Review: From Darkness to Darkness (Loka Legends #2) by Jay Bell

From the cradle to the grave…

The Black Oligarch is dead. Some call his replacement a boy, others call him a threat. Cole lost everything the night he became Oligarch: his family, his home… even Jonah. Now he’s alone, left only with painful memories and the power to destroy the Five Lands.

When Dylan is sent to help Cole, he finds they have more in common than expected. They hope to build a new life together, but dark forces have other plans for them. The dead are rising, bringing secrets from the past that threaten to change their lives forever. Can Dylan guide a young man through the darkness and protect those he loves without making the ultimate sacrifice?





**My desperate attempt at a spoiler free review**

So, I'm in love. I'm in love with a cat. A big, talking cat.

Kio has stolen my heart with his loyalty and snark, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get it back.

But, I digress.

Dylan, Tyjinn and Kio are back and thrust into another adventure where they set out to do more than should be expected of any of them.

We're introduced to Cole as he loses everything he loves most, including his boyfriend Jonah. Dylan is then sent by his father to get Cole after his father sees what has happened to him. But on the return, Cole is influenced by someone less than trustworthy, Thistle, who promises to help him get back what it is he wants most. Jonah.

And, really, who can blame the kid? He's just lost it all, of course he'll do what it takes to get back the most important person in his life.

Now, Thistle. I kinda liked the guy. I sympathized with him more than once and could kind of see where he was coming from. Yeah, he was all kinds of cray and disturbed, but the glimpses into his past did help to make him a tad likeable, even for a villain.

What I enjoyed most about this Loka book (besides Kio) was the different directions in the plot. This wasn't Dylan's story like the first book, nor was is Cole's book. We have a whole cast of great characters all working in different ways against Thistle.

My favorite of these sub-plots was that we learned quite a bit about Kio's parents and his past. But in my desperate attempt at 'no spoilers' I won't say much more about that. Except that I was more than surprised at where he came from and more than pleased with Kio's reaction.

From Darkness to Darkness was just that... pretty dark. Much darker than the first with much more heartache. No big surprise here, but Jay Bell did manage to squeeze a couple tears out of me. It's like he knows exactly which strings to tug.

This is, first and foremost, a fantasy adventure. But there is a great love story that, I'd say, is pretty epic, too.
"Dylan grabbed Tyjinn and kissed him. This is why he loved him. Not for his handsome face or beautiful body, not for his power, talent, or all the other traits that had first made Tyjinn so alluring. No, Dylan loved him for his heart, which despite his cool exterior, burned with endless passion for him, for truth, for everything right and just."
As a romance reader, I enjoyed every scene that Dylan and Tyjinn shared. Their relationship has grown since the last book and I love where they are now. And I not only had their story to gush over, but Cole and Jonah's as well.




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