The Better Part of Darkness

The Better Part of Darkness (2009) Kelly Gay

The world changed after the Revelation, when creatures from other worlds stepped out in public. As things settled out, the Atlanta police force developed joint teams of human police–with powers if possible–and off-world partners. In Charlie Madigan’s case, her partner is the siren, Hank, and they’re trying to find the source of the ash that is incapacitating (and even killing) people. Meanwhile, Charlie is trying to raise her daughter and deal with her ex-husband, who wants her back in his life.

Oh, and eight months ago, Charlie died, and things have been a little strange for her since then.

I liked Charlie. She’s strong, and impulsive, but not blindly stupid (at least not most of the time). I also like how the off-worlder’s powers were integrated into the police force: I like the idea that if magic powers exist, you need a warrant to use those powers just as you would a search warrant. That was a nice touch.

I also liked her relationship with her ex-husband, Will. It’s complicated, as are her feelings towards him. I also like how some of his somewhat strange actions earlier in the book are explained later in the book.

The only thing I wasn’t completely sure about was the relationship between humans and off-worlders. We are seeing the situation through Charlie’s eyes, and she has an off-worlder partner, but it really feels like there would be a lot more anger and hostility towards the off-worlders than we saw. Humans can be narrow-minded and stupid. I just don’t seem them integrating that quickly and seemingly painlessly.

The one thing I did not like, was the ending of the book. Although the story arc of the book is completed, there were plenty of issues that were not resolved, and it was quite obvious another book is coming in the series. I really don’t like it when books end that way. But at least the main story arc was completed.

Otherwise, it was an interesting supernatural fantasy, with a minimum of boinking. It just loses points for the ending.
Rating: 7/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• Dark Road Rising » »
• « « Never After