The Darkening (The Darkening, #1) by Sunya Mara
Published by Clarion Books on July 5, 2022
ISBN: 0358561981
Pages: 400
Genres: Fantasy
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
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The Darkening is the epic adventure of Vesper Vale, who lives in a world controlled by magic, the Regia, and a horrific, swirling storm that permanently alters anyone who touches it.  Vesper and her father are on the lookout for the Regia, as he is wanted by them for his revolutionary past (Vesper’s mother was also a revolutionary but chose to enter the storm and hasn’t been seen since). After he is captured Vesper must show her craftiness and try to learn from her father’s handwritten book of ikonomancy in order to free him from prison. Her father’s ikonomancy is legendary but he shielded Vesper from it to keep her safe, so she has a lot to learn and time is sensitive, to say the least.

The cover of this book is beautiful and will get some attention, and the first chapter is exciting and draws you in, but unfortunately, after that this book just doesn’t hold up. While it is well-written, nearly half the book is dedicated to Vesper’s love/hate relationship with Daca, a complicated Regia prince, and it is not even remotely interesting. When the ikonomancy is described, things get exciting again, but the mentions are too few and far between. It’s disappointing because both the magic (amazing!) and the storm (terrifying!) would have made a great book; it just needed to stay focused on them instead of Vesper’s relationships.

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Patten Free Library, Bath