The Brink of Darkness – Jeff Giles – The Edge of Everything #2 – Bloomsbury – Published 12 July 2018

♥♥♥♥/♥

 

Synopsis

Things have changed for seventeen-year-old Zoe ever since the otherworldly events that brought her together with the mysterious bounty hunter she calls X. In order to save Zoe and her family, X has done the unthinkable – he’s given up his freedom and returned to captivity in the Lowlands.

X is determined to break the lords’ hold on him once and for all, but being stripped of his power pushes him toward a darkness he’s never experienced and a past he’s never known. The secrets that surface could be the key to reuniting X and Zoe… or they could mean the destruction of everything they have been fighting for.

My thoughts

The Brink of Darkness is the sequel to the amazing and thrilling The Edge of Everything. As divine as it is horrid, as funny as it is touching and sad, as sweet as it is rough around the edges, The Brink of Darkness is a stunningly crafted – wild, thrilling and beautiful.

The Brink of Darkness continues the story of Zoe, a young human teenager whose life has been thrown into chaos after meeting X, a boy raised in the Lowlands, the only living person amongst thousands of damned souls. In The Edge of Everything, Zoe and X risked everything for a chance to be together, yet to save Zoe and her family, X sacrificed his freedom and was forced to return to the Lowlands. No longer allowed to walk the earth as a bounty-hunter, X doesn’t know when he will see Zoe again – but neither he nor Zoe have given up hope of a brighter future.

I instantly loved The Edge of Everything and I instantly fell back into love with everything about this story, the characters and the writing style when I started The Brink of Darkness. There is so much that I love about these two books. The Brink of Darkness continues not long after The Edge of Everything concludes, and it was easy to fall back into the rhythm of the story. I love that there are just the two books in this series. I am assuming from the ending of The Brink of Darkness that it is the conclusion of X and Zoe’s story. While I would love more of X, Zoe and their family and friends, I am so very pleased with the arch of this story and the ending they are given.

Zoe is a force of nature. Her love for those she loves, her compassion and strength are almost as fantastic as her endless wit and sense of humour. Some of the lines she comes out with are just brilliant. Her friends, Val and Dallas, are hilarious, diverse and so very loveable. Zoe’s family also bring warmth to this story, from Zoe’s caring and quirky mother to Zoe’s amazing and sweet younger brother. They are the perfect offset to the darkness of X’s life in the Lowlands.

The majority of The Brink of Darkness closely follows X and his return to the Lowlands. Remind me never to commit an act that would have me spend eternity there – no detail is spared and the horridness is at times overwhelming. Yet this perfectly captures the depravity of X’s upbringing and the desperation to free him. But even in this darkness there is friendship, humour and hope.

X and Zoe’s love story has always been epic – from the intense feelings they have for each other to the fight they must wage for X’s freedom, one that spans the worlds of both the living and the dead. I loved this continuation of their story. I commend Jeff Giles for creating such a unique world, diverse and amazing characters and a story that is compelling, heartwarming and thrilling.

I highly recommend first The Edge of Everything and its sequel The Brink of Darkness to any reader who enjoys supernatural tales of friendship, romance, humour and an epic fight for freedom.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

More information

Category: Young adult fiction.

Genre: Fantasy > Paranormal.

Themes: Supernatural, romance, friendship, bounty hunters, morality, family.

Reading age guide: Ages 14 and up.

Advisory: Violence – graphic references of torture, gore, blood, fighting, murder. Vaguely implied sex scene and sexual references. Coarse language, sh** (23) plus uses of implied, ‘sh*t’, bit** (2), as***** (2), di** (3), who** (1), pi** (6).

Published:  12 July 2018 by Bloomsbury UK and Aus (10th USA).

Format: Hardcover, paperback, ebook. 400 pages.

ISBN:9781619637559

Find it on Goodreads