Review: Death, Doom and Detention (Darklight, #2)

Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Darklight, #2
Release date: March 5th 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Paperback, 320 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository


As much as I hate to admit defeat, I think I have to make peace with the fact that Darynda’s Young Adult books simply don’t work for me as well as her adult ones. The Darklight series is consistently mediocre, never outstanding in any way, but never overly disappointing either. It is my loyalty to Darynda and her Charley Davidson series that keeps me from abandoning this trilogy, but the enthusiasm is long gone and I doubt it’s ever coming back.

As the last prophet of Arabeth and the only one who can stop the impending war between the light and the darkness, Lorelei McAlister needs to be protected at all costs. For that, she has a nephilim who follows her wherever she goes and then, of course, there’s the Angel of Death himself – Azrael aka Jared aka hotness incarnate. Although they generally don’t agree on much, both Cameron and Jared are determined to keep Lorelei alive. That’s a lot of testosterone for one little book and if anyone could have turned it into a riot, it’s Darynda Jones. And yet she didn’t. Why?!

When I set out to write this review, I decided I’d try not to compare this series to Darynda’s Charley Davidson series and yet, now that I need to write a few words about Jared, I realize it’s inevitable. Jared, you see, is just a washed down, tamed version of Reyes Farrow and as such, he simply isn’t appealing. Therefore, my lack of interest in his and Lorelei's romance is probably understandable.

Darynda’s wonderful sense of humor did occasionally shine through and some of the secondary characters were an absolute delight. Fortunately, Darynda chose not to involve her main character in a love triangle, and although there IS a love triangle in this book, it’s resolved quickly and painlessly. It’s rare that secondary characters get stuck in the middle of a love triangle while the main character remains interested in one person the entire time. As much as I hate love triangles in general, the whole Cameron-Brooklyn-Glitch situation was often hilarious and therefore, of course, entirely acceptable.

After an uneventful first half, the pacing in second improved significantly, only to be ruined by a decision in the end that made very little sense to me. I’m not a fan of game-changing last chapters, especially when they’re preceded by a nicely wrapped-up plot, and I don’t consider them to be a particularly skilful way of creating tension for the next book. I know for a fact that Darynda can do much better, and hopefully she’ll find her YA voice in time for the final book in this trilogy.