ARC Review: Rend the Dark by Mark Gelineau and Joe King

Original Title: Rend the Dark

Year Published: 2015

Published by:  Gelineau and King (an arc was kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Number of Pages: 78

First Sentence: "The boy felt it before he saw it."

Goodreads Rating: 4/5

Plot:

The great Ruins are gone. The titans. The behemoths. All banished to the Dark and nearly forgotten. But the cunning ones, the patient ones remain. They hide not in the cracks of the earth or in the shadows of the world. But inside us. Wearing our skin. Waiting. Watching.

Once haunted by visions of the world beyond, Ferran now wields that power to hunt the very monsters that he once feared. He is not alone. Others bear the same terrible burden. But Hunter or hunted, it makes no difference. Eventually, everything returns to the Dark.

My thoughts:

Gelineau and King have quickly become favourites of mine. The stories are short (becuse they are novellas) but packed with entertainment.

In this installment, we meet Ferran, who has the ability to see the monsters that haunt his world. From being terrified by those monsters as a child, he is now a hunter who hunts them down. Despite being the sort of main character, Ferran doesn't actually star in it that much. Sure, he is very important but he isn't the actual narrator for the majority of the story. Instead, we are guided by Hileon, a young magistrate who meet Ferran when monsters threaten his peaceful life. Just as Hileon is being accompanied by his fellow magistrate Riffolk, Ferran also has a hunting partner, Mireia, a badass female huntress.

It is impressive just how well Gelineau and King develop their characters within the limited amount of pages a novella can hold. It really felt like you got to know the characters and by the end of it all, you care deeply for them at the end (which comes way to quickly).

The story is very engaging and well written. It's the perfect combination of adventure and suspense. There is violence and some graphic scenes, but they aren't horrible to read. In fact, they swish by so fast the slight gore in some scenes quickly fade from your mind. I won't spoil the story for you, but I will tell you that it is thoroughly entertainment and the pages will fly by, not because there are so few of them, but because you will be so entranced by the story.

Do I recommend it? 

Yes, I really do.