A Dark Sacrifice - Madeline Howard

[Mark Robson]

The second book in The Rune of Unmaking series is a cracker of a novel, but if you have not read the first part, The Hidden Stars, then you need to start there - see my earlier review - The Hidden Stars - Madeline Howard (review)

As I stated in my first review, this is no straightforward hack and slash heroic fantasy series. There is a depth to this story that transcends most fantasy. After The Hidden Stars began with parallels to the biblical story of the birth of Christ, I noted that certain parallels from other biblical stories could also be drawn in this second volume, though the comparisons would perhaps be more contrived. If nothing else, however, sheer scale and depth alone will place this series alongside some of the most impressive works of fantasy around.

For all its intricacies, Madeline impressed me most of all with the pace of this book. Despite the brooding menace and feeling of impending doom that pervades, almost oozing through the pages, there is always a sense of urgency to the story and an underlying glimmer of hope left to tantalise the heroes, even if it is hard to imagine them realising it. Somehow she draws the reader through her wonderful descriptions of scenery at an ever accelerating pace to a finale confrontation that would be worthy of the final book of a trilogy. The fact that she also manages to leave the story poised for another volume is icing on the cake.

The power of the writing in A Dark Sacrifice gave me the feeling that writing the story had been in some way a cathartic experience for the author. The pain of Sinderian, Eireamhoine's rediscovery of his true self, the frustration of a goal always just out of reach - all were so well drawn that it was hard for me to imagine that there was not an element of each that were somehow an expression of her own life experiences. Either that, or Madeline has one hell of a good imagination!

Madeline's A Dark Sacrifice is a triumph - a true mid-trilogy classic that will leave readers begging for the final volume. It is hard to see how she will better it in a third volume, but I will be sure to read on to find out. The Two Towers was my favourite of Tolkien's books, and was the middle book of his most famous trilogy. A Dark Sacrifice tops my list of Madeline's titles to date - and I've read quite a few of her books now, if you include those she has written as Teresa Edgerton. Bravo, Madeline/Teresa! More please ... the sooner, the better.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thank you, Mark!

And yes, the frustration of a goal always just out of reach is a very good metaphor for where my life was while I was writing it. I didn't mean for so much of that to leak through onto the page.

But there are definitely parts of it that are painful for me to read, because they take me right back to what I was feeling at the time.