Whitley’s review of the Dark Star series by Bethany Frenette.
Audrey Whitticomb has nothing to fear. Her mother is the superhero Morning Star, the most deadly crime-fighter in the Twin Cities, so it’s hard for Audrey not to feel safe. That is, until she’s lured into the sweet night air by something human and not human–something with talons and teeth, and a wide, scarlet smile.
Now Audrey knows the truth: her mom doesn’t fight crime at night. She fights Harrowers–livid, merciless beings who were trapped Beneath eons ago. Yet some have managed to escape. And they want Audrey dead, just because of who she is: one of the Kin.
To survive, Audrey will need to sharpen the powers she has always had. When she gets close to someone, dark corners of the person’s memories become her own, and she sometimes even glimpses the future. If Audrey could only get close to Patrick Tigue, a powerful Harrower masquerading as human, she could use her Knowing to discover the Harrowers’ next move. But Leon, her mother’s bossy, infuriatingly attractive sidekick, has other ideas. Lately, he won’t let Audrey out of his sight.
When an unthinkable betrayal puts Minneapolis in terrible danger, Audrey discovers a wild, untamed power within herself. It may be the key to saving her herself, her family, and her city. Or it may be the force that destroys everything–and everyone–she loves.
This is a wonderful, light urban fantasy read that I wish more people knew about. It’s got everything you could want: action, romance, BADASS LADIES. And yet, the sales for this one were so poor that the final book — Fire Fall — was only released in ebook format. (Although there will be a paperback in August, so at least there’s that to look forward to?)
The story follows Audrey, who lives in a setting where demons occasionally slip through the barrier between our world and theirs. These demons are fought off by ‘Guardians,’ who are basically the elite super-fighters of a group called Kin. At the start of the book, Audrey doesn’t know about the Kin, or that she’s part of them. All she knows is that her mom has super powers and fights crime at night. When a demon starts killing off Kin girls while searching for a special one, Audrey finally gets clued in to her heritage and to her father’s side of the family, since they all neck-deep in Kin business.
Honestly, this set up is nothing we haven’t seen before. (It kinda sounds like Shadowhunters-lite, as much as it pains me to say that.) And it’s not a great setting if you’re reading for complex worldbuilding. Supposedly there’s enough going on in Kin society to have entire lessons about it, but in practice, they’re about as complex as a PTA meeting. However, I really don’t care, because there’s enough there to keep the plot going and it doesn’t contradict itself at any point.
No, the real selling point to this series is the characters. There are so many great ones, and SO MANY GIRLS. It’s one of the few I’ve read this year where the cast actually gets close to gender parity. And there’s such a variety of them, and all of them have great character arcs and stories and complications and sticky relationships. There’s Audrey and her mother, who have one of the best parent/child depictions I’ve seen outside of the contemporary genre. There’s Audrey and her best friend Tink, as Tink gets called to be a Guardian (and doesn’t want it) leaving behind Audrey (who does want it). There’s the pair of twins where one of them turns quasi-evil but is willing to throw both worlds under a bus for the sake of her sister. Audrey’s mother and paternal grandmother who constantly butt heads but still have a grudging respect for each other. (And Grandma Ester is fucking tough as nails, right on.) It just tickled me pink to see so many characters who, although they were secondary and tertiary characters, still felt like they had complete stories and relationships, even if most of said stories happened out of our sight.
The plot was great, as each story in the series had a complete and compelling narrative, but they still made for a good overarching story. No second-book-slump here; in fact I think the second book was had the best action out of the whole lot. Of course, these were definitely action books. Pretty light plots, just enough twists and betrayals to make it interesting, but laser focus in on bad guys and stopping them with punching power. And hell, yeah, bring it on. I think we’ve gotten too enamored of ‘complex’ plots that, without someone skilled crafting them, is just code for “shit, throw in some padding, we can’t reveal the bad guy yet.” I miss the light and linear, the fun and rollicking adventures. The Dark Star series has everything I want in a streamlined plot and make for incredibly engrossing reads.
And streamlined doesn’t mean bare bones, there’s plenty of romance between Audrey and Leon, especially in the last book. Dramatic romance, too, those kids are sweet as pie but trying to balance kissy-times and saving the world while your boyfriend is compelled by magic to protect you and also is your mom’s sidekick is going to stir up some trouble. The book handles it very well for my tastes; there’s not a whole lot of soul-crushing feelz, but they are in a new relationship and it’s treated as being exhilarating and fragile and also firmly in second place to stopping the demons from taking over the entire known world. You know, as you do.
Basically, I just love this whole series and I think more people should read it.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Reading Order:
This title is available from Disney Hyperion. You can purchase it here or here in e-format.