DNF Early Review – The Midnight Kingdom (The Dark Gods, Book 2) by Tara Sim (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 592 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: August 22, 2023
ASIN: B0BP2M9ZDV
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Dark Gods series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars
“A cataclysmic battle to save the city of Nexus has left the four noble heirs scattered across the four realms.
Taesia, the shadow-wielding rebel of House Lastrider, and Nikolas, the solider son of House Cyr, have been cast into Noctus, the realm of night. But they are not alone. The dangerous and unpredictable god of light has traveled with them, and he will do anything in his power to destroy Noctus once and for all.
Risha, the peace-loving necromancer of House Vakara, has finally found her way to Mortri, the realm of death. But she still cannot help the wayward spirits trapped in Vaega, nor does she have any idea how to get herself and her friend Jas home. All she knows is that no mortal can survive for long in Mortri. And the creatures that walk the realm of death don’t take kindly to the living.
Angelica, the stubborn elementalist of House Mardova, finds herself alone in Vaega. With the other three heirs vanished, it is up to her help keep the city of Nexus from unraveling. But Angelica secretly suffers from a sickness that her goddess left in her veins. And when she is sent on a delicate diplomatic mission, she knows that any sign of weakness will have disastrous repercussions for her family, her city, and her dreams of the throne.
All will encounter old friends and new enemies as they attempt to restore the balance of the world. But as the gods grow stronger, they’ll need more than their powers and their wits to survive.”
Series Info/Source: This is second book in The Dark Gods series. I got a copy of this on ebook through NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: I am reluctant to even write a review for this since I stopped reading it about 15% of the way in. However, I got a copy of this to review and the fact I am struggling with this book says something and I feel like I should let other readers know my struggles. I defaulted to 3 stars.
I remember enjoying the writing style of the first book in this series but being a bit confused by all the POV changes, characters, and their powers. This book is even worse than the first one was. I was completely confused about what was going on here and couldn’t remember any of the characters or their powers. Sim does zero recapping and doesn’t do a good job (or any job) of putting in subtle reminders for her readers. You are just supposed to remember every intricate detail of the first book and remember exactly where everything left off.
I went back and read the notes I had from the first book and apparently I found that book somewhat confusing as well. My notes were not detailed enough to help me start this book. The expectation seems to be that you are going to re-read the first book in detail before you read this one. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to do that with the rather large first book that I didn’t love and never planned on re-reading. I might come back to this if I have more time at some point. However, for now I just don’t have the time or patience to struggle through figuring out what is going on in this book.
My Summary (3/5): Overall, I stopped this 15% of the way in. I just could not figure out who was who and what was going on. If you loved the first book, I would definitely re-read it before picking up this book. This book dumps you right into the deep end without any reminders of the complex settings, multitudes of characters or intricate magic system. I just don’t have time to re-read the rather large first book again right now. I have really enjoyed Sim’s other series but this one is going to be a pass for me and I am going to be more cautious about picking up books by Sim in the future. Sim is an excellent writer but I think in this series she’s taking on too much at once.
