The Better Part of Darkness

In a word ... RIVETING!

If you like this genre, this one has it all -- a great plot, superior world building, a fast pace, great secondary characters and a kick-ass, likeable heroine. Charlie Madigan is an Atlanta resident trying to provide a happy and safe life for her 11-year old daughter, Emma, after her divorce. This Atlanta, however, is now inhabited by various races from 2 parallel planes of existence (Elysia and Charbydon). Charlie has got her hands full working for the ITF (polices/monitors all immigrant beings from earth or off-world) with her siren partner and friend, Hank. The world building created here is stellar as we learn about the various races and their abilities. But Charlie learns a few surprises of her own. I found the storyline to be fast-paced and chock full of details, lots and lots of wonderful details. I was glad that I could not figure out or predict the ending. This was riveting and so enjoyable. I was consumed with Charlie and the strong supporting cast! I'm anxious to start the next in this series. Do yourself a favor and don't pass this one up!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great action packed mystery set in a world like we know with a mix of fantasy.

Thought you had a rough day? Charlie has just had one, or a few, with just one thing after another coming up. It all started when she got the call of an unconscious girl on the bathroom floor at her daughters school, fearing she's another victim to ash. When she goes to investigate the scene she learns the girl is the girl who's babysat her daughter and is like a daughter to her. Then, her day just goes down hill from there; she gets beaten to a pulp by jinn, and her ex-husband wants to be with her again - after what he did. On top of all going wrong today the nightmares that started eight months ago, when she died, which have been haunting her every time she closes her eyes have pushed her to the exhausted state and now strange things are happening to her; emotionally and physically.

I enjoyed this book more and more as I read. I liked the world that Kelly has created here. She has taken the world we know and added a few extras to it. We have a sound explanation to where the different beings come from, and the abilities they have. Through these parallel planes we have mages, sirens, a being I like to call a vampire/elf mixed type but what Charlie calls aliens, and jinn along with a other beings as well. There was one small piece that threw me off only a few times and that was the sudden appearance of unexpected beings, or item. In these few moments I felt I might have missed a piece that would lead up to them, but this in no way affected the story happening.

Part of what I enjoyed the most was the storyline direction and mystery. Charlie was constantly in action and uncovering a piece of the puzzle. The story was constantly on forward movement, in a fast pacing. We got the pieces right along with Charlie as she went through the actions and we tried to piece them together, together.

The characters where great. As Charlie wasn't my favorite character in the story, it was no fault of hers. It was the secondary characters I enjoyed. They helped in drawing the character of Charlie. Her sister is a wonderful addition with her magic skills and friends. Her partner, Hank, is a nice addition with being a siren. Charlie's husband, or ex-husband...now he is one to watch as you read. And then we have Charlie's daughter, nice to see we have a main character who is a single mom and trying to make it work. And the relationship she has with her daughter is a great one.

In the end, I enjoyed the book very much and look forward to reading The Darkest Edge of Dawn. As the story here ends there is lots of room and a few questions to answer to follow through further in the series. Kelly has a great start to a fresh new series here. Kelly has done a wonderful job drawing a mystery in a fantasy world with enough similarities to ours, but with many amazing surprises.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Gritty urban fantasy

Great story, and gritty, realistic story-telling. My only complaint is that everything's not wrapped up in this first book... but that just makes me want to read the rest of the series all the more! If you're looking for a love story, this is not it-- It's a paranormal/urban fantasy that will have you rooting for the heroine, though. Give it a try!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Divorced mom who can still kick an alien's butt!

Really enjoyed this book! Think it's the first time I've read a book where the tough-as-nails heroine is also a divorced mother. Her child isn't a baby either, but an 11 year old girl named Emma. I liked that Emma was a large part of Charlie's life instead of a story device trotted out every now and again, then conveniently disappearing when not needed.

Charlie has been plagued by nightmares ever since her resurrection from the dead, and is also noticing strange new abilities. But she doesn't let that get in the way of her job; her newest assignment is trying to discover who is flooding the streets of Atlanta with a dangerous new drug. Charlie and her partner Hank work well together, despite Hank being a Siren and Charlie being human. Charlie and Hank are both smart alecks, and I really enjoyed their banter. You could tell that they both cared for one another, but not romantically, which was refreshing. Where is it written that partners have to be romantically involved? That gets old after awhile. I thought Kelly handled the "aliens" well, and the descriptions of Elysia and Charbydon were incredibly interesting.

This is the second book I've read recently where the main character has been brought back from the dead, so I wonder if this is a new trend in urban fantasy? Not that there's anything wrong with that. ;) Gave this book a 4/5 as I really enjoyed almost everything about it. Good plot, writing, and characters. Think that Kelly did a great job with her debut novel, and I'm looking forward to reading The Darkest Edge of Dawn, the sequel.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Dark Mystery/Crime Fantasy

This story is complex and engrossing. The plot line starts with the protagonist, Charlie Madigan, (a police detective and recently divorced mother) and her gorgeous, 'siren' partner, Hank, investigating an apparent death at her daughter's school. She discovers her daughter's babysitter, a slightly older girl, comatose on the bathroom floor after apparently ingesting a deadly, off-world drug. The mystery transcends a simple drug investigation involving powerful players, a dangerous djinn underground and a growing, inexplicable darkness, rage and in-human strength within Charlie. The pace is brisk and becomes urgent when Charlie's family is threatened. The action sequences are plentiful and explosive. Charlie's character is engaging and witty with a gritty, take-no-prisoners edge. Hank is appealing and humorous. The setting takes place within an alternative Atlanta, a city reeling from a thirteen year influx of off-world aliens, (immigrating from two parallel dimensions, heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon). The book features a pantheon of off-world races and a darkly fascinating 'Underworld' Atlanta. The story climaxes in a desperate, magic-infused showdown and culminates in a conclusion which satisfies but leaves the characters facing daunting challenges. This book is an engrossing read, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys supernatural mystery and/or dark urban fantasy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Better Part of Darkness

This was a phenomenal start to a new dark urban fantasy! Detective Charlie Madigan of the Integration Task Force, was revived from the dead eight months ago, after having been savagely killed on the job by an "off-worlder...

Thirteen years ago a scientist discovered Charbydon, a parallel world to earth. Charbydon is sectioned into two disgruntle civilizations, Charbydon and Elysia. Ever since the great revelation, "off-worlders" have been coming to earth in droves for citizenship. Atlanta's underground has become home to countless powerful mythical beings, some looking for a peaceful new home, and some looking to dominate earth. Ash, a highly deadly and addictive drug also makes its way onto earth's soil. Once Ash is ingested, it's only a matter of time before the user expires in a glorious haze of euphoria. The distribution of Ash touches Charlie's life personally when her beloved daughter's babysitter falls into an Ash induced coma. The clock is ticking for Charlie to try and find an antidote. Unfortunately for Charlie, the dark-powers-that-be move devastating obstacles in her way to ensure her failure. For the first time in Charlie's life she decides to lean on her friends and together they pool their earthly and other-worldly powers. During this time Charlie makes a strange discovery about herself and soon discovers that her resurrection from the grave wasn't without a price.....

This book is on my short list of highly anticipated new releases. This action-packed, police procedural fantasy was so original, interesting and fascinating; I completely devoured it and could hardly put it down. Charlie Madigan is a tough, smart and formidable heroine with twisted-humor that kicks butt and takes names. The dark world that Kelly Gay built is so dismal, bleak and mysterious it felt like danger lurked around every corner. I highly recommend this book to fellow dark urban fantasy readers and anxiously await the next book The Darkest Edge of Dawn.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great storyline

I liked the characters. I look forward to reading the next installment.

Disjointed narrative

A bit awkward in the beginning as it tended to jump around to poor effect. Didnt seem to know if it was a thriller, mystery, or steamy romance but not in a good way. I could see glimpses of a good story and interesting world, but hard to get past some of the writing Not sure that Ill read any more in the series.

loved it

original characters and setting. finished this and picked up the next one right after

Nice first offering in a promising series...

Kelly Gay does a fantastic job grabbing the reader's attention from page one and keeping it until the end. THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS features all of the urban fantasy must-haves: Demons, kick-butt heroine, dark magic, seduction, and a gripping mystery centered around other-worldly beings. The weakest part of this book is its cast of characters: there's too many of them. Gay could have done some judicious pruning of the cast, but chose to extend the lifespan of some beyond expectation. In so doing, she sacrifices some of the darkness and grit that make her world compelling, and infuses slapstick comedy, which does little to enhance the book IMHO. I encourage readers to reach their own opinion, though, because this book is a delight and definitely worth reading!

One of the Best Debut Novels I've ever read

from an ARC:

Either I'm getting way better at picking out books I want to read, or there are a lot of great debut novels with good writing and dialogue in the bookstores today. This is one of those books that I was waiting to get, wanting to get very badly, I was lucky and won it. I'm so glad I received this book. It's worth buying, worth reading and worth looking for the sequel.

The main character, Charlie (Charlene) Madigan is a detective with the Atlanta P.D.'s Integration Task Force. She's also a divorced mother of a young "tween" (Emma). The Atlanta P.D needs the Integration Task Force (ITF) to deal with the new citizens of the world. "Offworlders" from Charbydon (similar to the biblical Hell) and Elysia (similar to Heaven) - two dimensions recently discovered by a scientist- have settled in Atlanta and with the new citizens come new paranormal crimes. Charlie's partner, Hank, is a siren as well as a good friend of the family.

The secondary characters in this book are interesting supporting characters. There is Charlie's sister, Bryn, who practices magic; her daughter Emma; her ex-husband Will (that's my youngest son's name- a good all-round name) who is fightin an addiction that helped to end their marraige,;and her boss, the chief- Chief Abernathy. Throughout the book he's mainly referred to as the chief, if his first name was mentioned I don't recall it right now, and somehow that works for me.

Besides being a cop working with paranomals, Charlie seems to have some sort of edge herself. She was recently killed and brought back to life with some extra abilities and nightmares. This is a help as well as a hindrance to her.

The plot of the book starts with the recent introduciton of a new deadly drug, an off-world narcotic (ash). Charlie and Hank investigate this and soon find Charlie's family in danger. There are important people involved and soon Charlie is being accused of murder. Bad things happen to people Charlie cares about, and her reactions are amazing to behold. I loved her reactions - from the rage, to the cold determination to her utter breakdown in emotions. Through it all, she never gives up and in fact finally realizes that she has to learn how to work with the extras she came back to life with.

The more I read of this book, the further I got into, the more I enjoyed myself. Charlie's reactions were totally believable and she is a strong woman who can lose her temper, fall into a rage, and yet doesn't come across as totally cranky and angry or abusive to everyone she comes across - she has her moments, but her character is likeable. Charlie also learns more about the off-worlders than she knew before and isn't too stubborn to admit there's more to learn.

The dialogue was also very good. I love reading a book when the dialogue fits the character's personalities. Good dialogue helps a book along, bad dialogue just can bring the whole thing to a screeching halt for me. Thankfully this is an example of great dialogue fitting in with a great origianl plot and great narration.

And the ending? chills.

If you get this book (and you should) enjoy not only the supporting cast already mentioned, but the supporting characters introduced throughout the book. A lot of interesting characters, most of whom I hope to see in future books. Books like The Darkest Edge of Dawn, which according to Amazon.com is the second Charlie Madigan book and releases in August 2010.

A class #1 hit!

Kelly Gay's debut novel THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS is a fabulous, original read. She demonstrates a stunningly, kicka$$ characters and a fast moving plot that will leave readers wanting more of this intricately complex world that she has created! Charlie, the main character is a no - nonsense detective that kicks-ass and still has time to be a great mom and save the world.... or does she? The books goes through twists and turns that will keep readers hooked, line and sinker. I impatiently await the 2nd novel in the series due out this summer.

The Better Part Of Darkness Could Have Been Better.

The cover is appealing, as it definately has the urban fantasy look to it, giving the impression of a confident and strong woman in a dark and grungy world.

The story starts off strong. Charlie Madigan arrives at her daughter's school, after she overhears a call for paramedics being needed. (As a mother myself, I can relate to the urgency, to make sure that her daughter was alright and safe.) Once there, she discovers the body of her daughter's friend/babysitter on the girl's bathroom floor. The good news, she isn't dead. The bad news, an underworld narcotic called, "ASH" appears to have reached the uptown schools. Charlie, along with her sexy Siren partner Hank, make it thier misson to get the drug and those who are behind the drug off the streets.

Charlie has the mentality, determination, and heart of a good cop. But she is too stubborn and self absorbed. There is too much emphasis on her self analyzing everything, it gets boring. Yeah...yeah....get on with it already. This happens many times throughout the book. What I do like, is Charlie being a divorced mother. It gives her crediablity and makes her a bit more likable. I also appreciate her not being able to push aside years of feelings for her ex-husband and the inner struggles that those feelings cause. Her relationship with her partner is refreshing as well, they genuinely care for each other. Their bickering interaction, is well done. I have come to the conclusion that they are both smartasses. Charlie's and her daugher's relationship is endearing. I do like that, at times, it seems like the daughter is taking care of the mother, than the other way around.

With exception of Hank and Emma, I feel the remaining characters lack depth, substance and are unnecessary. None are very engaging and feel as if they are just thrown in to fill up space. Those who do have a purpose, don't have enough back story to make me find them believable.

Although, the character depth isn't the greatest, the world building is cleverly done and perhaps the book's strongest attribute. The world is not what it used to be, since the "discovery" of two other planes of existence. Kelly Gay's universe has alot of potential, that has room to grow. I really dig the possible religious ramifications and the idea of a Heaven and Hell on Earth, and the mention of Legend, darkness, demons, angels, aliens, etc... It supports the unending struggle of good versus evil, thus giving it a strong base for a plot. If only, it is the main focus. Unfortunately, to many subplots and not enough main plot.

All in all, it is a good read, but not a great book. Turning the last page, I am left feeling unsatisfied. There are too many subplots still open, that leaves me without closure. Most of the characters lacked depth, substance and purpose. I did feel that the protagonist wasn't so much ass kicking, but smart mouthed. That being said, as urban fantasies go, it didn't suck. For me, it is probably a one time read.

Great read!

I just happened to find this book on a corner shelf at the store. I was a little unsure when I read the description but once I started this book, I couldn't put it down. Kelly Gay has created a great sci-fi/ fantasy. The book was easy to follow and well written. I can't wait for the sequel!

Great debut novel

My thoughts...This debut novel by Kelly Gay takes the reader into to an incredibly complex, fascinating, and scary world where humans are not the only creatures that walk the streets. But these are not your average beings, I'm not talking about Vampires and Werewolves, I am speaking of beings from other worlds that have come to our world to live. The incredibly strong heroine Charlie deals with being a single mom, a paranormal police officer and a set of personal problems that would make anyone think they were crazy. She has a supernatural partner, a Siren, who is sure to steal your heart. The two try to prevent a foreign drug from harming the population of the city of Atlanta.

The storyline of The Better Part of Darkness moved along at a steady pace. Although the pages are filled with elaborate details of their world, I was not overwhelmed but fully immersed. I could imagine the city and the emotions experienced by the characters. Like any good mystery, there were clues to help the reader piece together the crime and determine the culprit. There were some grey areas when trying to determine who was good and who was evil. While the current plot wrapped up nicely, Charlie is left with quite a few loose ends for the next book, The Darkest Edge of Dawn.

Love this new book

I piccked this up at Walmart of all places, just for something to read while I waited for a shipment from B&N... woow! I'm a huge fan of Kim Harrison and Kelly Gay will be rignt up with her. The story was interesting, always moving, and had some original ideas. Charlie is a great character and just as butt-kicking as Rachel Morgan. Bravo!

eaders will be hooked with this super police procedural urban fantasy

On October 13. thirteen years ago, heaven and hell came out of the closet. Mankind had no choice but to recognize the Revelation of the existence of heavenly Elysia and hellish Charbydon, and a horde of biblical legendary mythological creatures residing in both. Atlanta has become an urban center for all these visitors from heaven and hell, which is why the Integration Task Force has a major presence in the city.

ITF single mom Charlie Madigan raises Emma while conducting an investigation with her partner Hank into the death of Amanda Mott, a student at Hope Ridge School for Girls. Charlie, who knows what it is like to die having done so before returning to life, makes the case personal as she knew Amanda who was like a big sister to Emma. Other young people also die as a dangerous off-world drug has hit the streets; ash kills speedily. Charlie and Hank make iqnuries trying to find the source of the smuggling even as her power grows, but she feels helpless as ash spreads to her family and friends with her fear being for Emma.

Starting with its opening dialogue in which Hank lectures his partner for skeptically questioning an Oracle to prove her statement, readers will be hooked with this super police procedural urban fantasy. The key to the exciting story line is the denizen of green card recipients from Elysia and Charbydon seem genuine. This makes for an enjoyable read as the donkey kicking heroine and her sidekick work the mean streets of post Revelation Atlanta in an enlightening mystery.

Harriet Klausner

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