Reviews for Darkness Before the Dawn

The average rating for Darkness Before the Dawn based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-03-04 00:00:00 Omen Hussein I think I wanted to enjoy this story more than I actually did. As I try to collect and read all of the novels that take place in the Darksun Universe, I am finding that the ones I read in my youth have a nostalgia that has helped them stand up to the test of time…and that just wasn’t present in this one for me. The plot jumps around quite a bit, and while we want our star-crossed heroes to survive, they seem like they are just wandering around with little purpose….that’s not exactly true, they are trying to get to a city and out of the dessert. And while sheer survival should be enough, we don’t really get the feeling that they are going to die (mostly because there are 200 pages left in a 314 page book). Going back to the plot, it’s sort of divided into 3 shorter plots: time with the elves, time in an alternate universe, and time in the City of Tyr. It might’ve stood out to you that an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE is introduced in the middle. This concept really pulls the reader out of the story, and it goes on for multiple chapters. And even though the author ties this back in to a critical part of the over-arching climax, it feels fake. And I really have a problem when fantasy novels feel fake…..because we are already willing to accept so much in sci-fi/fantasy…don’t push it. All of that to say, I’m going to keep reading these books.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-12-24 00:00:00 Charles Groves Urgh, what a piece of garbage, combined RPG guide to Athas, psionics and being a gladiator, sprinkled with an utterly inane story of puppy love with no literary value. Stay far away from this garbage!!!