SYNOPSIS
The priests of Vatu are locked in an endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Their constant reincarnations are defined by service to the dark spirit, hatred for each other, and ruling the world of eternal night in which they live, broken only by a single day each year when Vatu releases the Sun. They have suffered and enjoyed this existence for millennia, for an eternity… until now.
In the Tower of the Sun at the centre of the world, the reborn Utas returns to fulfill his destiny to become High Priest. He has scarcely completed his education, however, when a shocking secret of his resurrection emerges. Now questioning everything he knows, he takes a path never before followed in his long existence. Yet darkness and pain still shadow everything he does, and all his attempts at freedom seem only to lead back to Vatu.
Can Utas ever escape hatred and death, or will darkness forever rule his heart as it does the shadowed land?
My 5-Star Review
Darkness seeks like a questing marauder through the pages of this complex second installment of this unique trilogy. The story and its unforgettable characters is filled with lust, hatred and memory. Memory of past lives and new beginnings. Memory that drives our main character, Utas, to change everything he’s done before in his many past lives in order to escape.
Escape the Darkness. The Dark Lord, Vatu, but escape may or may not be possible. As Utas transforms himself, the realm into which he has been reborn is also transformed; yet some things are as immutable as the Darkness itself. The priests of Vatu, for example, are beyond change. They exist to consume darkness and dispel whatever flickers of light Utas attempts to ignite. They take twisted pleasure in betrayal and domination…and in this way they were a stark parallel of our own darkness.
This complex series comes to life through elaborate characterizations and timeless themes. It whisks readers away into the unfamiliar, then surrounds them with masterfully woven tangles of well-known concepts and mythological reinventions. Like it’s predecessor, CrowMan, the story is carried by dialog, but there are still times when I had to pause in wonder (and sometimes in revulsion!) Lush whispers of ethereal landscapes tease the reader into tranquility while hint of the grotesque taint the placid waters. Meals of warm milk and blood, for example, which our main character seems to relish, sent shivers down my spine!
Labyrinthine, magical, and engrossing, Dave Rae has once again filled each page with mesmerizing imagery, elegant beauty and chilling corruptions. If you long to lose yourself in a truly spell-binding read, look no further. The Sun Thief trilogy delivers!
Author David Rae lives in the West of Scotland. He lives in a world of his own; a world of wonder, a world where hoards of workers spill out of factories, a world were fog and smoke shroud all kinds of creatures, a world where ruined castles, factories and houses were haunted by ghosts, gangs and memories. He lives in world where witches have been burned at the cross and martyrs have been hung on the Gallowgreen. He writes poetry and short stories and reads every trashy novel, every children’s book and every comic that comes his way.
I hope you’re intrigued and will take a moment to look David up:
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~Morgan~
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