I should not have read this book in a dark room at midnight. Mohamed's whirlwind of a sequel has everything I loved about the first book, with cosmic horror and toxic friendships and impossible odds. And did I mention horror?

PROS:
As always, Mohamed's writing is quick and sharp, with twists upon twists that made it impossible to stop reading. I loved all the new elements introduced in this book and the way we get to see Nick grapple with the events that ended Beneath the Rising. My favorite part of this series is the cosmic horror, and A Broken Darkness had that in spades, taking Them to a whole new level of disturbing. I also liked Johnny's development and the way the narrative handled her actions.

CONS:
I was disappointed to see Nick slotting right back into the "Johnny's sidekick" role that he had thrown off in the last book. The changes were acknowledged, but at times it felt like nothing had changed at all, and even when he was essential to the plot he needed her help to move forward. I really wanted to see him shine by himself in this book but I don't recall him spending more than a few pages away from Johnny.

I docked a star for that con because it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most in the sequel, but overall, I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. If you liked the first book, I'll bet you'll like A Broken Darkness too.

I received an advance e-copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This should be right up my street. It’s a contemporary take on Lovecraftian cosmic horror, with guest appearances from our old friends Nyarlothotep and Azagthoth. There’s some convincing evocations of those weird and eldritch dimensions just beneath our own, and epic battles against crawling tentacled horrors. The book also has interesting things to say about colonialism and empire, allied to Indiana Jones style globetrotting and adventure. So why aren’t there five stars at the top of this review?

It’s the lead characters, I’m afraid. One of them is just an awful awful person, and the other trails round after them like a little puppy dog (I know this is explained in the previous book, but that’s not really followed through in this one, and the revelation hasn’t made a great deal of practical difference to their relationship). To make matters worse, while they are capable of talking to other characters like adults, the conversations between the two of them are smug self important banter full of lame humour and smart arsed oneupmanship that’s more suited to minor showboating on Twitter than it is facing down alien threats to our very existence. It deflates any tension that’s building, and frankly makes me want to punch the pair of them. It’s probably just me. If you like Joss Whedonesque clever clever dialogue, and let’s face it a lot of people do, you might well find it charming and fall in love with them, but it didn’t work for me. It’s unfortunate that the thing I didn’t like is front and centre, because there’s an awful lot otherwise that is good here, and I’ll look out for more by this author.

Very well developed characters and an extremely engaging story. Well thought out and very suspenseful story line that keeps the reader guessing until the final twist! This is the book to read this year! Highly recommended!