A Brush of Darkness (Abby Sinclair #1)
by Allison Pang | Pocket Books (Jan 2011)
Paperback, 343 pages | Urban Fantasy
A Brush of Darkness is the debut novel by Allison Pang. I was lucky enough to receive a review copy (after adding it to my wishlist – mostly because of the awesome cover) and I’m happy to report it was a fun read. However, I did have a few issues…
Although this is marketed as an urban fantasy, it’s a bit misleading in my opinion. This book is much more paranormal romance. Most of the book is taken up with the relationship between Abby and Brystion. Lots of sensual, heat filled pages. Although I enjoyed it, it wasn’t what I was expecting or promised from the synopsis on the back cover. This is not urban fantasy in my eyes nor is it ‘dark’. It does dip a little unicorn hoof into the UF pool at the end of the book, but mostly it’s very much to do with the sexual relationship between the two main characters.
Also, unfortunately for me, and this is my problem and mine alone, it contains dream sequences – and I really dislike dream sequences – they are a pet peeve of mine in literature. I find they can be far too obscure and I get annoyed and frustrated, so it was with great dismay when I find that Abby is a ‘Dreamer’, which means there are many pages filled with dreams. Other readers may find this aspect of the book enjoyable, sadly I did not.
The plot which surrounds Brystion and Abby is intriguing, although at times confusing, especially with regards to The Crossroads, but it builds to an exciting conclusion, which for me was the best part of the book. The aspect where creatures are being kidnapped and trapped inside paintings was well written and very imaginative.
The characterisation is pretty good too and the world surrounding these characters is interesting, and I loved the bookshop where Abby works. There are many supernatural creatures in ‘A Brush of Darkness’ such as demons, angels, vampires, and incubi, which makes for a varied and fun read.
The two main personalities are likable. Brystion is an incubus and so obviously this leads to lots of sexual scenes, sexual innuendo which was funny at times but slightly too repetitive. Abby is an ok heroine but she’s not particularly kick-arse, until the end when she does find a bit of back bone. The other main character is a little unicorn. When he first arrived on the scene I loved him, with his little legs and tiny body and silky soft main – so cute… until he started humping Abby’s leg and sniffing her knickers!
The aspect to Abby I liked the most was her backstory, which is one of pain, anger and self-blame. An accident sees her mother killed in an awful manner and Abby recovering from a coma leaving a metal plate in her skull and a permanently damaged knee which prevents her from dancing. I feel her pain, sadness and disappointment and there was one passage in particular that moved me considerably and tears pricked my eyes. I love it when my heroines get a strong and detailed background.
VERDICT:
Overall, A Brush of Darkness is a fun entertaining read. Ms Pang is a promising new author, her prose brings the world and characters she creates to life and I will definitely watch out for future titles – and after reading this ending though, I’m hoping this is the first in a series!
RATING: 
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4 Comments
The concept of touchstones is pretty creative and now that I'm forewarned that it's more PR, I still want to get this book. (When you're in the mood for one genre and your read turns out to be another genre, it sometimes bugs me.)
But maybe this one will be a library pickup. I'm not sure about the unicorn humping her leg and "sniffing her nickers". It might be my Southern sensibilities kicking in, but I have little patience for something that strikes me as tacky. If a side character is crass, lewd, etc., I can deal with that, but the unicorn might cross my line.
So I guess my question is, did this seem an important part of the unicorn's character, or just an add-on for laughs?
Jennifer (An Abundance of Books)
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Hi Jennifer – Yes, it's definitely more PNR in my opinion, and maybe now you know that going in you won't have the disappointment I did. I would say that for this book the unicorn's character was just for add-on laughs, if he wasn't in the novel it wouldn't be detrimental to the plot. It was a shame the little guy turned out to be such a perv, I was hoping he would bring some fresh innocence to the story considering it was full of sexual innuendo and heat-filled scenes with Bystrion and Abby. Having said all that, the book was good and I would try another book by this author
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I thought it was pretty entertaining. Oh, and I loved Phin. He was my fave character. lol
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I know you said that you liked the cover. Does Abby match the cover in looks and clothes?
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