Drawn Into Oblivion

The Dark Court #2

by Ruby Duvall

She thought her only desire was to serve the empress. Her heart has other plans.

Mai has found purpose serving as a house elder in the newly reformed imperial court, and she's determined to help the empress fulfill her destiny to lead an army into the plane of Oblivion and kill the Damned One. But an old trauma prevents Mai from realizing her full potential, and she's not sure she can open up her heart to the man who's eager to help her see that she's already a true leader—one far more passionate than she believes.

Rosuke, newly freed from a centuries-long curse, wants nothing more than to seize the kind of honorable life he'd previously discarded—one defined by sacrifice and love—even though he may not deserve it. And he's more than willing to do everything he can to earn a place in Mai's heart. However, their difficult pasts aren't the only obstacles to a future together—not when they're committed to fighting alongside the empress, even if it means their lives.

Fall in love all over again with the second-edition release of Drawn Into Oblivion. Rediscover the legacy of the Dark Court and enjoy improved readability, snappier dialogue, hotter love scenes, and tighter narration.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Paranormal, Ebooks

342 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2009

About the author

Ruby Duvall began writing out of spite for otherwise wonderfully written romances that nevertheless didn’t quite satisfy. Her addiction to the happily-ever-after began as a teenager, and she wrote her first story at fifteen before moving on to fanfiction and then original fiction. Though she grew up in the Midwest, she now lives with her husband and two children in Seattle. When she’s not writing, she reads, enjoys video games, and bakes.

Reviews

[Katarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly so good!!! the sexy times are very sexy indeed, i loved the characters (their chemistry is honestly insane) and the plot remains pretty solid. it's not perfect, and honestly if i wanted to i could dig into it and the rating would be lower, but i entered it knowing what i wanted (just a ton of smut ok that's all i needed) and all my expectations were very much fulfilled as i cared for the couple and their relationship, so it just worked for me.

i'll definitely check out the next book once it's out, though i'm a bit worried as i don't tend to like second chance romances, and the plot has been sorted out for the most part. we also knew a lot more about the leads going into this book, so the attachment was already there. we'll see!

[nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.6⭐. This rating is in comparison to the first book of the series.

This book was a bit better but the fantasy aspect still needed more work and the two major plot points were not thoroughly explored. I still don't recognize a good reason that was given for Mai to overcome her trauma and while the chemistry was nice and I enjoyed this relationship, the progression did not make sense to me.

[Danielle Carley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just so boring compared to the first? The first book was so bad that it was good, this was trying too hard to be good which made it bad 😂 I had to force myself to just skim read it

[lacepockets · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloggy part I will probably put in front of all my reviews for this author:
I have been a fan of Ruby's writing and storytelling for years, ever since she was actively posting her Inuyasha fanfiction. I remember when she shifted to becoming a more "traditional" author, I was so hyped. Some Things™ happened, and I fell "out of touch" for a while, until I rediscovered her and her stories a number of years ago.

The actual review:
This is technically a review for all of The Dark Court series so far. I don't want to just copy and paste it everywhere, so it's going on the second book since the third isn't out yet!

The Dark Court series as a whole is my favorite series. I have re-read it multiple times and adored it just as much each time. I love every one of the characters and the world that Ruby has built. I love that it is heavily based in antiquated Japanese culture, which has been a special interest of mine for a long time. The magic system and religion is fascinating, and the way things are set up and gradually revealed is genius. Even though this is at its core a fantasy story, I can really immerse myself in it, because I find it very believable. The characters just feel so human, regardless of whether they fully are or not. Because of that, the dangers and tension presented in the story can really make my heart race. I'm cheering for the characters so hard!

The romance is, of course, also perfect. It develops quickly, but realistically so, so if slow burn isn't quite your thing, you'll be into this! The chemistry between the couples is very well thought out and presented, and it's easy to see why they fall in love. And the PINING!!! Oh, the pining. Even when they can have what they want, they pine so hard for each other, and it's GLORIOUS.

The sex is quite explicit, and that's just how I like it. Sometimes euphemisms can remove me from narration (it depends), and I prefer things to be very well described, so the way sexytimes are written by Ruby is my ideal. She does it without sounding outright clinical, which is another plus. Let's just say the sex scenes can make me wiggle!

I love this series so much, I love Ruby's writing, and I am so excited for the third book to come out (VERY soon)! ♥

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book better then the first, although there were still quite a lot of aspects that could have been improved.
Overall it was enjoyable, and I think walking into this after the first book and having a better idea of what to expect made it a much better expiernce.

I liked the characters and their arcs, my only issue being that I would have liked to see things paced a little better and given more time to develop.
The general lore and fantasy, world building was really intriguing. I would have loved to have seen it be developed futher and be a more central focus of the plot.

I think if you're looking for a romantacy read and you're not too fussed on the actual plot or fantasy aspect, then you should look at this.
In saying that, there still is so much potential within the fantasy aspect and I'm really hoping to see that capitalised on during the third book.

[☆ susan ☆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have a theory.

i think this author is legitimately allergic to writing actual/proper relationship development between their main characters. because holy hell, i had no idea sexual trauma and male phobia could be cured by a good dick, yall!! amazing concept! totally not insulting :-)

and mai, bless her heart. she had no idea her beloved empress already fucked her man with her husband. she had zeroclue. she’s the clown in the whole situation—made a fool by everyone around her.

[Maria Fatma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book more than the first one! We were introduced to Mai and Rosuke in the previous installment and I really liked both of them as characters so I immediately decided to read their story and it did not disappoint. I also love how this book was different from the first one in terms of how the romantic relationship between Mai and Rosuke developed. Overall it was a fun experience.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This action be spicy

I was worried this book wouldn’t hold up to the first, but I was wrong! While the spice is more drawn out and slow burn than the first book. The action scenes in this one are much more intricate. I highly recommend it.

[SYLVIA · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you read this as a teen, keep it that way.

Rereading this as an adult was a terrible decision. The writing was ok, the storyline solid, but the romantic scenes were more unrestrained carnage and unrealistic,although still entertaining.

[Neoma Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty decent

I really like how well Duval has developed her skills. Although she still fell into the cusp of 'fanfiction writing', it was still a great read.

[becca ⭐️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book better than the first, loved the characters, got bored when the actual fantasy stuff happened but overall not a bad experience reading this!!

[Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book, Caught in the Devil's Hand, was simply amazing and was my first read ever by Ruby. I loved it so much, I just had to buy the next two in the series. Personally, this second installment left me feeling underwhelmed. If you read the first book, we focused on Shumei and Vallen, but this second book focuses on their friends Mai and Rosuke. It just felt like some parts were drawn out and not relevant to the story or important to the story. I found myself getting bored easily and skimming some pages, as this book was not that easy for me to follow or understand. I got lost a lot which caused me to lose focus, but that may just be a personal problem and not necessarily the fault of the author. Ruby's writing style is captivating and overall, it's a great fantasy novel with much romance and action. But I feel like there was so much writing and not enough action per see, or some things were just added to be "page fillers" and hit the word count.