Review Detail

The final book in the Darkening Duology, The Lightstruck, was an engaging read. In the first part of the book, we find that Vesper has been in the underworld not realizing her body is still alive until Dalca comes to find her. Three years have passed and she is a revered martyr treated with godlike reverence upon her return as a vessel for THE QUEEN.
The world-building was unique and fascinating. THE QUEEN was the storm and her touch left people with chaotic curses. THE KING is order and his touch leaves you seduced into giving up free will and following his overall plan of a perfect day. The Lightstruck have no distinguishing characteristics so it is easy for them to ambush and convert others. Since they have no free will, they work at an alarming speed to their final aim with all being in harmony.
This imbalance between chaos and order drives the plot. Being a duology there was not as much time to dive into the implications of these opposing themes. The King aims to create a perfect day that everyone would cycle through to the end of time. Yet, thinking very long about that prospect raises a lot of questions about how that would work. Would that mean babies are babies forever or would they grow to a certain point so they could have an adult version of a perfect day? It is an interesting idea that worked for the course of this book, but I do think the author created a hole in logic if this idea had been extended.
The book was predictable in that the people are now threatened by THE KING and to finally defeat him, he will need a vessel and Dalca is the obvious choice. The gods were at their most peaceful when they had vessels that loved each other in the past. Therefore, it was not a surprise that the chemistry between Vesper and Dalca would need to evolve. What was surprising is how the book got to these points and that it didn’t end with the obvious solution. This led to a more satisfying conclusion than I expected.
Overall, I enjoyed this series and found the resolution satisfying. I enjoyed the characters and the world created. Most of the book was fast-paced and had surprising elements that made it hard to put down.