SEQUEL REVIEW: A Darkness Beckons transforms the world revealed in Book 1.
I’m going to be sparse on details because I’m reviewing a sequel. Don’t want to spoil people who might be reading this without reading Book 1!
I enjoyed A Dark Inheritance: Book 1 of the Hollow Fate series. Todd Herzman is an expert worldbuilder, and his character narratives weave together with grace.
While in Book 1, I felt like a few of the character plotlines sporadically felt too disconnected from one another, Book 2 raises the stakes and continuously intersects every character’s narrative with the stories of the others.
I loved A Darkness Beckons.
Marius, Ella, and Ruben are still the focal points of the story, but Herzman has done a great job injecting the perspectives of a few other characters into the mix, too! Their perspectives are needed to expand the world and the plot in a way not possible through the eyes of the principal protagonists.
I still stand by my conclusion from when I finished Book 1: if you love the universe of Dragon Age, you will find a home with the Hollow Fate series. It’s epic fantasy with a compelling magic system, incredible worldbuilding, and a world-ending threat that feels tangible, unique, and complicated in its motivations.
And those motivations complicate the actions of every character as they try to navigate a force they do not understand.
If you’re looking for a sprawling epic to lose yourself within, read the Hollow Fate series. Book 2 builds on the successes of Book 1, and I’m excited to read Book 3 at some point in the future.