Darkness Before the Dawn: Chronicles of Athas, Book 2

Ryan Hughes's The Darkness Before the Dawn represents my second foray into the essentially defunct roleplaying game setting of Dark Sun. Like the first book in the Chronicles of Athas series (Lynn Abbey's The Brazen Gambit), the novel stands alone and along with telling its story serves as an introduction to some facet or facets of Athas, the Dark Sun world. The novel's primary function is to provide an overview of the prominent role that psionics plays in the Dark Sun setting (and we are also given a glimpse of Athas's elvish culture--a real deviation from the usual, existing as it does in a world with no forests). The story concerns two psionically-gifted individuals who discover that their power increases exponentially when they work together. We follow them through capture by elves, apprenticeship to an insectoid master psionicist, psychic exploration of entire worlds contained within tiny crystals and ruled by petty gods (one of which appears to be our own world, though this isn't specifically confirmed), and forced service in a gladitorial arena. More importantly, we are witness to their struggle as they decide whether or not falling in love with each other is to be desired or to be dismissed as dangerous folly. Some would argue that I've given away too much already; I disagree, as it isn't necessarily where the protagonists go that matters here, but how Hughes gets them there. However, in deference to such criticism, I will refrain from writing more specifically about the adventures of our hero and heroine, and likewise, I will not explain the book's title, except to say that you will read a long time before discovering what the darkness refers to and for whom a new dawn approaches. Let it be enough to say that there's more going on here than just the actions of the two protagonists. Although certain events lead me to speculate that this novel occupies a proximate position to some turning point in Athasian history, whether this is officially true I cannot say; I am utterly unfamiliar with the milieu except for this novel and its predecessor. Generally speaking, it would seem to be a dead issue, as the setting has not been officially supported for some time. I would, however, point interested gamers to athas.org, as I did in my review of The Brazen Gambit. The site is an active repository of resources for the Dark Sun setting, and has the approval of Wizards of the Coast. Should this novel pique your interest, I would refer you there. Hughes's novel doesn't cohere as well as we might demand from non-gaming fiction, but in providing a showcase for several elements of its world (as well as providing characters whose struggles are worth caring about for a few hours) it performs its functions well. If you see it at the used bookstore; it might be worth picking up, especially as prior familiarity with the setting is not an absolute necessity. An aside: "Ryan Hughes" is actually acclaimed novelist and prolific short story writer J

I thought it was a pretty good book even though in my opinion the first book in The Chronicles of Athas was better. I liked the way they could fight using psionic power without having to do it physically. Its a good book if you enjoy reading about fantasy worlds where dwarfs, elves and all sort of other things live and can use magic and mental powers.