DNF Review – Knights of the Borrowed Dark (Knights of the Borrowed Dark, Book 1) by Dave Rudden (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Yearling
Release Date: August 8, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0553523003
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Knights of the Borrowed Dark Trilogy
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Denizen Hardwick is an orphan, and his life is, well, normal. Sure, in storybooks orphans are rescued from drudgery when they discover they are a wizard or a warrior or a prophesied king. But this is real life—orphans are just kids without parents. At least that’s what Denizen thought…
On a particularly dark night, the gates of Crosscaper Orphanage open to a car that growls with power. The car and the man in it retrieve Denizen with the promise of introducing him to a long-lost aunt. But on the ride into the city, they are attacked. Denizen learns that monsters can grow out of the shadows. And there is an ancient order of knights who keep them at bay. Denizen has a unique connection to these knights, but everything they tell him feels like a half-truth. If Denizen joins the order, is he fulfilling his destiny or turning his back on everything his family did to keep him alive?”
This is the first book in the Knights of the Borrowed Dark trilogy. My 11 year old son originally picked up this book and then gave it to me to read because he thought it was too creepy. I read the first 150 pages and just could not get into the story or characters. There are some very cool ideas in here, but the writing didn’t flow that well and I kept finding other things to do rather than read this book.
The story felt very similar to other middle grade reads out there. Basically, Denizen is an orphan who is pulled out of the orphanage by a mysterious unknown Aunt. Denizen finds out he has special powers and that his Aunt is part of a mysterious organization that hunts scary monsters that can grow from shadows. That right there is the first 150 pages of this book. This is a storyline similar to so many other middle grade fantasies I can’t even begin to list them all.
Where this book differs from other MG fantasies is that it is set in the modern day world (more of an urban fantasy type read) and the shadow monsters are truly creepy and terrifying. This is one of the more creepy MG books I have read and I completely understand why it terrified my son.
The writing style itself was okay. I did have some trouble staying engaged with these characters and the story. The story starts out pretty slow and I thought the prologue was a bit confusing. It definitely isn’t a book that draws you in right away.
Overall this was an okay book but just wasn’t for me. I struggled to get drawn in to the story and couldn’t relate to the characters. I kept finding other things to do besides read this book. In the end I decided to set it aside. Neither me nor my son finished this book, but it wasn’t an awful book…just slow to start and hard to engage with.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
