Dark Tracks

Order of Darkness #4

by Philippa Gregory

Join the Order of Darkness in their quest to witness the end of the world in the fourth volume of Philippa Gregory’s epic adventure series.
 
PRAISE FOR THE ORDER OF DARKNESS SERIES:
‘…attractive characters, several layers of mystery, and as one might expect, meticulously researched historical detail’ The Daily Mail
‘The plot is deftly conceived…and the setting richly detailed.’ The Daily Telegraph
‘This is still one of the most enthralling historical series of recent years, with Gregory's descriptions bringing 15th century Venice vividly to life’ The Bookbag

Luca Vero is a member of the secret Order of Darkness, tasked by his master to uncover the truth behind strange happenings, Lady Isolde, her friend and confidant Ishraq, Luca’s manservant Freize, and Brother Peter travel miles across medieval Europe – seeking out the signs of the end of days, judging the supernatural and testing the new science.
 
Trapped in a village possessed by a dancing madness, the group fights to keep their own sanity. When Isolde dances away in red shoes and Ishraq takes dramatic revenge on their covert assassin the young people discover that the greatest danger is in the men who have come to their rescue. These are the truly dangerous madmen of Europe who carry a dark hatred that will last for centuries. 
 
Dive deep into the world of medieval legends and disentangle reality from fear in this powerful series from the internationally renowned author of historical fiction Philippa Gregory.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult, Fiction, Romance, Audiobook

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 6, 2018

About the author

DR PHILIPPA GREGORY studied history at the University of Sussex and was awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh where she is a Regent and was made Alumna of the Year in 2009. She holds an honorary degree from Teesside University, and is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff. Philippa is a member of the Society of Authors and in 2016, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Historical Fiction Award by the Historical Writers’ Association. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Platinum Award by Neilsen for achieving significant lifetime sales across her entire book output. In 2021, she was awarded a CBE for services to literature and to her charity Gardens for the Gambia. and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

She welcomes visitors to her site www.PhilippaGregory.com.

Philippa's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/PhilippaGregoryOfficial

Reviews

[Ashley Marsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This just was not good. The series as a whole has really gone downhill. The characters, far from “developing,” have regressed into fairly annoying caricatures of themselves. The lack of plot in this is astounding. It feels as if it was written in a single afternoon. I understand the thinly veiled Holocaust references, but they weren’t actually useful to the story, and they didn’t bring anything profound enough to merit including such a heavy topic in the first place. The most annoying question of the first three books was always regarding which characters would end up together. This book really ruined that for me. While I was originally rooting for the “couple” from the first three books, despite the weird almost love triangle thing going on, this book changed everything. I truly hope they all end up alone. The entire thing was ridiculous, from beginning to end. I don’t know if I’ll continue with the series, but I’m 100% sure I won’t be waiting eagerly for the next release.

[The Book Queen]

GIVE IT TO ME NOW

[✨ kathryn ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I think that it might have helped if I'd read the first three instalments of the Order of Darkness series, this worked so well as a standalone. Such an interesting premise, obviously based on historical facts. So interesting (and also a little scary) to witness the mistreatment of Jews even back in the 1400s. The ending was poignant and drew the novel to a close so well. Powerful.

[Marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boooo.....this book brought the series down by giant steps. I didn't enjoy the plot and actually I'm not sure the plot made sense.

Gregory "danced" around what was the source of this plague but never did this mystery truly get solved. Also, the relationships seemed completely altered in this book along with a horrifying twist of events in a love relationship that still doesn't flow well with me. I'm pretty sure my entire opinion of the characters and the storyline itself is forever altered in a bad way by this twist and if there's a plot behind this change, fine, but I still don't like it.

As much as I love Gregory's adult fiction books, this is one is terrible. I only give it 2 stars vs 1 because I did finish it in hopes it would improve which it did not.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm done with this series now - I just have no interest in these characters anymore.

[Stacie (MagicOfBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will also do a video review here at my channel: http://www.youtube.com/magicofbooks

"Dark Tracks" is book 4 in Philippa Gregory's "Order of Darkness" series. Luca and his friends travel to a new town to continue their quest to learn about mysterious events that threaten Christendom and foretell the end of days. This time they come across a village where many of the townspeople have become possessed by the "dancing sickness."

Another great book in this series. And when might the next book be released? There's been a couple year gap between books 3 and 4. But Philippa Gregory is also working on a new series at the moment and I feel like "Order of Darkness" is just a fun series to her to relax with and release new books when she feels like it. I don't imagine a new book being released anytime soon since she's currently writing another series.

I really liked the premise of this book. Luca and friends are investigating the "dancing sickness." Villagers are just running around, endlessly dancing. Is there a cure? Can they be saved? What started this madness? Our characters get a bit caught up in this as we see with Isolde and Freize who get caught in the madness. Luca in the meantime goes to the local lord who rules over the village. Luca is seeking the help and assistance of this lord, but the lord is cruel, thinking that the best solution is to kill the dancing villagers. Isolde and Freize end up dancing to a Jewish community for refuge and this is where the more dramatic aspects of the book take place. Philippa Gregory's biggest theme with this book is the fear of the other. We see that with the fear of the dancing villagers who are "the other." And we see it again with the Jewish community who are seen as "the other." There is prejudice and hatred of the other and what is different and not normal in the eyes of people who call themselves charitable Christians. I appreciated what Gregory was doing with the story and how characters behaved with one another with the Jews, but it did get a bit on the nose by foreshadowing the Holocaust. Isolde even has a dream (or maybe even a vision) of the Jews being transported on trains to concentration camps. It reads a bit heavy handed almost and I don't think pushing the theme of "the other" had to go that far in that direction. We know history often repeats itself and we could have just read that in the context of what was going on---it didn't need to be forced in the characters dialogue, if that makes sense.

Can I bring up again my frustrations with the love-quadrangle between Luca/Isolde/Freize/Ishraq? It baffles me that mature-adult-author Philippa Gregory is creating this love-quadrangle! Does she feel the need to force one since this is considered a young adult novel and she thinks young readers want to see that? The thing is, most young readers find love-triangles (or quadrangles, or whatever) a nuisance and don't like them all that much. Whenever the more romantic aspects are brought up in this book they often read as cliche and cringey. The characters make the stupidest mistakes and say the stupidest things! These young characters are incredibly smart, intelligent people, considering the medieval world they live in. But their romantic love lives our completely uninteresting. I wouldn't mind the Luca/Isolde pairing, and I actually like Ishraq/Freize, but they are all confused and intermingle and it's kind of unnecessary I think. The strongest parts of these books are the investigating of things that appear supernatural but have explanations and these characters learning and growing as a result. It can be a bit messy at times when the romance is thrown in.

Overall, book 4 was good. I do enjoy the series in general. I feel like there's things I'm learning. I think Philippa Gregory could be a bit tighter with her narrative. Definitely looking forward to book 5 whenever that arrives, which like I said, could be years from now. I'm just anxious to get to Vlad the Impaler, you guys! I think that's where this series is ultimately heading, but I think it's going to be a good long while until we get there.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dissapointing fourth instalement in the order of darkness series. Even though the books that preceeded this one weren't my favourite, they still held some merit and I enjoyed reading them. However, with Dark Tracks the storyline was all over the place and there seemed to be very little resolution. The limited character development that took place was frustrating and changed everything we had got used to in the previous books.

I don't think I'll be reading the next installment in the series when it is released because at this point, I just don't care.

[Lori Field · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good installment in the Order of Darkness series. The characters chase down another sign of the end of days. I like that Gregory weaves true history or historical events into her novels. I didn’t really like how she tied it to more modern history at the end. I can see her wanting to pay tribute/remember, but it was just too out of place. I also don’t like the love “shift”. Come on, really?

[Coffee & books · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not good. I've read many books by Philippa and enjoyed all of them. But this series, Order of Darkness, went from strength to... well, weakness. The first book in the series was great, the 2nd one good, the 3rd one not so good, but this one was rubbish. Mass hysteria, a Golem, and dreams about the Holocaust, quite going into fantasy.

[Beatriz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Luca met Ishraq


So MANY Spoilers!

So, I ship Luca and Isolde, for starters. It’s been kind of expected since the beginning and I never felt deep romantic tension between Ishraq and Luca.
My emotions may have colored my experience of this book. I wasn’t listening to it on a road trip to go to my dear friend’s funeral. I loved my friend deeply and truly. My friend was a man and I am a woman. We loved each other deeply as friends.
Therefore, I was disgusted when Luca decided that remembering all the things he loved about Ishraq made him IN LOVE with her. SERIOUSLY???! You can be friends with someone of the opposite sex, love them deeply and true and it doesn’t need to be a romantic/sexual relationship (which is a horrible heteronormative trope, anyway!)
And Ishraq slept with him because....? I get she is a free spirit, but chicks before d$&@s, man. She even told Isolde in Fool’s Gold that no one loved Isolde like Luca and than she sleeps with the dude like a bad one night stand!
The allusions to the Holocaust are pretty heavy handed, but if a young person was reading this book, that heavy handedness might be useful.
This series is very plot driven, but it never gets to where it needs to go. The characters never get the exploration they deserve. Why does Brother Peter stay? Why is Isolde torn about sharing her inheritance with her half sister when they were going to be together anyway. Why is Luca still a part of the Church?
Like the sucker I am, I’ll probably read the next book. I just hope Ishraq isn’t pregnant.

[Gabbie Pop · Rating 2 out of 5]

**DISCLAIMER: I was sent an early copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
(and boy do I think they're going to regret that choice,but hey ho,#authenticity)
I was not exactly a fan of the previous books in this series,so needless to say,my expectations for this one weren't exactly what you would call,well,high.However,I still ended up quite underwhelmed,which is quite the achievement.
I literally could not care about any of the characters' storylines for once and I thought the consistency of most of their characters lacked painfully.I also quite honestly thought that the actual plot of this served so little to the main plot of the series for a whole volume that I could've done without,but what can you do.
Luca remains the actual worst and I'd rather read about a turtle as a protagonist than him.Doesn't even have to be a fun turtle.
To be fair,much as I have to complain about these books,if I were to request the next volume from the library once it's out (or somehow be offered a copy of it from the publisher,though that sounds a wee bit unrealistic after this review),I would most definitely be tempted to pick it up because these books are soooooo easy to get through,I have pretty much read most of them in one seating;they are rather addicting and a little bit like crack in book form

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this series, though sometimes I'm not sure how to categorize it. It's a wonderful way of telling very old history, which unfortunately has a way of repeating itself. I did not know this about how the Jews were treated in villages in the 1500's, absolutely no idea.

[~Sofia~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I Have not been the biggest fan of this series, although I am a huge fan of the author. However Ya Fantasy Historical fiction does not seem to be her forte.

It was much of the same as the other books in this series however there was no progression to an actual outcome of the whole situation. It has drama and intrigue but it is seems to be somewhat diluted. Maybe YA is just not my genre? This book did keep me more captivated than the other ones I have to say, the Dancing Curse was a little odd and out there and a few strange things happened along the way that kept my interest, however this was a case of “Do I actually care to find out what happens to these people?” If I was not such a stickler for not leaving a book unfinished I don’t think I would of bothered.

I’m just not feeling this series AT ALL.

[Eli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like this series overall but it's really seeming to go down hill a bit. It was fun to read and everything but it got confusing. The writing was often blunt and the symbolism was very in your face. This book was interesting from a historical point of view and carried some very important themes which I really enjoyed. The characters were a little disappointing because I found them to be inconsistent with their personalities in the previous books. The love story took an extremely different turn than I was expecting but I am actually completely fine with it. Overall I will probably keep going with this series as it was a quick read that had its moments.

[Helen Ashforth-Foster · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is just confusing. Philippa Gregory appears to opt to ignore the character building and development of the relationships between each characters from the previous 3 novels. The whole Luca -Ishraq storyline is just confusing. The story is also incredibly thin and you can really see where the story is going from the off. There is also the most awkward inclusion of reference to the Holocaust. I get Gregory was to draw comparisons between the mediveal perscuetions of the Jews and the Nazis but it is far too clunky and clumsy.

[Beth Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite Gregory's style, which I often find stilted, I am enjoying this series that I initially picked up for a song in the works. A valid examination of prejudice and fear of that which seems "other". The characters are bold and I enjoy Isolde and Ishraq's no nonsense attitudes and am curious to see how the series ends. They are short reads that vary between mindless and challenging (in terms of our own views - this latest installment particularly at this time of rising prejudice).

[Jo M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this on the giveaway. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, so I had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. Not the most exciting of books, but the plot certainly had plenty going for it and kept my attention, which really is impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense involved and didn't guess any of the outcomes. Definitely one worth reading.

[Sarah-Jane Suddick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't put it down.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not as good as the previous books I have read from Philippa Gregory.
The series is interesting but the quality of each books drops as it advances.

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isolad dreams of the Holocaust at end of book. Before warned this story will haunt you.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been over a year since I read books 1-3 in this series, yet I quite easily slipped back into the story. This is a testament to the author that the characters are familiar & rememberable. The particular storyline of the dancing sickness was very interesting, as was the treatment of the Jews. I love how Philippa Gregory not only provides entertainment but a history lesson, too! Overall, it was an easy read for historical fiction & although it benefits having read the previous books, I feel this book could also be read as a standalone.

[Alfie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars

19/03/18

Overview:

The Dark Tracks is the fourth book in the Order of Darkness series. In this series we follow our main character, Luca Vero who is considered a ‘changeling’, and as a result he is recruited by the Pope into the Order of Darkness, where he will travel the world as an inquirer to investigate the perceived ‘end of days’. In this instalment, Luca and his band of friends continue to inquire about the end of days in Christendom.

Character – Rating: 5/5

Probably the best thing about this whole series are the characters. Obviously after four books I like the series and feel for the characters as I’ve followed them for such a long time. I originally read the first book when I was 12 years old and reading this book was a massive throwback for me. Luca, Isolde, Frieze, and I guess, Brother Peter are all complex and just wonderful characters to read from. My favourite though, is Ishraq, she’s just a pure bad-ass woman who doesn’t take any nonsense, and she’s just great. I think the characters do make this novel, as if the characters were mediocre then the book would just be quite a nothing book in my opinion. Gregory definitely saves it with her complex characters.

Plot – Rating: 2/5

I did think this was one of the weaker plots in the whole series, to be honest. I felt that there was never really a clear storyline and it was just a mixture of things. It starts off on the basis that there is a dancing sickness that forces people to dance, and Luca and the crew are trying to inquire about how this may relate to the end of days. I felt this plot line got a bit lost in the whole relation to the oppression of Jews, and whilst this was interesting, the dancing sickness never really concluded. I never really felt we had been given a definitive answer, and the book felt like the whole adventure had been pretty much for nothing. However, we did get the progression on Isolde’s fight for Lucretili, and that was quite interesting and fun and added an underlying plot to the storyline which I felt the books needed. And oh my lord the romance! The first three books we are pretty much told the budding romance, but it all changes in this book, and to be honest, I’m conflicted. Whilst it’s pretty adorable, I still feel like the woman should be with someone else 3 which I’m not going to reveal as I don’t want to spoil anyone.

World Building and Writing – Rating: 3.5/5

I decided to incorporate writing in this, as it’s not a fantastical world really. There is a brief lay out that I feel is described well by Gregory, however, I would like to know more about the history of the Ottomans and the Jews, as I think that would give me more knowledge about the struggle between religions. However, the world is relatively standard. I do think Gregory is one of the best historical fiction writers to ever grace the earth – all of her stuff is well researched and she manages to tell the story very compellingly. Although, I feel as if this series restricts her writing and it seems very simplistic and more like this happened then this happened, then this happened, it didn’t have the same flow that most Gregory novels do. This is possibly due to this being aimed at quite a younger audience. So, yeah, I think the world building and writing was pretty standard, nothing special but certainly not bad at all.

Overall Rating – 3.5/5

Overall, the Order of Darkness books are never going to be the best literary texts in the world, and is certainly not one of the best from Gregory. However, it’s a really solid historical/fantasy series that is very enjoyable and holds lots of sentimental and nostalgic values to me.

[Andreea Trezak · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? I love Philippa Gregory, and I love this series. The book ends a bit strange, so I hope another one is coming!

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I waited for ages for this book to be released and just recently I finally got around to buying it. I have read all the previous books in the series and really enjoyed them, I loved them so much I bought the first two as a present for my niece to read. So as you can imagine I was quite excited to read this book. Sadly the book did not live up to my enthusiasm and I doubt I will be recommending it to my niece.

The story continues with the same five characters from the series, Luca, Brother Peter, Freize, Isolde, and Ishraq. Luca is a novice not yet a full monk who works for the Order of Darkness a secret order that is monitoring things for the signs of the end of days. Brother Peter is a full monk who is following Luca writing down everything that they see and writing the reports for the secret order. He is also the oldest member of the five and makes sure that Luca remains faithful to his training to one day be a monk. Freize is Luca’s manservant who is extremely loyal and unfailing in his service. Isolde is a noblewoman who is trying to fight for her lands and castle with her friend Ishraq who she grew up with.

Luca, Brother Peter and Freize have been sent off to follow and study the people affected by the dancing sickness or madness, people in groups have decided to go off and dance leaving everything they know behind them. As their road is the same as Isolde’s and Ishraq’s they carry on travelling together.

The dancing sickness or madness was a phenomenon that was recorded in medieval times and times after that and there have been many theories as to the cause, however it has never been confirmed as to what it is. I always enjoy Gregory’s books because of the historical references within them and I was intrigued by the dancing sickness when reading about it in the blurb, however the book did not reveal as much as I would like to have learnt about it and the final result the characters came up with regarding it was a huge disappointment, it was like Gregory just wanted the book to finish within a certain word count and so gave up.

The other issue she discussed in the book was the treatment of Jews in the medieval times and this I did find interesting and was horrified about what I learnt from it. The scene at the end of the book was also very interesting. This issue is basically why the book did not get just one star.

In this book I found the two females sadly lacking, in the previous books they had been so strong and not the typical weak female of the time. However, this time Isolde fell in love with a pair of shoes and Ishraq some earrings when they knew they were meant to be on their guard. They came across as very vain and uninteresting. Ishraq did show her fighting skills and that was good to read but Isolde just came across as a protected spoiled brat and the more I read regarding her the less I liked her.

Considering this is the fourth book in the series the characters are not growing and to be honest have grown stale. I want to see their characters develop and to see them grow intellectually and emotionally and to be honest they almost went backwards in this book. Brother Peter and Freize were the only two who made the book bearable.

Overall the book showed what we already know, nobility in medieval times were horrible, self centred and cared nothing for their people. The treatment of Jews was a surprise for me and the dancing sickness was interesting to read about. However I could read about the Jews’ history and the dancing sickness in a history book and probably find it a great deal more interesting. The characters were severely lacking and quite frankly dull. I doubt I will bother to read the next in the series which is a great shame as the previous three were excellent.

[Andreia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depois de, sensivelmente, 2 anos e meio à espera de pôr as minhas mãos neste livro…. e tendo em conta que cometi o erro de ler isto de uma só vez, durante uma só noite … dizer que as minhas emoções estão descontroladas é, no mínimo, um belo eufemismo!

Não estou de todo desiludida (aliás, não creio que chegue o dia em que um livro desta autora não seja fenomenal), porém não consigo deixar de sentir que merecíamos mais. Nos três primeiros livros somos bombardeados com variados sentimentos, segredos, meias verdades e, em especial, demasiadas hipóteses sobre o futuro. O que, apesar de simultaneamente frustar e emocionar, é também natural e o resultado de um ainda parco conhecimento sobre estas personagens, das suas verdadeiras qualidades, defeitos, ambições e, mais importante, da dinâmica entre eles.
Consequentemente, neste livro o expectável seria obter algumas respostas.

Expectável, disse eu ….

Sucintamente, estou por completo às escuras sobre aquilo que o futuro guardará para os nossos quatro heróis.
Se os anteriores livros teceram uma teia de teorias e suspeitas na minha cabeça, este, por sua vez, criou um descomunal emaranhado.

Philippa Gregory, prodigiosamente, consegue que a aventura e os dramas expostos neste livro se sobreponham às relações, aos avanços e recuos das personagens principais, a toda a curiosidade instalada sobre determinados (E EXTREMAMENTE INTENSOS) eventos do livro anterior. E, por conseguinte, impede me de terminar sem abordar este aspecto.

Podem afirmar (a alto e bom som, inclusive) que não gostam de História.
Podem garantir (com convicção, se assim o preferirem) que não tem importância aquilo foi visto, ouvido, sentido ou valorizado há 100, 500 ou 1000 anos atrás.
Podem até rugir que o desafio, aquilo que entusiasma e incita a nossa geração é o futuro.

Nesse caso (tão simples como o apresentam), APRENDAM !!!

Quantos erros teremos de ecoar ?
Quantas barbaridades teremos de repetidamente testemunhar ?
Quantas órfãos teremos de criar para ser suficiente ?

Mais do que uma raça intitulada inovadora, fausta e persistente, a raça humana é mesquinha e rápida a esquecer. É cruel, dói e deixa marca, mas só tenho a agradecer a esta espantosa autora por continuamente me chocar com a verdade e por nunca me deixar esquecer.

[Felicity Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fan of Philippa Gregory's historical novels. I have to admit that, as a more mature reader, though at first dubious about her branching out into the Young Adult market, I'm really rather enjoying her Order Of Darkness books ... albeit to varying degrees.

Not so enamoured of books one and three in the series (Changeling and Fool's Gold) as with book two (Stormbringers). For me, probably the strongest book in the series thus far, Dark Tracks made for interesting reading based as it is on accounts of an unexplained phenomenon which saw people spontaneously break out into a dance-like trance.

A great exploration of fear and prejudice and how they can take hold leading to persecution. The fact that the mysterious 'creature' of the previous instalment made a re-appearance and was explained to such effect of particular delight to me. However ...

Not an aspect of the story I particularly enjoyed to begin with, alas, I was disappointed that the 'romance' took the turn I had thought it might whilst hoping it wouldn't. Arguably the perfect opportunity for the author to further explore the dynamics between the four young protagonists but I am sad given that, this aspect of the story aside, the book(s) resonate with a strong sense of female empowerment.

Copyright ... Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

🙂

[Georgia Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wasn't in the reading mood at all this month, but suddenly read almost the entire book today. I really enjoyed this book, at times I thought that it was hard to keep up with and I couldn't fully understand the situations or scenes because the descriptions didn't really make sense to me. I couldn't picture how the 'Being' looked, or sometimes the time scales, for example when frieze was trying to save Isolde. I'm really curious about the love triangle, and where it will all go, also how Isolde will react to Ishraq and Luca.

[JJ Weir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh no she didn't! Have I loved this series? YES! Therein lies the problem. First, this one is a bit off, compared to the first three (not that I mind), but add to that, there doesn't seem to be another coming out and I still have plenty of questions regarding certain characters and plots...I mean, I need answers! I wouldn't mind if there were more books to continue the series, but like I said, it looks like this is where the train stops and there doesn't seem to be another destination in the works. I just can't get over it.