The Dark

Authored by: Marianne Curley

Book TWO! The first thing I noticed about book two in the "Guardians of Time" trilogy was the focus of the chapters. In book one, The chapters alternated between Ethan and Isabelle. In book two, they alternate between Arkarian and Isabelle. This bothered me at first because while Ethan was still a character in the book, I didn't get to see what was in his head like I was used to, and I liked the focus on him, he is a very likable and important character. The second problem I had with it was that I was in Arkarian's head, which was weird because he's a wise 18-looking 600+ year old man and so I didn't want to read about his fears and heartache and about the things he didn't know.

The second thing I noticed about book two was that the author assumed the reader had not read book one, and so Isabelle explains everything that is learned from book one and it's a bit annoying.

Having said that- the good stuff. We learn of Arkarian's past (should I make sure I'm spelling his name right? I really don't feel like it...). We meet his mother and learn of his father.

Am I getting ahead of myself? In book two, Arkarian is KIDNAPPED by the immortal that runs the Order of Chaos. With Arkarian gone, the Guard starts losing more missions and the present world begins to change for the worse. The reason why the order all of a sudden became so powerful was because the Immortal was angry at the guard for killing (/seriously altering the being of) Marduke. Added to the stress of saving Arkarian, Ethan's mother's depression has turned for the worse and there is reason to worry about her killing herself. And we get to find out why she hasn't recovered, after all these years!

Again, like book one, book two is filling with a quickly progressing story line and is never dull. Love interests are progressing the way they should, the Guard's immortal pulls another cheap move like he did at the end of book one (I won't elaborate) and another person changes sides. I am eager to read book three, to see how it all ends. Again, I highly recommend this trilogy. The books are pretty short at around 300 pages, much easier than the small print 600+ page books from the last series I read, but just as good! :)