Book Review: Darksoul by Anna Stephens
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of The Godblind Trilogy
Publisher: Talos (January 2, 2019)
Length: 401 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
So, Anna Stephen’s debut Godblind was a book I had mixed feelings about. I wasn’t even sure I was going to be continuing with the series, but when the publisher unexpectedly sent me the sequel Darksoul, I decided to go for it. After all, despite my issues with the first book, I also felt it was solidly written and the trilogy showed immense potential to develop into something more. I didn’t want to write it off completely.
And well, now that I’ve come out on the other side of this book, I’m really I glad I didn’t. I enjoyed Darksoul much more than I expected, and not only because it improved upon many of the weaknesses I found with its predecessor. I also felt more invested in the story this time around, which might seem a little strange, considering how most of it takes place during a siege—and a long and drawn-out one at that. But perhaps it was because we got to concentrate all the action in one place that we were also able to better explore the intricacies of the characters’ lives. In the middle of this intense conflict, the real human emotions finally emerged, and thus these new developments enabled us to truly grasp just how much everyone has at stake.
The story catches us up with many of the characters from Godblind—or at least the ones that have managed to survive the bloodbath that was the first book. Now the capital of Rilpor is surrounded on all sides by the invading army of Mireces. Spurred on by the Dark Lady, whose boundless influence now lies unchecked thanks to the shattered veil that used to keep the enemy’s bloodthirsty Red Gods at bay, the Mireces forces have already killed most of the Wolves along with many of Rilpor’s soldiers. Rillirin is on the run, heartsick at what has become of her lover Dom, whose seer abilities had made him vulnerable to the corrupting powers of the Red Gods. Now he stands by the Dark Lady, his will broken and completely under her control. Meanwhile, Commander Durdil orders the city to keep fighting, and a captain named Crys also falls into an unexpected role as fate apparently has bigger plans for him.
Like the first book, Darksoul is extremely heavy on the brutality and gore, even by the grimmest of grimdark standards. But unlike the first book, the violence seemed less gratuitous somehow, and less tacked on. This was just one of the many improvements over Godblind. Part of this is due to the deeper characterizations I mentioned before. In this area, the sequel surpassed the original by leaps and bounds. Because the scope of the plot is much smaller this time, focused around the siege, all the different character perspectives were also less spread out. This made for a more streamlined narrative, with fewer POVs and less frequent transitions between them. I think this was why I felt more engaged with the characters this time, as I found their voices also more memorable and their plot arcs more interesting to read about.
Darksoul was also much better paced, and I was impressed at the way Stephens kept up momentum and interest, despite the limitations of a siege story. Covering it across multiple fronts, she managed to convey the full horror of the situation, as well as the desperation and despair. The twists and turns in the plot had more impact because I cared more about what happened, whereas I didn’t feel the same with Godblind because in a way that book felt like it was more shock factor than substance. In contrast, Darksoul was better at bringing out the emotion that I expect from a good story, and it was also an overall more immersive experience.
Bottom line, I was really glad I decided to give this series another chance. While I had my issues with Godblind, I felt Anna Stephens delivered a rock-solid sequel in Darksoul, fixing a lot of the flaws from the first book. She also appears to have learned from some of the missteps she made in her debut, and as a reader, nothing makes me more excited than to watch an author’s skills develop over time. I look forward to what the conclusion of this trilogy will bring.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Godblind (Book 1)
The BiblioSanctum 
Ohhh interesting! great review, Mogsy! Like you, I have mixed feeling about Godblind, it’s good to hear from you that it has improved! Question, do you think I can jump into this without rereading the first book? It’s been a while. Or did the book did a great job in reminding what happened previously?
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Yeah, I had…issues with Godblind. Didn’t really see what the fuss was all about, but I sure am glad I decided to give this sequel a chance. Liked it MUCH better. And I think you’d be fine with jumping right in. I don’t have the best memory either, and I did okay 🙂
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Yeahh same! Thanks for the reply, Mogsy! This could be the push I needed to continue with the series! 🙂
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I was wondering if it’s like Dark Soul, the game… and no!!
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Ah, no, but wouldn’t that have been amazing!
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That is a really lovely cover!
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Yeah, I will say one thing about this series – the covers are gorgeous!
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It’s great when authors improve so much from one book to the next. I saw so much praise for her first book, but now that I think about it, most of the reviews I read were written by men, so perhaps they were simply dazzled by a woman who could write grimdark content😉
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Well, I just didn’t get the first book at all. It felt like she was working off of a checklist of what to include in a grimdark novel. The violence felt forced and the characters weren’t very compelling. But I think she found a rhythm with this one 🙂
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I am so happy the books improved with the series Mogsy!
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Me too, always great when that happens!
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I’m glad that this sequel was better! It’s always awesome when it’s like that!
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Yep, especially if the first book was one I was on the fence about. I feel much better about the direction of the trilogy now.
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Glad you enjoyed this one and that it was an improvement over the first book.
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Yeah it’s rare that I go from unsure to 100% on board with a sequel. It’s always nice when that happens 🙂
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I do love a book that just gets better! Even if this is too grim for me
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Oh yeah, these books are definitely grim. Parts of the first book were even too dark for me, and I love this genre!
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Yeah, I had to give up, it was so freaking grim rapey dark
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Reading the reviews for Godblind, my interest for the story was dampened by the mixed reviews it received, and the detail you mentioned about the excessive violence that sounded quite gratuitous led me to wait before committing. So I’m glad to learn that the author has improved the narrative style and the focus on characterization, and this series is going back to my “next” list… 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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Yup, now I’m eagerly awaiting the third novel to see how this trilogy will end, and hopefully it will continue this upwards trend!
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So great to see an authors skill develop and improve through their books! I’ve heard about the series, but hadnt decided whether to check it out… I think I’ll give it a go having read your review 🙂
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For sure, it is always fantastic to see an author’s skill improve from book to book 🙂 Glad you are curious about this series, but just be warned, it’s super dark and brutal!
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It might be one for later for me, I just read something super dark and I think I need a light break!
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I have mixed feelings now – I’d decided against continuing with the series tbh, I found the first a bit too much for my taste but this is encouraging. Oh, what to do!
Lynn 😀
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