by Terrance Mc Arthur

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Darkness Falls, along with a link to purchase the book where a portion goes to help support KRL & supports an indie bookstore.

In Keri Arthur’s Dark Angels series, Risa Jones is trying to find the keys to the gates of Hell, keys hidden by her power-mad father. The problem is that a face-changing sorceress keeps stealing each key that Risa finds, and a council-queen vampire is demanding the keys so she can let Hell loose and take over world. Why does she want to do this? She’s a powerful vamp…and she’s crazy in all the worst ways.

In Darkness Falls, the final book in the seven-volume series, Risa is trying to find the last key and keep it, as well as the trying to keep down her dinner. She has morning sickness, for she is carrying the child of Azriel, an Aedh, a guardian angel who was obviously guarding her very close. Risa is also part Aedh and part werewolf, can walk the grey spaces between life and death, has a demon-sword who eats souls, and a dragon tattoo that becomes a real dragon and hides things under her skin.

Naturally, a series-closer has a lot of territory to cover and a lot of loose ends to tie up or chop off. Darkness Falls has enough ends floating around from the previous six installments to keep a troop of Boy Scouts busy for a week, but a lot of them come to neat ends. A few of them get the Gordian Knot treatment, like the crew of supernatural warriors that have frequently tormented and defeated Risa but are dispatched in the space of a chapter.

Azriel and Risa have had a number of hot-and-heavy scenes in the past, but, now that she is with child, they don’t actually “do it” as much as they turn every conversation into innuendos and sexual suggestions. Keri Arthur has built an intricate set of worlds, borrowing characters from her Riley Jensen series. Risa keeps chasing clues to how to find the last key, how to defeat the sorceress, and ways to stop the vampire witch, who gets extra power from a Greek god. There is good magic and bad magic galore, and a good time is had by all.

To enter to win a copy of Darkness Falls, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Darkness,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 10, 2015. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address.

Check out more fantasy book reviews in our fantasy and fangs section.

Use this link to purchase this book & a portion goes to help support KRL & it supports an indie bookstore:

Darkness Falls: A Dark Angels Novel

Terrance V. Mc Arthur is a Community Librarian for the WoW! (WithOut Walls) Division of the Fresno County Public Library, roaming the Valley to meet the public’s information needs.