Series: The Realms of the Ancients #3
Publisher: ECW Press
Publication Date: September 24, 2019
About the Book
The highly anticipated final installment in Beiko's thrilling YA fantasy trilogy
It's been seven years since the Denziens, an unseen people with elemental powers, were unmasked, and seven years since Roan Harken and Eli Rathgar disappeared into the Brilliant Dark.
Marked by Darklings and Death alike, Saskia is a mechanically minded Mundane, raised by Barton and Phae on daring stories about Roan Harken. But the world Roan left behind is in turmoil. The Darklings now hang in the sky as a threatening black moon, and with the order-maintaining Elemental Task Guard looking to get rid of all Denziens before they rebel, Saskia's only option is to go into the Brilliant Dark and bring Roan back.
But nothing is ever that simple.
The Brilliant Dark is the final, thrilling chapter in this series about gods, monsters, and the people who must decide if they're willing to pay the ultimate price to protect the family they found . . . in a world that may not be worthy of saving.
Review:
The Brilliant Dark is the third book in The Realms of Ancient trilogy. It follows Saskia in a world formed after the Denizens and Roan Harken and the turmoil they have left the world in. Saskia fights for her friends and herself as the author weaves another beautiful and deep world through the stories of the past and the stories of the present.
Beiko is a wonderful world builder and each time I find myself surprised at how much more there can be to build out and create, but she does it so well. The world build at the beginning of the series was a lot to take in, but if you know it is coming you are able to really get into the depth Beiko can show the readers. This final installment did not disappoint.
What I love about Beiko's series is the attention to the detail, there is so much world building, so much character development, and so many characters overall. The characters are all ages, races, cultures, they change and adapt as needed and they are diversity at its finest in a series. I appreciate the amount of time the author put into this.
The story is full of twists and turns and darkness and emotion that you feel like you are right there with Saskia, like you left when you were with Roan, trying to figure it all out and make a change for the better.
Overall this was a great book, and if you have already read the first two, this ending is just what you need. Beiko's story is so much more than just a regular young adult novel, it is an epic fantasy with YA elements, but not the ones you normally find. If you like fantasy, and the worlds that they build, this is a great series and I recommend it strongly.
Format: Paperback ARC
Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
Instead of heading back out into the street, Saskia shuffled along the building she’d hidden against, farther into the back lanes of houses and small apartment buildings crushed against Young Street. Even before the Restoration Project, coming down here after midnight would have been dangerous, but with the Task Guard posted everywhere, especially downtown, especially by the Old Leg, no one dared. Not even errant, Mundane drug dealers. A cat yowled, darting out of the shadows. Saskia froze when it threw her a withering stare before scampering back to the much-safer hole from whence it had come.It’s just a cat, she told herself, twice for good measure. It wasn’t a f— well. It couldn’t have been that. Not anymore.But the line from the story leapt up like a familiar friend whispering in her ear. Once upon a time, a girl was followed home by a fox . . .Saskia shook it off. Pull it together. Across the back lane, she rushed a collapsing fence and vaulted over it, landing shy of one of many huge piles of trash crammed between houses, against chain-link. A quick survey with her watch’s flashlight showed it to be more of the same — charred old tech, probably seized from a Denizen house, decommissioned and flung out here to be collected for precious metals and scrapped. The Task Guard didn’t want Denizens to be connected in the ways the Mundanes got to enjoy. Wouldn’t want them to assemble. To think twice about putting their powers to use. Saskia scavenged these junk piles often, their contents filled her bedroom nearly floor-to-ceiling. It kept the quickly tumbling world on some kind of keel.It kept the shadows quiet.. . . and after the fox followed the girl home, Death came for the both of them . . .Saskia bent over, digging the heels of her hands — callused from soldering wires and pinching receivers — into her eyes. Stop. Not now. Her heartbeat was picking up. This was what she wanted, she reminded herself. To be the damned hero for a change. She wasn’t going to freeze up. Not this time.She took a breath. She counted. She straightened her spine and dropped her shoulders. Not this time. The cat was long gone, and Saskia was alone in the back alleys of a city she’d never known except under the rule of anxiety. Of caution. Of an undercurrent of fear that she carried everywhere with her. She took another sharp breath and darted from light post to light post, feet quick and legs strong. Just like Barton had taught her, each stride like she was pulling against a current, and somehow, the stronger the bursts, the more her heart evened out. It was in running that she felt him most with her, and though she desperately wished he were here now, wishes were no good to the logical mind even at the best of times.She’d have to cross Reclamation Street eventually, be out in the open with little protection. Saskia had known the risks, made all the calculations. But she was still more human than all the half-finished devices strewn across her workbench. Machines that had been her closest friends . . . apart from the one she was stupidly trying to save tonight.Saskia dashed up another side street when she heard nearby bootfalls, more shouts. She crouched, gripping her black hood tight in one hand. She squinted at her watch and then at the app. Not yet. She still had time to stop this.
Excerpted from Children of the Bloodlands by S.M. Beiko. © 2018 by S.M. Beiko. All rights reserved. Published by ECW Press Ltd. www.ecwpress.com
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About the Author
S.M. Beiko is an eclectic writer and artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She also works as a freelance editor, illustrator, graphic designer, and consultant in the trade book and comic publishing industries in Canada and the U.S. Her first novel, The Lake and the Library, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award for Best First Book as well as the 2014 Aurora Award. 
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