), I had to run out and buy the first one, THE WATER MIRROR. I read that one as fast as possible, so I could get to this one. The first book was fantastic and ended with a huge cliffhanger. If I hadn't already had this second book in my possession, I probably would have been quite frustrated. My point being, read THE WATER MIRROR first! There is a certain amount of knowledge that is assumed in THE STONE LIGHT. You might be okay without it, but the story certainly makes more sense with it. Also, if you haven't read THE WATER MIRROR yet, but intend to do so, you might want to stop reading this now.

Vermithrax, the flying stone lion, Merle, the orphan girl, and the Flowing Queen, who rather defies description, have escaped from Venice and the Egyptian army. Their troubles are far from behind them, though. If they want to save Venice, they'll have to locate the only possible ally they can think of, Lord Light. After the things the people of Venice did to Lord Light's messenger, though, he might not be so willing to help. Even if he does, what will be the cost? Before they can even really worry about all of that, they'll have to get to him. He makes his home at the bottom of Hell.

Back in Venice there is a small but strong rebellion growing. The kind of rebellion that could make enemies into friends, and even, just maybe, succeed. Provided the leader of the rebellion doesn't turn out to be the biggest enemy of all.

This is a good book, but I really wanted it to be a great book, like I thought the first one was. The characters are wonderfully, fully realized, the adventures are adventurous, the story progresses... It's just a very typical second book. There are more new questions than there are answers to the original questions and it feels like everything is just being set up for book three. Perhaps after the next book I can give you a different opinion of the trilogy as a whole. It's kind of like Star Wars, the old ones; everyone has an opinion of the separate movies, which is different from the whole. ( )

As the second book in the trilogy it’s only natural that more of the story and the world will continue to unfold. Unlike some series where each book is its own story, this is one large story spread over 3 different books. This iteration, as it takes the reader deeper into the history and the titans that are clashing, becomes darker than its predecessor, which will mean that the third book will progress even further. The action in the book is faster as the stakes are higher, but overall, this story has all of the same issues as the first book. I feel like Meyer is rushing the reader through the plot and leaving out necessary details in description, motivation, and inner character qualities that would make this more than simply another adventure story. There’s often not enough detail to create a clear understanding of the picture he’s painting, but more so than that, another 100 pages or so would add so much color to the novel if they were dedicated to helping the reader understand more about the two main characters and their worlds. I want to know more about the Thieves’ Guild to which Serafin once belonged, how he was able to get into it at such a young age, and more about his past and what motivates him. The same goes for Merle and the orphanage.-Lindsey Miller, www.lindseyslibrary.com ( )

Hands down the greatest book I've ever read!

The book was great.

- Jonathan B.

Picks up right after the Water Mirror taking Merle to Hell to ask Lord Light for help while Seraphim works with the rebels in Venice against the Egyptians. Ends a bit abruptly, but has great narration. ( )