Child of Darkness

Cerridwen has always been treated like a child, rather than the Princess of the Lightworld. Her mother, Queene Ayla forbids contact with those of the Darkworld, but keeps a Darkworlder as her personal Royal Consort. Cerridwen can't understand how her mother could be such a hypocrite, and this is just one reason why she rebels repeatedly. Queene Ayla refuses to inform her daughter of her true origins, but only for her own safety. When she chooses to betroth her daughter to her highest-ranking counselor, Cerridwen sees this as the last draw. She packs up a few necessities and flees the Lightworld, and runs straight into the arms of the Darkworld, the most dangerous place in all of the Underground. When first reading this book I couldn't decide whether I truly enjoyed it as much as Queene of Light, the first in the series. The main character, Ayla, was molded to fit her royal status, and lost a lot of the things I liked about her, or so it seemed. Her daughter, Cerridwen, only seemed to be a selfish brat, or in this case, a perfect example of a royal princess. The only character that I seemed to continue to enjoy was the Royal Consort, Malachi. Instead of throwing this book to the side I pushed on, and was greatly surprised to find out that I just needed to wade through the beginning muck to find the beautiful story at the end. Despite my conflicting emotions toward this book, I found I ended up really enjoying it, especially the way the world is described so vividly. I actually felt like if I turned around I would end up in the beautiful city of the Lightworld, or in some cases, being chased through the tunnels of the Darkworld by a blood thirsty demon. While others have reviewed this book and said that they clearly don't believe it should be marked as a romance, I beg to differ. There isn't a huge amount of romance involved, but there is an underlying tone of it, and if not for that little bit, this story would be bland and have little meaning. The love between these characters is what pushed them to do the things that they did, if it only caused a war in the process. I'm looking forward to reading the last installment of this trilogy, Veil of Shadows, to see what other kind of adventures these creatures of the Underground have to tell.

I picked this book and it's prequel (Queen of Light) on chance when I found it on display at the local book store and thought it might be interesting from the summary. I was weary though when I then found that it was from the romance section. I still gave it a shot though and I was not disapointed. Where Queen of Light had the romance, it read like an ok prequel. Child of Darkness continues from what Queen of Light set up (though it can be read on its own) and expands it. I wouldn't, however, put this one in the romance genre. There is romance, of the failed sort, and it is setting up for some that may happen later, but it is more fantasy then anything. If you enjoy court politics, betrayal, magic and battles, then this is a book for you cause it has it in spades. Though the most interesting part of all of it is how the character's perception of each other changes through out the story.

as the first book - and the first book was good. This trilogy has everything any fantasy and romance lover could want. The book picks up 20 years after the end of the first book in which a prophecy was revealed. A Faerie queen, not completely fae, will free the underworld faeries and allow them to live in the Upworld again. They, along with elves, dragons, trolls and any number of creatures, had been banned to the underworld by humans after a great conflict. To be free in the Upworld again is their greatest wish of all. Ayla (Queen of the Fairies) and Malachai (a fallen Death Angel and unofficial Royal Consort) have a beautiful but very spoiled 20 year old daughter (Cerridwen). To keep her safe from all (as ordered by a Goddess), she was never told Malachai is her father and her wings bound as they look just like his. She abhors him and his apparent humanity. She hates her mother for having him there and she hates the court. The problem arises when the same Goddess had told Ayla that it is her very daughter that will save the Faeries and Ayla had been charged to keep Cerridwen safe at all costs. In her rebellion, Cerridwen has a secret boyfriend who just happens to be the Faeries' greatest enemy - an elf. She is sure he loves her and runs away for good this time. Of course, trouble looms and the epic story unfolds. The characters in this book are well developed and the plot is tight with unexpected twists. There is a lot of action packed in these pages. Treason reigns supreme. A mother despairs while trying to raise a difficult child. Love and loyalty are tested to the limits and the end of all the Fae loom ahead. There is death as well. With the narrative style of writing, Ms. Armintrout, in my opinion, treats the death of some of the characters the best I have seen in a very long time. I can't wait to read the conclusion of the series. And I repeat, Hollywood would do well to pay attention to this trilogy.

My Title may sound like its a negative thing that this book isn't really a paranormal romance, but its not. I just feel like this book would have been more honestly labeled as a fantasy book. I read the first book, "Queene Of Light" and enjoyed it however I had a difficult time connecting to the characters, and caring about them because they were so tremendously different, being fairies and angels, and their views of loves and emotions were way different than mine. I appreciated the story for the unique and detailed world Armintrout produced and the storyline was interesting if somewhat hard to get into. This second story "Child of Darkness" is a great improvement. I found the main character Cerridwen to be annoyingly childish for much of the book, but I also felt she was relatable and I think she may be the best character in this series to date. She is the daughter of Ayla, the queen of the Lighword, and a half human/half fairy mix and Ayla's royal consort, the fallen angel Malachi. In this story, a battle looms that will forever change the underworld. Elves have started a war against the Queene's palace and they have an evil force of Waterhorses at their beck and call. The waterhorses are leaving deadly trails of bodies in their wake already. Cerridwen fancies herself in love with an elf but he doesn't know her true nature and she is about to gamble the lives of her family and those of their followers. Their is a sorta romance between Cerridwen and her elf and an established romance between Anya and Malachi. Their love shows more in this book than it did in the first actually, and I had tears in my eyes by the end of the novel. Read the book though and you will probably agree with me about this not being a romance novel. Still the story worked on a more emotion level, and still the plot was very interesting and heart racing. I didn't agree with many of Ayla's political moves but its obvious she did care for her people. The battles were intense and thigns didn't always come out like you'd expect. The book ends on a cliff-hanger of sorts and the whole premise of the story seems to have changed. I was interested in reading this series before, but now I am quite involved and eagerly await the next book.

Human-Faery Queene Ayla has ruled for two decades in the Lightworld; having come a long way from once being an assassin (see QUEENE OF LIGHT). However, she has some recent concerns when an Upworld Fae warns her to beware of the elves and their allies the Waterhorses. Concerned over the safety of her daughter Cerridwen, Ayla proclaims her offspring will marry her advisor Cedric, who she believes will keep her daughter safe. Cerridwen is outraged by her mother's declaration without consulting her. In fact she believes she loves Fenrick the elf. She runs away to be with her beloved, but to her consternation, Fenrick betrays her to the elves. Cerridwen becomes a prisoner of the increasingly feral elves-waterhorse allied horde. A despondent Ayla sends her mortal consort former Death Angel Malachi to rescue his offspring Cerridwen whom everyone assumes is the daughter of the late traitor Prince Garret and heir to the throne. War seems imminent. This Lightworld/Darkworld fantasy thriller is an exhilarating tale that has become even more personal for Ayla when seemingly everyone on several planes wanted her dead. She may have come a long way from assassin to queene, but to Ayla the one constant is assorted species wanting her dead and now her daughter is in deadly danger. Cerridwen is a chip off the old danger block(s) and Malachi remains as kick butt as ever even if his soul mate has brought some mortal light to his former dark world. This is a terrific action-packed yet character driven tale. Harriet Klausner