The Shattered Dark

I was a really big fan of Williams' first book, I think if I had to boil it down to one element that took her first book over the top for me, it would be her pacing. It was one of those books you really didn't want to put down, and so I had big hopes for her second book. I am happy to report that The Shattered Dark has the same awesome pacing as her first, and I really didn't want to stop reading until I finished (thank God for caffeine or I never would have made it past 3am).

I really like McKenzie, I feel bad for the hand she was dealt in a lot of respects. I can totally understand her desire to have a more normal life. After the events of the last book McKenzie is literally in the middle of some big time fae events, and the stakes show more couldn't be higher. And now with her friend Paige missing it just makes the stakes even bigger for McKenzie.

One of things I really love about Williams is the way she paints the relationships between characters. Oftentimes I feel like authors need to take time out of the action in order to give the reader a full sense of the relationships between characters, but Williams has an amazing way of keeping the action jam packed while putting together relationships that the readers not only understand but can pull for. I really enjoyed this book further exploration of McKenzie and Aren. I liked Aren from the minute I read him on the page, so being able to find out more about his backstory in this book was great. Plus I love watching/thinking what is going to happen next between these two. Kyol is also in this book, although not to the extent of the last, but he definitely keeps things interesting.

I think maybe the think I enjoy the most about McKenzie is that a lot of things that happen to her are completely beyond her control, but she makes decisions that are true to herself even when in the hardest of positions. I like that about her. She is really a fighter in every sense of the word. She's super enjoyable to read, and an extremely likable character.

There is so much more I would love to say about this book, but I don't want to give everything away. This book is such a great ride, finding out what is going to happen next is so much fun, so I don't want to ruin that for anyone. But that being said, if you enjoyed the first book, you will certainly enjoy the second. And if you haven't given Sandy Williams a try yet, than you should. She has great characters and amazing action. I can't wait to find out what happens next! show less

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

The first installment in the McKenzie Lewis series was one of My Top 5 Fav Books of 2011 so, needless to say, I've been anxiously awaiting the follow-up ever since. The beginning of this novel was a little muddled in my opinion. Multiple smaller plot lines are introduced simultaneously as well as a brief recap of The Shadow Reader so it was a lot to take in all at once. However, after things aligned the story really captured me and held me until the last page. I liked that McKenzie is no longer flying solo in the Realm, her friend Paige is now in it with her (for better or worse), and I thoroughly enjoyed the stolen lovey dovey moments that she squeezes in with Aren even though they're at war.

The Shattered Dark show more is definitely not lacking in the action department. There are countless interconnecting plot lines, conspiracies and love triangles; in other words, there's never a dull moment! Boredom was definitely never a factor but confusion sometimes was. I enjoyed the level of detail that Sandy Williams uses in this book but it wasn't without its shortcomings. At times, I almost felt like I needed to take notes in order to be able to keep track of all of the little story lines. I probably wouldn't be making this observation if I'd had the time to read this novel in one sitting but unfortunately I didn't have that luxury and as a result, I found the whole experience a little overwhelming. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this installment because I did but I'm thinking that a re-read might be in order.

I was extremely happy with McKenzie's growth in this book. She's starting to think for herself instead of blindly trusting the fae and refuses to rush into a relationship with Aren. Lewis waited for twelve years for Kyol to come around so I think that I would have yelled at the pages had she immediately jumped into bed with her new suitor. I'd still be a bit weary over the possibility of Stockholm syndrome if I were her. I don't think that's the case in this instance but she should and does still proceed with caution. Smart girl! I loved the chemistry between McKenzie and Aren. He's obviously a much better match for her but then again, Kyol never really had a chance to be himself because he was constantly under the watchful eye of his king so I'm not ready to write him off just yet. The crazy ending only helped to reinforce that sentiment and when I say crazy I do mean c-r-a-z-y!

Very little, if anything, is solved in The Shattered Dark. Actually, I think more problems are added to the already massive pile. There's so many directions that this series can take and tons of different possible meanings that each can have. It's quite the kerfuffle! After an ending like that I'll probably be bald from anxiety before the next installment is published. The Shattered Dark is complex, moving and frustrating; Sandy Williams has some explaining to do! show less

Why does everything have to be a trilogy? My friend Samantha and I want someone to create a trilogy tracker app, because we both read about five books a week and its hard to keep track of what we've read of each series and when the next installments will be released.

I liked this book fine. The author's voice is compelling, although the flashbacks seriously annoyed me until the end, when I understood why they were necessary. In general, though, they were used as a crutch to keep the love triangle going, and they made the ending come as less of a surprise--my reaction was more, "ah, of course," than "holy shit," and I think the author was going for the latter response.

At least the first person present narrator (I know, ugh) is show more reliable--she doesn't withhold information from the reader, Roger Akroyd-style, as they tend to in a lot of novels, and the reminders of who characters were and what they did in the previous book were brief and didn't intrude on the story being told.

I'm not waiting on the edge of my seat for the final book, but this was good, and if you enjoyed book one of this series you'll like this one as well. The first third of it is pretty slow, but the excitement builds, and some cool things happen with Paige.

I'm holding off on judging what I thought were some weak choices until the series is complete. show less

The Shattered Dark is the second book in the McKenzie Lewis series and The Shadow Reader is probably one of the best debuts to a UF series, I was such a huge fan of the first one that I had to get my hands on this one. The Shattered Dark picks up right after The Shadow Reader leaves off, the realm is still in chaos as Lena struggles to maintain the throne and get the nobles to acknowledge her as the queen. McKenzie has relocated to Las Vegas and maintain a double life, trying to hold down a regular job while still being a shadow reader for the Fae. McKenzie is cleaning out and packing up her old apartment getting ready to move to Las Vegas when she discovers her BFF Paige is missing, and she has been taken by the Remnants a group of fae show more trying to overthrow Lena.

Like the first book this one also has action from cover to cover, right from the very first scene as McKenzie is trying to pack up her apartment he action starts and never stops. The plot is filled with lots of twists and turns as McKenzie tries to deal with usual Fae court intrigue while trying to find Paige. The group of humans from the first book who are intent on destroying all the Fae are also around to make things interesting. They have developed a new formula that will allow regular humans to see the Fae and both sides of the Fae court are trying to get their hands on it.

McKenzie and Aron are trying to start their new relationship and everytime Mckenzie thinks she has a handle on things something from Aron's past comes up to bite her in the ass. As a rebel he was definitely not a nice guy and he did some pretty crappy things to other Fae. Every relationship McKenzie has gets tested in this book, especially with Paige and Aron. You don't see much of Kyol in this book but I'm ok with that cuz I have always been team Aron, I like the bad boys...lol. The ending is HUGE! I don't want to give away any spoilers but all I will say is ....AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH. If I didn't use a tablet to read I would have thrown the book across the room, but since I will be jumping on the third book when it becomes available the author probably made her point. show less

** spoiler alert ** I think I enjoyed this book better than the first. In The Shattered Dark, the story and characters become more complex. So many emotions were pulled out of me in this book. Aren turns out to have been Thrain's protege when he was younger. We meet a tor'um he made while under Thrain's guidance, Paige is kidnapped, Naito's brother tries to kill him, Kovak and various others from in the palace betray the rebels, Paige turns out to be sympathizing with the remnants, and Shane goes missing.
Throughout all of this I went from being happy to sad to shocked to crying and making other emotions. McKenzie, is captured and learns that there is even more mystery to the plot against Lena being voted as queen. Someone aside from show more the remnants is causing problems to keep the two sides fighting with no chance of peace. To top it all off, the book ends with McKenzie retiring after learning that Kyol life bonded with her (something extremely rare between fae and humans) in an attempt to keep her alive for Aren to reach her after suffering a mortal injury. Due to this Aren decides to break things off because he is convinced the life bond will be stronger than McKenzie's feelings for him. Lots of things happened in this relatively short time and I'm so ready for book three. show less

McKenzie is really looking forward to her retirement but when Paige goes missing, McKenzie jumps right into getting her back.

There is a lot of character development as well as getting to know more about their past's in THE SHATTERED DARK. The pacing is nice and fast with plenty of edge of your seat moments. I was extremely shocked by how Paige handled everything as well as some of the parts she played throughout the book. I love Aren and McKenzie together. Some things about Aren's past are revealed that don't sit that well with McKenzie but she works hard to make their relationship work. I do like Kyol but he never put McKenzie first and with Aren you can see he would always do that. A lot happens in this part of the series and once show more again a lot changes. I don't really know how I feel about the ending. Decisions are made before McKenzie even knows what is happening. She finally figured out what she wanted and was in a good spot with her decision only to have it all crumble around her.

I'm stumped on guesses of what will happen next but I'm pretty sure the Fae are not going to let her go that easily and the new twists and turns are going to make for a wild book 3. show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: This action-packed/fast paced sequel to The Shadow Reader has McKenzie working on her friendships and not so much her love life.

Opening Sentence: I have fifteen minutes to grab what I need from an apartment I lived in seven years.

The Review:

McKenzie Lewis has made her choice in life and in love. Ever since the overthrow of the fae King, McKenzie has moved to Las Vegas and is trying to live like a normal human being again. Unfortunately for McKenzie, she can’t live a normal life. She has discovered that her friend Paige has been kidnapped by the enemy, once again dragging her into a war that is brewing with the fae.

Finding out that her friend Paige is just the beginning of her show more problems. McKenzie is once again sought out by the enemy to be captured or killed. Following clues that force McKenzie to jump between the earth and fae Realms, McKenzie begins to realize she doesn’t know everything about the people around her. The discovery of a potential deadly weapon could change the face of the war and everything the rebels in the first book fought for could be lost.

The Shattered Dark continues McKenzie’s first person foray into the hidden fae Realm. The world that Sandy Williams has created for the land hopping fae continues to amaze. I really enjoy the interaction with the fae and humans and how they are both affected differently by what lands they are in, even if most humans can’t see the fae anyways.

The tone of The Shattered Dark is different than The Shadow Reader. The first book really played off the tension between McKenzie and Aren and the whole love triangle thing. While the love triangle is downplayed only to the extent of McKenzie not wanting to hurt the others feelings, she doesn’t get much quality time with her man. Finding Paige, ending the war and discovering friendships she never thought she had are what keep this novel going.

Overall, I wasn’t as sucked into the story of The Shattered Dark as I was with the first novel. I really enjoyed the tension that was there. I did enjoy this novel in a different way and the emotional ending really blew me away and has me on edge for a next novel in this series.

Notable Scene:

My gaze goes back to the scaffolding. It’s shaking and teetering, just barely holding out. Is there a way I can help there?

I push away from the wall, moving toward it, thinking I might be able to draw some fae away from it, when something in my peripheral vision catches my attention. A remnant stands far off to my right, focusing on the fight at the scaffold, too. He’s gathering a ball of fire in his hand.

Dread traps my air in my lungs. He’s going to throw it at the scaffold. The scaffold won’t hold up. It’ll fall. It’ll crush Kyol and the other rebels and open up a huge gap in the wall. The remnants will be able to pour in. “

“Kyol!” I scream, but even if he could hear me, he can’t fissure. He wouldn’t make it to the remnant in time.

The fire in the fae’s hand turns blue.

My decision is already made. I’m already running, sprinting away from the palace. I have to get there in time. If I don’t, Kyol is dead, half the rebels and remnants out here are dead, and the eastern wall will be in ruins.

I’m running as fast as I ever have before, but I won’t reach the fae. I can only do one thing. If I fail, we’re all dead. If I succeed…

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Ace provided me with a copy of The Shattered Dark. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less