Audiobook Review – Darkness Brutal (The Dark Cycle, Book 1) by Rachel A. Marks, Narrated by Will Damron (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 13 hours and 38 minutes (422 pages)
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Release Date: July 1, 2015
ASIN: B00YNRYHTG
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Dark Cycle
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Aidan O’Linn’s childhood ended the night he saw a demon kill his mother and mark his sister, Ava, with Darkness. Since then, every three years the demons have returned to try to claim her. Living in the gritty, forgotten corners of Los Angeles, Aidan has managed to protect his sister, but he knows that even his powers to fight demons and speak dead languages won’t keep her safe for much longer.

In desperation, Aidan seeks out the help of Sid, the enigmatic leader of a group of teens who run LA Paranormal, an Internet reality show that fights demons and ghosts. In their company, Aidan believes he’s finally found a haven for Ava. But when he meets Kara, a broken girl who can spin a hypnotic web of passionate energy, he awakens powers he didn’t know he had―and unleashes a new era of war between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness.

With the fate of humanity in his hands, can Aidan keep the Darkness at bay and accept his brilliant, terrifying destiny?”

This is the first book in the Dark Cycle trilogy. This was a good dark YA urban fantasy read. The book is about a young man (17 yr old) that can see demons. When things get tough for him and his sister he ends up finding shelter in a home of kids that have strange abilities similar to his.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was very well done. This is definitely a series I would recommend listening to on audiobook if you like audiobooks.

The book moves at a decent pace and has plenty of action and magic. The book mostly revolves around the main character trying to discover and learn about his own powers. However, he is also trying to protect his young sister from a demonic awakening that is supposed to happen when she gets to her twelfth birthday.

There are a lot of interesting characters in here and, for the most part, I enjoyed the story. I did feel like the pacing was a bit off and the story changed focus sporadically.

The first part of the book really focuses on Aidan and his issues. The middle is more focused on Paranormal Investigations which is the reality show that the house of kids Aidan seeks shelter with runs. Then towards the end of the book many of the interesting side characters aren’t mentioned anymore and the story goes back to focusing on Aiden.

Overall this was a well done YA urban fantasy read. However, I am not sure if I will continue with this series or not right now. The took itself a bit too seriously for me and I would have enjoyed some humor in here to lighten up the darkness. I enjoyed it but towards the end it was getting kind of long. The story wraps up the immediate issue Aiden and his sister face, but doesn’t completely solve things.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge