Title: Dark Breaks the Dawn

Author: Sara B. Larson

Pub. Date: May 30, 2017

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On her eighteenth birthday, Princess Evelayn of Eadrolan, the Light Kingdom, can finally access the full range of her magical powers. The light looks brighter, the air is sharper, and the energy she can draw when fighting feels almost limitless.

But while her mother, the queen, remains busy at the war front, in the Dark Kingdom of Dorjhalon, the corrupt king is plotting. King Bain wants control of both kingdoms, and his plan will fling Evelayn onto the throne much sooner than she expected.

In order to defeat Bain and his sons, Evelayn will quickly have to come into her ability to shapeshift, and rely on the alluring Lord Tanvir. But not everyone is what they seem, and the balance between the Light and Dark comes at a steep price. 

This will be a mini spoiler free review.

Somehow, I managed to review Bright Burns the Night before this book – the first book in this duology. I blame the fact that my work has overtaken my life and I have zero energy to do much of anything. I don’t usually review books out of order, but in this case I’m actually not too bothered.

I enjoyed this book, but I definitely enjoyed Bright Burns the Night a lot more and thought it was the stronger of the two books. This one felt more like a prequel, setting up the world, the characters, the scene for the main story. That’s not a bad thing, and it’s quite crucial. Sara made this world come to life and it’s stunning and I love that she took a less popular fairytale – The Swan Princess – and put her own darker spin on it.

That’s probably my favorite element about this book and the second one. That it’s a unique, darker take on a fairytale I love, that’s woefully underrepresented. Nothing plays out how I thought it would and that makes for an engaging read that you can’t put down.

Okay – I just looked at my rating for book 2 and I rated it .5 lower, but I did enjoy it more…I just wanted more. Which is something I want from just about every book I read that I love. I don’t know why I would have rated it lower, because I’m all for an enemies to lovers romance – especially when the love interest isn’t the bad guy everyone makes him out to be.

All in all, this book is wonderful and makes for a fun quick read. It has a swoon worthy romance that keeps you wanting more. Evelayn has big choices to make and a future to face and everything is so uncertain. If you start this book, be prepared to not put it down and have book 2 in hand. You’re going to want to find out how it all ends.