The Dark by Marianne Curley

Item: The Dark
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted March 21, 2022 by karenbaron in Fantasy, Review, Series, Young Adult / 0 Comments

The Dark

by Marianne Curley

Series: Guardians of Time #2
Series Rating:

Published by Bloomsbury Books on October 9, 2003
Genres: YA Fantasy
Pages: 378
Format: Paperback
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Book Depository
Also in this series: The Named, The Key, The Shadow

Isabel's brother, Matt, has been named in a Prophecy, not just as a member of the Guard but as their eventual leader. But the promise of great power in the future does not mean his gifts will come easily. His apprenticeship to Ethan is proving more frustrating than helpful.While Matt tries to grow accustomed to life in the Guard, the Order of Chaos strikes into the very heart of the Named, kidnapping Arkarian, their ageless mentor. He is taken to dark world so difficult to traverse all are forbidden to rescue him. But an ever-increasing connection to Arkarian drives Isabel to risk everything to find him despite the potential consequences, taking Ethan and one other with her.

The Dark by Marianne Curley is about the Goddess of Chaos getting the upper hand in the fight.

Will the Guardians of Time find a way around the Goddess?

Isabel Becket

Isabel Becket returns as one of our point-of-view characters. This is because her other power comes in handy throughout the story. It’s been a year since Marduke’s death, in the last book, and Isabel tries to help Ethan out when Ethan has to train her brother Matt. Isabel is honestly a character with flaws, but she tries to get through them to become a better person. One of Isabel’s flaws is she does things on her own because she thinks it will somehow get back to her father. Her greatest wish is that he will return. I like her determination of not wanting to stop finding Arkarian and to bring him back alive.

Arkarian

Arkarian is the other point-of-view character. As Arkarian is the one kidnapped, we can only see this other world through his eyes. Well, that is until Isabel, Ethan, and Matt go to get him. Arkarian has been alive for quite a while and wants everyone to succeed but not at the point of losing more vital members of the Guardians. He is a pretty selfless person, which I like about him, and he is protective of the people he loves. I didn’t find much that I would say that I hated about this guy because even semi-immortal beings can get nervous around overprotective big brothers.

Five Stars

The Dark by Marianne Curley is a whirlwind of emotions that had me second-guessing everything I thought I knew about this series just from reading the first book. Especially about Arkarian. I loved every minute of reading this book. Ms. Curley has done another fantastic job with this one. My rating for The Dark by Marianne Curley is five stars, and I recommend it to anyone who loves reading young adult fantasy time travel books.

Off to read The Key next! I heard that it’s going to be sad so wish me luck.

The Guardians of Time Complete Series

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Dark by Marianne Curley.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

About Marianne Curley

I got this biography of Marianne Curley from her Goodreads account:

I loved reading from a young age and scoured my school libraries during my younger years, but I never thought I would become a writer. It was not until my mid-thirties while teaching office studies and computers to adults at the Coffs Harbour Education Campus that I began to think seriously about writing. I took several courses and experimented with different styles and genres. With two teenage daughters at the time, I fell into writing young adult paranormal and have never looked back.

My first four novels, Old Magic, The Named, The Dark and The Key, were published by Bloomsbury Publishing in Australia, the UK, and the USA, with translations into more than a dozen foreign languages.

In 2004, just as The Key was being prepared for printing, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone marrow cancer called Myelofibrosis. With only a short time to live, I was given a stem-cell bone marrow transplant using my sister’s cells, which saved my life. I have now been cancer free for fourteen years and have written a new trilogy called The Avena Series. All three books – Hidden, Broken and Fearless were published between 2013 and 2015.

My latest book is The Shadow, the long-awaited and much anticipated fourth book in The Guardians of Time Series. The Shadow will be released in March 2018.

I am presently working on a YA paranormal/time travel story, and a contemporary novel based on real events.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges: