Book Review: Edge of Darkness by Kyla Stone

Title: Edge of Darkness

Author: Kyla Stone

Series: Edge of Collapse #3

Page Count: 358

Publish Date: March 24, 2020

Publisher: Paper Moon Press

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Synopsis:

Liam and Hannah continue their dangerous journey, but their every step is dogged by a deadly adversary. Hunted and exhausted, will they have what it takes to get home?

In Fall Creek, Noah struggles to protect his son and his friends. With the town running out of food and fuel, and the cold as brutal as ever, they’re forced to make compromises that may place them in even greater danger…

When the country goes dark, ordinary people find themselves facing the end of the world as they know it. With society collapsing before their eyes, they’ll have to risk everything to protect their home and the people they love.

Edge of Darkness

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My Review:

Unlike the first two books, this one contains the prospects of all of the characters. At this point in the story, it makes sense but I couldn’t help but wish that we had a book fully focused on Hannah, Liam, and Pike again.

The stakes are raised quite a bit in this book and it’s good because the previous book, Edge of Madness, was quite slow in comparison. It was nice to return to tense scenes, lurking threats, and extreme survival.

With so much time passing since the EMP hit, more and more people are becoming desperate due to the lack of supplies. They will do whatever is necessary to get what they and their family means – even if it leads to others getting hurt or killed. This is absolutely a reflection of real life, how people lose their minds after a major disaster.

Because of this, the violence ramps up quite a bit and that propels the story forward even more. That sense of danger grips the reader and makes you want to keep reading to see what happens next and who survives the next hurdle.

With the story bouncing between Hannah and Liam’s continued journey, the events in Fall Creek, and the various spots along the way, you truly get a sense of the chaos that is descending across the nation.

There is some closure from the horrific events of the previous book which befell Fall Creek, and yet even with that, some are not satisfied and others feel that the ‘justice’ went too far. As far as survival goes in Fall Creek, the militia has some benefits to ensuring people are fed and kept warm. However, I am still not convinced their presence is all beneficial and am waiting for them to make the wrong move and expose themselves.

Only time will tell if or when that happens.

I also feel that the mayor doesn’t always have the town’s best interests in mind and that her belief she is doing the right thing is greatly skewed. This could be part of the side effect of her worry over her missing son, but we’ll see what happens.

There are times when you realize just how close Hannah is to reaching home, or even running into a fellow Fall Creek resident outside of town. Yet given the obstacles before her and Liam, we know her journey is far from over. I couldn’t even imagine that she would have gotten this far without his help and I dread to think what Pike would have done to her in that case.

Speaking of Pike, he is as terrible as ever and his scheming knows no bounds. However, I must applaud his ability to be so diabolical at all times and yet he can portray himself as caring when it helps his cause.

While I enjoyed this entire book, it was one of the final chapters that truly caught my attention and has me eager to read the next one. This one small act will have huge ramifications in the future – if anyone finds out.

Though the timeline from the beginning of the series is relatively short, less than 20 days, so much has happened in that time, both good and bad. All of the characters have grown and changed throughout these tough times, some growing stronger, while others are beginning to crack and show greater weaknesses.

One character in particular stands out among them and the shift within them was not entirely surprising, however, the intensity at which that shift happened was quite shocking. It will be interesting to see what they do in the coming books.

Overall, this was a solid addition to the series. There was good pacing, lots of action and suspense, plenty of violence, and good character development. I cannot wait to continue reading it.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Edge of Darkness. Have you read this book?

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