Thursday 22 August 2013

Dark Currents by Lindsay Buroker

Official Blurb

It’s been three months since former enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon and the notorious assassin Sicarius thwarted kidnappers and saved the emperor’s life. The problem? Nobody knows they were responsible for this good deed. Worse, they’re being blamed for the entire scheme. With enforcers and bounty hunters stalking them, and the emperor nursing a personal hatred for Sicarius, it’s going to be hard to earn exoneration.

My Review

This book is a sequel to "Emperors Edge", which I've previously reviewed. This book continues the story. It's the same great narrator presenting the continuing adventures of the same heroes.

The story develops with an opening investigation that leads to the discovery of a nefarious plot bound up with a magician creating magical artifacts that threaten the whole city.

Like the first book, it's a sword and musket romp through a pseudo Japanese realm that has a lot of western mores and tendencies, and all with a steam punky feel.

I do feel that the plot suffered for having no character development. There were no new characters  to be introduced and no growth or change in those that remained, it was really more of the same.

During one underground scene, that should have been full of dread and fear, the characters were laughing jauntily and poking fun at each other, which kind of destroyed the scene. It removed any sense of real danger.

I mention these two points because I didn't notice anything like them during the first book. the author seems to have dropped the ball, or if not dropped it, perhaps fumbled a little.

That may sound like I didn't like it. That's not the case. I did like it, and I've already queued up the third book in the series ready to start listening. So that recommends it, even if it did have some minor disappointments.

Reading 2/3
Production 3/3
Story 2/3

Total Score 7/9

Download it from the Podiobooks

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