Book Review: Darkness Rising: {Legends of Marithia Book #2} by Peter Koevari

Title: Darkness Rising
Series: Legends of Marithia
Author: Peter Koevari
Publisher: self
Date of Publication: November 15, 2011
Source: ebook, 260 pages (received copy from author for my honest opinion of it)
Get Your Own: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Synopsis:In the aftermath of the Battle of the Elven Woods, the two legends of Marithian prophecy are both dangerously close to the dark grip of death as Marithia suffers under the powers of the Blood Red Moon.
Vartan, prophesised to save Marithia, lays spellbound under the protection of the mythical dragons. The vampire sorceress Kassina, prophesised to bring about their Armageddon has been moved to the underworld by the demon lord himself, Shindar.
A seed of the gods has grown and their greatest gift to Marithians, Anakari, makes her fated journey to discover her purpose.

A former shining jewel of Marithian peace, castle Greenhaven, remains in ruins after its defeat under Kassina's forces and the elves rebuild their war torn city of Veldrenn.
Talonsphere must be found before Marithia merges with the Underworld and Shindar brings about the world's end

My Thoughts:
Please visit my review of the first book in the series here.

Peter Koevari does a fantastic job of world building in this novel.  We learned about Marithia in the first book, and yet I find that I am still being immersed in another side of it in this second installment.  This story has it all : noble dragons, loyal elves, fragile humans, and fierce vampires.  Yes!  I just said vampires!  That is what initially brought me to this series-the concept of having a high fantasy with all your classic characters but then vampires were added to the mix.  It definitely gives fantasy a new twist.
I really liked this idea but I noticed I had a hard time getting into the second novel.  There were parts that seemed to drag on and on without really getting to the point.  This was in the beginning but towards the middle and definitely the end, I found myself going, "Oh my goodness, didn't see that coming!"
Vartan is a strong male lead who is noble and always thinking of his country, his people, and his freedom.  It is filling watching Vartan make the choices he makes and the way he puts himself in the path of danger to save one person.  It was also crushing to see his reaction to Tusdar.
Speaking of Tusdar...wow!  He has been crucial to the story; much more than I thought he would.  I really liked him in the first book and so it is nice to see him still around in the second book.  I can't really talk about him that much because I don't want to give anything away, but he is in love just as much as Vartan is with his love.
In fact, we get to see the concept of love from both sides: good and evil.  It is a nice touch to a story that likes to blur the lines between good and evil.  I feel like there is a lot of the gray area in this story.
We also meet some new characters in the story and we finally get a small but explosive peek into what the gods really are doing.
I still find myself confused by the whole concept of the Talonsphere.  I understand what it will do, who needs to activate it (and who doesn't), and the reason it was made; but I guess I am just anxious for it to be brought to the front.
Nevertheless, there are so many surprising twists in the story you will literally be shaking your head, never seeing it coming.  
Darkness Rising is a high fantasy story that takes many different elements into consideration to take us on an  imaginative journey through a land that is on the brink of falling apart without its hero finding his true potential.
I give it four hearts.

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