Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear Review

Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear
(The Aether Chronicles, #1)
Release Date: August 8, 2012
Publisher: Flux; 408 pages

Wish. Love. Desire. Live.

Sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock's hoyden ways land her in an abusive reform school far from home. On mid-summer's eve she wishes to be anyplace but that dreadful school. A mysterious man from the Realm of Faerie rescues her and brings her to the Otherworld, only to reveal that she must be sacrificed, otherwise, the entire Otherworld civilization will perish.

I would like to thank Flux for the advance copy via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm torn. There are aspects of this book that I enjoyed but there are other parts that I really disliked. Sadly, I do believe the dislike bits stand out more than the enjoyable ones. Let's start off with things I did like. I liked Magnolia. I don't think she was strong, necessarily but she had an enjoyable personality with a lot of potential. I loved the time period, I do enjoy steampunk novels. I love the fact that there were surprises in this book. Twice did something come up that I wasn't expecting. That is always exciting for a reader. What I loved best about this book was V, aka Steven Darrow.

Now to what I really didn't like. A lot of the dialogue was very weak and highly unbelieveable. I know it's from their early 1900's and they do talk differently than we do now, believe me, I get that. But I've read enough period novels to know they didn't talk this way. The worst bit of this was the bad boy/other love interest, Kevighn Silver. Argh. In any YA book I am always leaning towards one guy in the mix of a love triangle. Rarely do I ever like both of them equally. But every time I feel some sort of attraction toward the other guy. Not in this case. There is not one attractive thing about Kevighn. Not his appearance, certainly not his personality. I don't mean to be so blunt but he was just boring and lame, especially for the 'bad boy'. I wonder how Noli could even be the slightest bit attracted to this...thing when she's got V. How could any woman, for that matter.

The story itself was OK. It was neither mind-blowing or insanely boring. It kept me entertained most of the time and it kept me wanting to read more. I just wish some of the dialogue was changed and I especially wish Kevighn would just not exist. Or maybe at least made up a bit better. The author did wonders on V, she really did. I fell for him right from the beginning and that never changed throughout the book.

Am I going to read the installment? Probably because I'd like to know where things go from here. Will I probably skim over parts where Kevighn is involved, most likely. Do I recommend this to book to other YA readers? Depends. It's not one I'd tell you to go out and buy the second it's released but if you just want something to read, that's steampunk with fairies, go for it. I do wish I liked it more, I really truly do. But I just can't. I finished it and was just torn up about it that I had to wait a few hours for it to settle in before I could even write this. I really like the idea Suzanne had with this story, I really did but I just wish it was executed a bit better. (And Kevighn really needs a makeover)

*highlight to view spoiler* Now, where the romance is concerned I am confused and sadden that one relationship sizzles so fiercely and the other one sizzled and fizzled in to a big fat nothing. Seriously, the scenes between V and Noli were so hot, I thought my kindle my start melting. There was so much passion between them and from the author. Kevighn and Noli there was zero. I mean zero steamy scenes. There were attempted steamy scenes but never executed to become one. I would completely be blown away to meet someone who is actually on Team Kevighn because I just don't see how that's possible. If you are Team Kevighn, I would love to know what you see that I don't :( As you can see, Kevighn seems to be my biggest issue with this book...I tried though, I really did. *end spoiler*