Review: You can easily DEVOUR the whole series in one sitting!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 10, 2013
Recently I was given the opportunity to get my hands on Into the Dark Volumes 1-4 for FREE in return for my honest review. While I came across the opportunity through the Never Too Old For Y.A. Books Group on Goodreads. However, I received the volumes directly from the author herself.For a FULL Review of ALL FOUR Volumes, please check out my blog She Has A Knack For It (see my profile for a link)When I started reading this book, I didn't bother to go back and read the description and I didn't remember exactly what it was about, only that the description sounded interesting when I signed up for the Read 4 Review. Let me say this straight off MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL FOUR VOLUMES BEFORE YOU START READING!!!The beginning of the book manages to suck you right in. You start out learning about what happened three and half years ago. We start out with Emily in someplace very dark and hiding from the Misery-Makers. I think they could be named better, but can't think of something off the top of my head. Anyways, if they get a hold of you they basically torture you very slowly and painfully.After the incident, we find out that in the real world Emily has blacked-out and had a seizure. Only, she doesn't really black-out when she has a seizure, she really travels to different parallel universe. Sometimes, it's one she has been to before and sometimes not.I like how the author shows us the differentiates between when Emily is in a parallel universe or in the real world by using a bold font when she is blacked out and regular font for the real world. It helped me keep track of where I was when one of my kids would distract me.We find out that for an unknown reason, the blacking out has been happening to Emily since she was thirteen and have slowly been happening for a longer period of time. We also find out that Emily was basically abandon by her parents shortly after she started blacking out and having the incidents. She lives with and is home-schooled by her Uncle Spencer. She is also very close with Uncle Spencer's girlfriend Irene and her best friend Ben. They are the only ones who know what really happens when Emily blacks out. I feel the author does a pretty good job of establishing their close connection all within the first 15% of volume one before our story really kicks off. With one last black-out three and half years ago Emily accidentally drags Irene with her into the world of the Misery-Makers. We don't know how it happens, but it does and Emily panics and Irene is taken by the Misery-Makers.Fast forward three and half years. Emily walks around feeling guilty all the time for what happened to Irene. However, Irene is NOT dead. She is merely in an unresponsive coma. With only a short period of time before Irene's family is planning on pulling the plug. Can Emily find a way to bring Irene back before time runs out?Emily is also trying out university and is attending her first year at Oxford. On her very first day she visits Irene and heads off to school on her bike only to almost get ran over by a mysterious hot guy in a fancy sports car. While yelling at him she is also drawn to him. You also meet quite a few more people in first volume that sets up the story.Needless to say, the first installment in this four volume series that adds up into one full length novel really manages to suck you in. It ends on a little bit of cliffhanger. I thoroughly enjoyed it and went directly from volume one into reading volume two.My Thoughts on the Series as a Whole:I felt this was a very good book. I do wish the author would combine all four volumes into ONE ebook that people could purchase though. It is a very quick and engrossing read. If you do pick it up, you might want to try to have enough time to read it all in one sitting. It is a hard one to put down. The book is written by a British author, so you do have all of the British spellings, like colour, favourite, realise, etc...I find myself reading the British versions slightly different in my head, but it's not too distracting from reading the story.I thought Volume 3 was definitely the most exciting. I was surprised about who The Logician really was.THIS happens, just like the author said it would: "The only three people in the world who I truly loved were my best friend, Ben, my Uncle Spencer and his fiancee, Irene. I am now grateful for what I didn't know on that sunny afternoon. One of them would soon be lost to me. The other two, I was destined to kill without hesitation or remorse.It wasn't premeditated.It was what needed to be done.So I did it."I like how the book didn't have a love triangle like almost every other YA book. Although, at the very end, it seems like it was opened up for one. You do end up with a nice conclusion, even though the story is left open enough for a sequel. I would recommend this book to others and definitely enjoyed reading it.