Debut Graduate: The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker
by Leanna Renee Hieber
Paperback = 6.99
Dorchester

With radiant, snow-white skin and hair, Percy Parker was a beacon for Fate. True love had found her, in the tempestuous form of Professor Alexi Rychman. But her mythic destiny was not complete. Accompanying the ghosts with which she alone could converse, new and terrifying omens loomed. A war was coming, a desperate ploy of a spectral host. Victorian London would be overrun.

Yet, Percy kept faith. Within the mighty bastion of Athens Academy, alongside The Guard whose magic shielded mortals from the agents of the Underworld, she counted herself among friends. Wreathed in hallowed fire, they would stand together, no matter what dreams—or nightmares—might come.

Reviewed by Superwench83

War between the spirit and mortal realms looms, threatening to take first London, then the world. And according to her ghostly guide, only Percy Parker can stop it, by facing the underworld herself–by traveling into the land of the dead.

In The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, Percy’s strangely beautiful saga continues, along with all the ghosts, gods, and ghastly apparitions. In Darkly Luminous, the battles are more intense, the characters more intense–everything is more intense. The Guard have spent their lives trying to keep the spirit and mortal realms apart, and now they face a possibility they never considered–that they themselves may be the ones to open the way for the underworld to flow into their own. But even greater is their fear for Percy, fear that she may have to travel literally into hell and back…and fear of her promised betrayer yet to come.

A great deal of character development takes place in The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker. Percy grows from a timid, mousy girl into a woman who, though sometimes meek, can be a force to be reckoned with, capable of holding her own. Michael has a much more expanded role this time, his powers as Heart of the Guard given more time onstage. The plot itself facilitates character growth; to survive this darkness, The Guard must be united, all differences set aside, their hearts laid bare. No more can they hide their secrets.

As the title might suggest, Darkly Luminous is at times lovely, at times chilling. Strangely Beautiful featured devil-dogs and voices in the dark. Darkly Luminous features hordes of underworld minions, demons made of ash, and a kingly though skeletal figure swathed in robes that match his ruby eyes. When Percy cuts her hand and a creature of Darkness greedily laps from the pool of blood, this is only a taste of what’s to come.

I did see a couple flaws in the continuing romance. The conflicts between Percy and Alexi seemed immature at times, their emotions changing rapidly and for seemingly petty things. I think it’s because there wasn’t enough space in the book to develop their fears and inner plights fully. I also found the dialogue overly sentimental at times. But these critiques are only a blip in what was a wonderful book.

I do want to give a heads up to any other Catholics out there that there are a couple things that might make you cringe a bit. No attacks on the Church or anything like that, just things that don’t jive with Catholic belief. But it absolutely will not prevent me from reading this one again. There is no offense, no malice at all intended.

After her stunning debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, Leanna Renee Hieber had a lot to live up to, and she passed the test. Another chapter in the struggle between worlds is brought to an end–but still the Great Work goes on.