Between the Light and Dark

by Shannen L. Colton

One would think a damsel in distress would be in less distress after she’s rescued. But that all depends on who rescues her.

Elysia, princess of the light elves, is only allowed outside after nightfall once a year, and for good reason; dark forces rule the night, and this year, a grim surprise awaits her after the Harvest Sunset.

A foul host of goblins snatches Elysia from her escort and drags her away, blighting her with an ailment that will take her life within a week. When a mysterious elf comes to her rescue, promising an antidote, Elysia has no choice but to put her hope in him—even after he reveals that this antidote comes in the hands of creatures far worse than goblins, creatures the princess fears above all others: the dark elves.

Swept up in her rescuer’s schemes, Elysia is plunged into the heart of dark elven territory, where she learns a horrifying secret about her kingdom’s adversaries.

Genres: Fantasy

414 pages, Paperback

Published November 22, 2016

About the author

Shannen L. Colton is a professional daydreamer (read: fantasy author) who writes from Western New York. She enjoys a quiet life with her family and cats.

Reviews

[Aqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

While admittedly the beginning of this book was a bit slow and hard to get into, by the time I was 100 pages in, I couldn't put it down and finished the rest of the book in 2 days. I found Elysia really annoying and over-the-top prejudiced in this beginning (I realize this was intentional, but it was grating to read at first). Likewise, I thought the setup was a bit unsubtle with the "evil" dark elves and Vekter's character goal literally being to effect character development in Elysia. However, we soon realize the world isn't quite as simple as it seems and I quickly jumped on board when the pace picked up. Many of the characters that annoyed me early on, Elysia and Aerin, grew on me over time. I thought the pacing was well done and the "twist" intriguing. The overall theme is a good message, and I found myself quite invested in the characters and the action. It was quite an enjoyable read, overall.

Only problem I had was with the treatment of the goblins at the end. They spend the whole book telling you it's bad that the light and dark elves are fighting because the other race is not just evil like they all assume and they are all really the same. They all have families and feel emotion and just want to live in peace. Also, the book sends the message that you can't just dwell on years of fighting and pain forever as it's a never-ending cycle and forgiveness and moving forward are important. But I felt they leaned a bit too heavily on the part of the message that said they shouldn't fight just because they're the same species, because right after they make peace at the end they turn to the goblins and basically say "you killed many of us in the distant past, get out of our lands, we will murder you if we ever see you again." Just seemed to really undermine the whole message of the book. Why did no one think maybe there was a misunderstanding with the goblins too and that it might be possible to establish peace? Also, the goblins haven't warred against them in seemingly hundreds of years, what happened to forgiveness? Instead it seems to be implied that they are an irredeemably evil species and that makes it ok to murder them on sight.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of Between the Light and Dark in a Goodreads Giveaway.
*3.5 out of 5 stars*

I definitely enjoyed reading Between the Light and Dark. An interesting story of two very different yet very similar elven kingdoms, I was not bored at any point. I liked how the chapters were shorter (it helps to find a good stopping point for the day). Also the texture of the book cover was great. I just wish it wasn't such a YA book, I would've like to see a bit more violence during the war and maybe more of an adult relationship between Elysia and Vekter. Overall very enjoyable!