Monday, January 14, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Holy Dark by Kyoko M



The Holy Dark is the conclusion of Kyoko M's "The Black Parade" trilogy (not counting the novella/short-story collection, see below) following up from She Who Fights Monsters.   That book ended in brutal fashion, with the heroine in utter misery, held together only by some wise words written by her father-figure.  It was an ending that worked, but god is it an ending that doesn't make it easy not to want to read further and find a happier ending overall - which is why I wound up purchasing this book and binge-reading it despite having a billion library books I really should've read first.

And the Holy Dark delivers - boy does it deliver.  It's easily the longest of the trilogy (nearly 500 pages, whereas the other two books didn't even hit 400), and yeah, like its predecessors it certainly has some plot holes here and there such that the schemes of the bad guys probably don't make too much sense if you think about them too hard.  But this has always really been a story about its main heroine Jordan and her relationship with Michael, and it hits every emotional payoff imaginable, while finding many a way to surprise along the way.

More after the jump:

NOTE:  Spoilers for the first two books are inevitable below, as it'd be impossible to talk about this book without them - I've tried to avoid said spoilers above the jump, but not even going to try from here on out.  Fair warning.

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BONUS: This Review will contain a bonus review of Back in Black, a short novel/novella that takes place in between this book and She Who Fights Monsters.  Since Back in Black was published after The Holy Dark, Amazon confuses the chronology of the series a bit, especially as you can skip BiB if you want to get the conclusion to the trilogy and be perfectly fine.  If you're curious, the correct chronology of the series is:

Book 1: The Black Parade
-------Book 1.4: The Deadly Seven: Stories from the Black Parade
Book 2: She Who Fights Monsters
-------Book 2.8: Back in Black
Book 3:  The Holy Dark
------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
Jordan Amador is nearly alone.  Separated from her husband, the Archangel Michael, hated by her best friend, and abandoned by the man she considers her brother due to his job, only the grind of her duty as a Seer keeps her going.

But a new threat by the powers of Hell have made that grind even more dangerous: the Thirty Silver Coins of Judas Iscariot have been rediscovered, and their unholy power has the ability to weaken and possibly kill angels.  As such, Jordan and her fellow seers have been in a race to try and retrieve the coins before the Demons do, a quest that isn't helped by the fact that most of the Angels think of Jordan as a betrayer and traitor and are more than willing to let her die.

But the Demons' plot goes beyond simply gathering the coins, and the plan led by the Archdemon Moloch involves the lives of both Jordan and Michael - and the two will need to come back together in order to find a way to stop him.  Of course, Belial isn't content to sit back and allow them to remend their relationship - if that's at all possible - and his interference will once again threaten to tear them apart - permanently.

But Moloch's plan is far more dangerous than the plans of Belial and Mulciber in the past and it will take Jordan and Michael even more desperate measures in order the demons under his command from achieving a new victory - one that will cost them something they both dearly love with all of their hearts.....

BONUS Plot Summary for Back in Black:  Jordan Amador is about to be killed by a human gangster when she is rescued by a new seer, a woman named Myra Bennett.  Myra has a proposition for Jordan: help her kill a demon who has threatened Myra's family and having been left by Michael and Gabriel, Jordan has nothing left to lose.  But even as the most experienced Seer alive, fighting an entire Demon's Nest alone might be too much for Jordan to take on....
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As I said on twitter, the worst thing an author can do to a character is take away their friends, loved ones, and family and leave them all alone.  And that's how we start this book, with Jordan separated from both Gabe and Michael and with only the cause to guide her, and she starts the book in a tremendously reckless (and awesome but still) way, thanks to her new crazy friend Myra.  The book thankfully doesn't leave Jordan like this completely for long - Jordan and her best friend Lauren reconcile in the first 30 pages, (which is good because reading someone in utter misery for long is not enjoyable and isn't necessary here) - but Jordan's misery and self-hatred is again one of the bigger antagonists of this book, as she attempts to work with Michael to stop the demons' latest plans.

I said this in my review of She Who Hates Monsters, but Jordan is such a great and well-written character who carries the story because so much of her problems come from her being such a flawed person and her own doubts about herself due to her own flaws.  Usually a romantic story that has a part where a character can't get out "I love you" is a bit cheesy, but it makes total sense for Jordan, who in her own way does believe the other angels are right to distrust her as a betrayer, because Jordan believes that about herself.

I should point out that Jordan isn't just wallowing in misery in this book - she's still the kickass and often funny heroine of the rest of the series - bold and aggressive and quick with a nerdy quip that often made me laugh.   She's driven to helping others and its those reckless actions she makes on that cause that have gotten her into trouble and have given her self-doubts in the first place - so much of this book is having other characters try to convince her to look out for her own self at times, and to let others help her.  But it allows the plot to plow forward and a quick pace, as the heroes get themselves into more and more dangerous situations, culminating in an epic conclusion where Jordan and Michael have to come to terms with their own internal demons - pun intended - in order to triumph externally.

The rest of the characters are again excellent.  Michael also has many of the problems of Jordan internally and he's still written extremely well as he tries to deal with his troubles - like Jordan often in bad ways - in his relationships while still helping others.  New character Myra Bennett, Jordan's fellow seer, is a total joy to read, and presents a hilarious mix of comic relief and badassery to add to the story.  And of course there's Belial, whose relationships with Jordan and Michael take another step forward into some surprising places.  It's an impressive feat that a demon whose first act in the series was to kill the heroine and second act was to attempt to seduce and rape her can become an enjoyable character, but Kyoko M manages to pull that off incredibly well.

Again, the book has some plot holes even more than the prior volume, but they don't really matter that much, because this book hits the emotional payoffs even stronger than the other two books. The ending is just absolutely perfect and lovely and a great resolution to the trilogy and it fulfilled all my hopes about what I was getting as I bought this book after book 2's brutal conclusion.  Yeah I recommend this series rather highly at this point.

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As for my review of Back in Black, I enjoyed it a good bit, with the novella featuring more of the fun dialogue and action of the trilogy as Jordan faced off with a few lesser demons, while still being tempted by Belial, and serving as a retroactive introduction to Myra Bennett, who plays a big role in The Holy Dark.  It's definitely not essential and is certainly covering some of the same ground as The Holy Dark with Jordan and Belial, but it's still enjoyable and I don't regret buying it.  If you want more of the story after the trilogy, at $2.99 for a 200 page (kindle pages) novella, it's worth your time.
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