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A review by reader44ever
Darkness Calls by Marjorie Liu
5.0
This review is a work in progress. I am having trouble focusing, and so am writing it in pieces. I am, however, completely focused on not starting the next book in the series until I get this review written! I may need to reread part of this book again before I can finish it, but hopefully it will be done today. :)
(Please note that in addition to not having it finished yet, I also have not yet proofread it. Please forgive any spelling/grammar errors. I'll catch them before I finalize the review, promise!)
The following spoiler includes some of the questions (in italics) I was left with after finishing book one, [b:The Iron Hunt|2281814|The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1)|Marjorie M. Liu|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388187239s/2281814.jpg|2288010]. These are the questions that were answered in this second book, as well as some other spoilers I feel the need to make about what I read. :)
What exactly is Maxine? Is Jack Meddle truly her grandfather? Is she what she is because he's an Avatar?
Maxine is apparently somewhat a mystery to everyone, though it did seem as if Mr. King recognized the darkness that lives inside her. Jack truly is her grandfather, but even he doesn't know if his being an Avatar in human skin somehow gave Maxine that darkness.
The armor Maxine brought back from the labyrinth originally belonged to one of her ancestors. This ancestor was driven mad from either overuse of its transformative properties or from not being strong enough to handle these properties. The armor not only acts as a weapon; it also gives Maxine the ability to travel into the past and from place to place. It grows after each use. When Maxine first brought it back, it was a ring. Now it encases the whole of her right ring finger and threads up to connect to a bracelet around her right wrist. When it's a sword, the sword is connected by chain to the bracelet.
Update: The Avatars actually gave the boys to Maxine's line. Hers was the first, and after giving that first Warden the demons, it was considered too dangerous and unpredictable to do again. (So Jack explained later in this book.)
I'm beginning to suspect that Oturu has something to do with the darkness that's in Maxine, and that the darkness is connected to/strengthened by the armor. I'm also beginning to suspect that the following questions are moot points:
Was it a vision or memory when Maxine saw herself/an ancestor with Oturu on a world with twin moons? I thought the seed ring was just her mother's memories. Has it instead been handed down through the generations from the first Hunter?
I now think that the seed ring was just her mother's memories, and the armor is a different type of seed ring: it, however, is linked to the boys. And so Maxine can visit memories of events the boys were witness to, whether they were tattoo or demon.
This supposition makes me think that Maxine's ancestor's bargain with Oturu was in exchange for the armor, and that the armor is demon-made. Were the boys being given to the Hunter line part of the bargain? After all, we now know that Maxine's line was originally counted among the Wardens. (According to Mr. King, her first ancestor was actually the first Warden the Avatars created.) But since Maxine's line is the only one still in existence, obviously not all the Wardens had demon companions/tattoos.
How did Oturu and Maxine's ancestor hook up? Why did they bargain together? And why was Maxine so comforted in his presence?
This book didn't give me answers to any of those three questions, but it did change them somewhat: How did Oturu connect with Maxine's Warden ancestor? Why did they bargain together and, if the Warden got the armor and/or the boys as her side of it, what did Oturu get? And why is Maxine so comfortable in his presence?
Why did Ahsen call Grant a Lightbringer? And why was she so afraid of him? Also, is she truly dead and gone?
Ahsen is truly dead and gone. This is both good and bad, though, since every Avatar that's left in existence can feel that she's dead, and so they might be after revenge against Maxine for killing her.
She called Grant a Lightbringer because his synesthesia (and his ability to change the souls of those he sings to) marks him as a non-human being. Jack explains that Lightbringers were the first humans. Until Maxine, they were thought to be the only beings who could give the Avatars true death. They were also thought to be dead, as the Avatars believed they had killed them all.
Grant somehow came to Earth from the Labyrinth. On their original world, his mother had extracted a promise from Mary to protect him. Mary is a nickname for Marritine. Jack rescued her from the Labyrinth and brought her to Maxine's world. Mary said she remembers Grant's mother and him being torn from her...Were they all three in the Labyrinth together and somehow Grant & his mother traveled to Earth while Mary was stuck behind?
This next spoiler contains questions left over from The Iron Hunt that I'm still hoping to find answers for in future books. :)
Why was Tracker so angry with Maxine and her Hunter ancestor? He mentioned being traded to Oturu in a bargain, but what was the bargain for and why was he the prize? Did he gain the power to teleport and withstand extreme cold in the bargain, or has he always had these abilities? What's with the iron collar around his throat?
Why did Tracker say he's Hunter's fool? Is this something to do with the Hunt? And why does Maxine have deja vu around Tracker?
How did Zee, Aaz, Raw, Dek and Mal first meet Byron? Were they in Sicily with Maxine's grandmother or another of her ancestors? Why did Raw kill Edik alone? What happened at that first meeting with Byron to make him care so much about him being hurt?
Why didn't her mother tell Maxine about what she would become? I suspect this is because she didn't know, as we found out in this book. So the question becomes. why didn't her mother tell Maxine that she was different? Also, why did her mother tear from her journal the pages that dealt with what happened the last time the veil opened?
And here are some entirely new questions I now have after finishing [b:Darkness Calls|5531637|Darkness Calls (Hunter Kiss, #2)|Marjorie M. Liu|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327943824s/5531637.jpg|5702670]:
How did Grant's mother and Mary get separated? Why was Mary stuck in the Labyrinth while the other two escaped to Maxine's world? Did Jack know who Mary was when he rescued her? What is Mary? Was she the other part of Grant's mother's heart-bond? Is their separation what drove her mad? All the hints we were given about her past in her moments of clear-headedness in this book drove me mad! :)
(Please note that in addition to not having it finished yet, I also have not yet proofread it. Please forgive any spelling/grammar errors. I'll catch them before I finalize the review, promise!)
The following spoiler includes some of the questions (in italics) I was left with after finishing book one, [b:The Iron Hunt|2281814|The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1)|Marjorie M. Liu|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388187239s/2281814.jpg|2288010]. These are the questions that were answered in this second book, as well as some other spoilers I feel the need to make about what I read. :)
Maxine is apparently somewhat a mystery to everyone, though it did seem as if Mr. King recognized the darkness that lives inside her. Jack truly is her grandfather, but even he doesn't know if his being an Avatar in human skin somehow gave Maxine that darkness.
The armor Maxine brought back from the labyrinth originally belonged to one of her ancestors. This ancestor was driven mad from either overuse of its transformative properties or from not being strong enough to handle these properties. The armor not only acts as a weapon; it also gives Maxine the ability to travel into the past and from place to place. It grows after each use. When Maxine first brought it back, it was a ring. Now it encases the whole of her right ring finger and threads up to connect to a bracelet around her right wrist. When it's a sword, the sword is connected by chain to the bracelet.
Update: The Avatars actually gave the boys to Maxine's line. Hers was the first, and after giving that first Warden the demons, it was considered too dangerous and unpredictable to do again. (So Jack explained later in this book.)
I'm beginning to suspect that Oturu has something to do with the darkness that's in Maxine, and that the darkness is connected to/strengthened by the armor. I'm also beginning to suspect that the following questions are moot points:
Was it a vision or memory when Maxine saw herself/an ancestor with Oturu on a world with twin moons? I thought the seed ring was just her mother's memories. Has it instead been handed down through the generations from the first Hunter?
I now think that the seed ring was just her mother's memories, and the armor is a different type of seed ring: it, however, is linked to the boys. And so Maxine can visit memories of events the boys were witness to, whether they were tattoo or demon.
This supposition makes me think that Maxine's ancestor's bargain with Oturu was in exchange for the armor, and that the armor is demon-made. Were the boys being given to the Hunter line part of the bargain? After all, we now know that Maxine's line was originally counted among the Wardens. (According to Mr. King, her first ancestor was actually the first Warden the Avatars created.) But since Maxine's line is the only one still in existence, obviously not all the Wardens had demon companions/tattoos.
How did Oturu and Maxine's ancestor hook up? Why did they bargain together? And why was Maxine so comforted in his presence?
This book didn't give me answers to any of those three questions, but it did change them somewhat: How did Oturu connect with Maxine's Warden ancestor? Why did they bargain together and, if the Warden got the armor and/or the boys as her side of it, what did Oturu get? And why is Maxine so comfortable in his presence?
Why did Ahsen call Grant a Lightbringer? And why was she so afraid of him? Also, is she truly dead and gone?
Ahsen is truly dead and gone. This is both good and bad, though, since every Avatar that's left in existence can feel that she's dead, and so they might be after revenge against Maxine for killing her.
She called Grant a Lightbringer because his synesthesia (and his ability to change the souls of those he sings to) marks him as a non-human being. Jack explains that Lightbringers were the first humans. Until Maxine, they were thought to be the only beings who could give the Avatars true death. They were also thought to be dead, as the Avatars believed they had killed them all.
Grant somehow came to Earth from the Labyrinth. On their original world, his mother had extracted a promise from Mary to protect him. Mary is a nickname for Marritine. Jack rescued her from the Labyrinth and brought her to Maxine's world. Mary said she remembers Grant's mother and him being torn from her...Were they all three in the Labyrinth together and somehow Grant & his mother traveled to Earth while Mary was stuck behind?
This next spoiler contains questions left over from The Iron Hunt that I'm still hoping to find answers for in future books. :)
Why did Tracker say he's Hunter's fool? Is this something to do with the Hunt? And why does Maxine have deja vu around Tracker?
How did Zee, Aaz, Raw, Dek and Mal first meet Byron? Were they in Sicily with Maxine's grandmother or another of her ancestors? Why did Raw kill Edik alone? What happened at that first meeting with Byron to make him care so much about him being hurt?
Why didn't her mother tell Maxine about what she would become? I suspect this is because she didn't know, as we found out in this book. So the question becomes. why didn't her mother tell Maxine that she was different? Also, why did her mother tear from her journal the pages that dealt with what happened the last time the veil opened?
And here are some entirely new questions I now have after finishing [b:Darkness Calls|5531637|Darkness Calls (Hunter Kiss, #2)|Marjorie M. Liu|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327943824s/5531637.jpg|5702670]: