Title: Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters #1)
Author: Kelly Keaton
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (UK & US)
Publication Date: June 2011 (UK) | Feb 2011 (US)
Paperback: 273 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Young Adult
Source: Review Copy
Reviewed by: Carolyn
RATING: 7/10 – very good
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is. Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.
She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very…different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her. Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.
REVIEW:
I have been looking forward to reading “Darkness Becomes Her” ever since I saw it on Goodreads a while back, and while it didn’t knock my socks off it was a really good read.
Ari Selkirk is seventeen and after being passed from one foster home to another for most of her childhood decides to find out about her birth mother. After visiting the doctor at Rocquemore House and being told that her mother had committed suicide shortly after she was born, Ari decides she needs to know more. The doctor gives her a box filled with her mother’s things including a letter addressed to her.
The letter is one of the aspects of the plot I couldn’t buy into. Ari reads the letter and her mother warns her to run. That’s it? Her mother writes a letter but instead of telling her daughter what, why and when, all she gets across is “run”! I couldn’t get on board with this. It feels as though the letter was just used as a spring board for the entire story, so Ari could investigate etc, I hate letters like this, whether they’re in books or films. I always end up irritated as I think if they wanted to let their loved ones know about the dangers facing them they would surely just tell it straight and not in a series of riddles that they have to work out, which only buries them deeper in what they were being warned against. Just silly.
However, it does the trick as Ari decides to head out to New 2, which used to be New Orleans. Thirteen years ago, two hurricanes hit New Orleans devastating it. But instead of doing what is usually done after a natural disaster, the government sells the city it to a bunch of families for a few billion dollars – really? Not sure why the government would do this…it doesn’t seem particularly plausible. Also, the hurricanes that hit the city were described as category four and not five, which is the most destructive hurricane there is. I would have found the selling of the city more believable if it was destroyed by nuclear means and was now a nuclear wasteland where nothing could live or grow for tens of years, but weather? It just didn’t seem realistic to me.
But I ignored these two aspects and just followed Ari’s journey and it is an interesting one. Ari is a great character and a fab heroine, full of grit, kick-arse moves and oodles of sass, which is sadly a rarity in paranormal YA as this is the kind of character I love reading about.
“Ari!” Sebastian stood on the sidewalk, holding up his hands in a ‘What’s going on?’ gesture.…I mimicked the gesture with probably more sarcasm than he deserved, and then jogged over, ignoring his questioning look and heading to the main entrance.He caught up to me at the doors. “You should wait here.”A small laugh escaped my lips as the doors slid open. “You’ve got a lot to learn about me. I don’t wait in the wings.”
Ari uses coarse language (she should wash her mouth out with soap!) and has quite a serious personality, so when I read this next quote it really made me smile.
I was pretty sure I knew what I looked like: a cartoon hamster in the headlights. Totally not what I expected him to say, especially after I’d just implied he was one of the bad guys. “Uh…” What the hell was I supposed to say to that? “Okay”A grin split Sebastian’s face, slicing two dimples into his cheeks.Holy Mary Mother of God. I actually stopped breathing for a second.
It made me smile, firstly because it was nice to hear Ari say something like this as she had been so serious up until this point and secondly, because I thought exactly the same thing. Sebastian is smokin’. There was something about his character I liked from the first moment he entered Ari’s life, so I know where she’s coming from… 
These are the type of moments that made the book for me despite the negative points I’ve mentioned and gives “Darkness Becomes Her” its huge potential. The combination of vampires and witches with greek gods is unique to me and was exciting to read.
I did find that everything happened a bit too quickly though, including the romance between Ari and Sebastian. Her time in New 2 barely spans two days and yet so much happens and is revealed that it made the novel seem a little shallow, there wasn’t enough time to really develop the story or the characters in just 273 pages.
VERDICT:
“Darkness Becomes Her” is an exciting read with a great lead heroine and although the story wasn’t as edgy as Ari, it was still an enjoyable read. It’s an interesting mix of urban fantasy and greek mythology which has incredible potential to be a fabulous series. I hope the next book will be a little longer to allow things to play out at a more realistic pace and for the characters to grow and mature, but I can’t wait to read what happens next…
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2 Comments
I have to say I do really like the sound of this one. I understand your frustration with the whole letter and New Orleans thing, it would annoy me too. But despite that as you say it still sounds like a good read. One to look out for
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Darkness Becomes her is totally on my to-read pile, thanks for the review – though I'm waiting for the US paperback, just looks prettier
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