The Deepest Night by Shana Abe Series: The Sweetest Dark #2
Published by Random House on August 2013
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Source: Edelweiss
Amazon • Amazon UK • Book Depository
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A rich portrait of post-Victorian England, The Deepest Night seamlessly blends thrilling romance with riveting history and adventure—perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Lauren Kate.
It’s 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England’s southern coast. While she’s always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: She is a drákon, a rare, enchanted being with astonishing magical abilities.
As war hits Britain’s shores, and Lora reels from an unimaginable loss, she finds that her powers come with grave and dangerous responsibilities. At the request of Armand Louis, the darkly mysterious boy whose father owns Iverson, Lora will spend her summer at his lavish estate. To help the war effort—and to keep Lora by his side—Armand turns his home into a military hospital, where Lora will serve as a nurse. For Armand is inescapably drawn to her—bound to her by heart-deep secrets and a supernatural connection that runs thicker than blood.
Yet while Lora tries to sort out her own feelings toward Armand, fate offers an unexpected surprise. Lora discovers there is another drákon, a prisoner of war being held in Germany. And that only she, with her newly honed Gifts, will be able to rescue him.
With Armand, Lora will cross enemy lines on an incredible mission—one that could bond her to Armand forever, or irrevocably tear them apart.
Beautifully written, deeply romantic, and filled with daring adventure and magic, The Deepest Night is a mesmerizing novel of the enduring pull of destiny, and the eternal strength of love.
Like the first book in this series, The Sweetest Dark, I found this novel intriguing but where book 1 fell a bit flat for me, The Deepest Night was interesting and engaging.
The Deepest Night starts off after Jesse’s death and Lora is mourning and at a loss where she can live after boarding school finishes and closes for the year. Meanwhile Armand is taking control of his father’s estate by opening a convalescing hospital for the war effort and coming to terms with his newfound drakon powers.
While the first book seemed like a typical high school girl drama in a historical setting this book is more action packed and WWI takes a front and centre role in the story. Lora and Armand are off on a dangerous mission across enemy battle lines to rescue another drakon that Lora has sensed with her expanding powers. This mission pushes them to the limit and we get some real action as things unfold over enemy lines.
I love that we find out more about the drakon, both their past and more about their powers. It’s great to see both Lora and Armand grown into their drakon powers and Armand really takes me by surprise in this book showing he is a true contender to be Lora’s lover and partner. I would have liked to find out more about the stars and Jesse but unfortunately while there was a couple of chapters from Jesse’s POV we didn’t find out much more on how they fit with the drakon and human existence.
Overall I found this a very enjoyable easy read. There is a really interesting surprise twist involving Armand’s older brother Aubrey which has me asking many questions and the pace and fluidity of Abe’s prose is again very beautiful. Looking forward to the conclusion of this series with book 3!
– Unique premise in a typical Young Adult setting.
The Sweetest Dark
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Book #3 Untitled TBR |
Angelya
Yay! Welcome back Philly 🙂
Jaime Lester
Ok, your review of The Deepest Night makes me more keen to try to finish up The Sweetest Dark. I was very much looking forward to it, and had been for a while. I started it about a week ago and find myself continually putting it down and reading something else instead. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was even going to try and finish it. Now, knowing that book 2 stepped up the game, I think I will push a little harder to finish it. We shall see!