A Broken Darkness

Beneath the Rising #2

by Premee Mohamed

The highly anticipated sequel to Beneath the Rising, which was named one best science fiction and fantasy books of the year by The Washington Post.

It’s been a year and a half since the Anomaly, when They tried to force their way into the world from the shapeless void. Nick Prasad is piecing his life together, and has joined the secretive Ssarati Society to help monitor threats to humanity – including his former friend Johnny.

Right on cue, the unveiling of Johnny’s latest experiment sees more portals opened to Them, leaving her protesting her innocence even as the two of them are thrown together to fight the darkness once more…

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction, Lovecraftian, Canada

480 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2021

About the author

Premee Mohamed is a Nebula award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author based in Edmonton, Alberta. She is an Assistant Editor at the short fiction audio venue Escape Pod and the author of the 'Beneath the Rising' series of novels as well as several novellas. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues and she can be found on Twitter at @premeesaurus and on her website at www.premeemohamed.com.

Reviews

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 Stars
After loving the first book, Beneath the Rising, I was incredibly excited to review it's sequel. It took me a while to get back into the story, but eventually I got pulled in.

The best aspect of these books continued to be the relationship between the two main characters. The author did a fantastic job developing a friendship that truly felt deep. 

These speculative fiction books straddle the lines between fantasy, science fiction and horror. With the first book, I honestly struggled to classify it between these three genres. However, I would say that it's sequel definitely felt like horror. The story is fairly action packed, at times to the detriment of the story. However, I was certainly intrigued by The Ancient Ones and enjoyed learning more about them.

I did not enjoy this one as much as the first book, but it still had pieces of what I loved in that book. This could be the end of the series, but I certainly would be interested to read more by this speculative author. I would recommend this one to fans of Cosmic Horror.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher Rebellion Publishing.

[K.J. Charles]

Cosmic horror sequel to the fabulous Beneath the Rising, in which the world was briefly but catastrophically invaded by Them, and now They're back. Tainted genius Johnny Chambers once again may or may not be our only hope, but this time forced sidekick Nick Prasad is aware that his friendship and love for her was magically imposed to make him, basically, her emotional support animal (his term) and he's plotting against her.

It's very much about this toxic relationship and Nick's complicated but very stuck feelings. These are really well done but suffer a bit from the eternal problem that when the character feels stuck in the same groove, so does the reader. It's frustrating, which may well be the effect the author is going for, but that doesn't stop me wishing for more movement/change/some way to break out of the dynamic.

The world building is complex, with secret societies and extra dimensions and science/magic and quantum, a word that shuts my brain down, and the cosmic horror is impressively creepy. I also adored how public responses to the sky ripping open and tentacle things coming out of nowhere ranges from panic/hiding to people wandering around completely ignoring their imminent death like the white catastrophe isn't happening. That probably wouldn't have seemed plausible this time last year.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should be right up my street. It’s a contemporary take on Lovecraftian cosmic horror, with guest appearances from our old friends Nyarlothotep and Azagthoth. There’s some convincing evocations of those weird and eldritch dimensions just beneath our own, and epic battles against crawling tentacled horrors. The book also has interesting things to say about colonialism and empire, allied to Indiana Jones style globetrotting and adventure. So why aren’t there five stars at the top of this review?

It’s the lead characters, I’m afraid. One of them is just an awful awful person, and the other knows it but trails round after them like a little lovesick puppy dog. To make matters worse, while they are capable of talking to other characters like adults, the conversations between the two of them are smug self important banter full of lame humour and smart arsed oneupmanship that’s more suited to minor showboating on Twitter than it is facing down alien threats to our very existence. It deflates any tension that’s building, and frankly makes me want to punch the pair of them. I'd read the first book, so to be fair I knew this going in. I'd hoped that the revelations at the end of that one might have changed this dynamic, but they haven't really, not in any practical sense. It’s probably just me. If you like Joss Whedonesque clever clever dialogue, and let’s face it a lot of people do, you might well find it charming and fall in love with them, but it didn’t work for me. It’s unfortunate that the thing I didn’t like is front and centre, because there’s an awful lot otherwise that is good here, and I’ll look out for more by this author.

[Lata · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
Premee Mohamed rejoins her characters after some time has passed after the events in book one. Johnny is off being brilliant, and Nick is hurting, broken and angry from his experiences saving the world from monsters from another dimension, and more importantly, having been manipulated all his life.
He’s now working for Sariti, and when an opportunity presents itself, travels to Edinburgh for the launch of a new reactor by Johnny. Of course, things don’t go well. In fact, things go all tentacled and bloody and gory, and Nick and Johnny have to figure out what to do to deal with the monsters. However, Nick’s anger and damage are a factor, and Johnny’s secrets, which she divulged to him on their last save-the-world jaunt; even while they begin travelling like they did in book one, there’s a high level of friction in all their interactions, even while they easily fall back into old friendship behaviour patterns.

This was a more difficult book to read, as Nick spent a lot of time circling back to his anger with Johnny, and his regret over having hurt his family (in book one). I actually loathed Johnny for most of this story, and kept wanting to drop kick her somewhere, and head back to Nick’s family, even while Nick (and I) realized that despite her persistently amoral actions, she was still the best bet for closing off all possible openings from our world to the monsters’ dimension.
I found myself wishing the book was somewhat shorter. I appreciated that like last book, Johnny needed bits and pieces of information found in different places, but I wished that all the travelling time (and attendant arguing) had formed a shorter part of the book. At the same time, I realize that the injury to the friendship required time to be addressed, and Nick needed time to find his way through his tangle of hurt and anger.
I did like the entry of other characters, like Mrs. Huxley, to the narrative, and liked the author’s choice to end the book like she did, and now have to know what’s next?

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for this ARC.

[Wheeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I apparently liked the first book but my god this could have been 150 pages shorter without all of the damn whiny first person stream of consciousness. Like, a couple graphs, we get the point, but it goes on and on and on!

[Jae · Rating 1 out of 5]

:(( This was one disappointing read, especially after the introduction. 
The writing style, as usual with the author was BEAUTIFUL. Just utterly gorgeous, and i had less issues with dialogue because i was pretty much used to it, its still bad but not as noticeable, and also the mc is not with the love interest in the beginning. 
Im disappointed more because i had my hopes high from how it was going and how his thought process was at the beginning that YESSS he’s finally going to stop acting like his entire world revolves around this other person like a love sick puppy, but no his entire personality becomes her (obviously an exaggeration because there is a very realistic portrayal of a brown character and the family dynamic too which i do appreciate!). Yet how can i ignore the cringey dialogue??? Barely okay plot but ultimately both of these characters just made me annoyed to the point where i lost interest with the book as a whole, i stopped caring for the plot, i stopped caring for the sci-fi elements, it all just became a very unpleasant experience but my mind forced me to keep reading because my mind does not have the ability to dnf. 
And that was my own fault, i know, but since ive read it im so frustrated, at certain times it felt like the character existed simply to check all the boxes of what a brown guy goes through, but take away depth to his character or emotional relevance to these things because he is too obsessed with this other person who honestly is just evil and he acknowledges that but?? Ends up going back to her every time???? Honestly i like her more as a character, i mean look at this, she literally has the power to convert a grown ass adult to follow her blindly excusing every other thing she’s done, so more power to her. Yes i just hate this mc.
Honestly all of this could’ve not been a problem if i’d enjoyed their interactions, but sadly the horrible and terrible dialogue that did NOT improve from the first book, grown ass adults bickering like teenagers and not in a realistic way, because ofcourse adults can bicker too?? But this banter felt like it belonged to preteens???   And I absolutely detested it.
I don’t think id recommend this to anyone :((. Note: i got an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! I found it a bit slow to start, and I was worried it was going to suffer from middle book in a trilogy syndrome, but then it really ramped up and went a direction that I really did not see coming, at all! I love the storyline, and I love that not all characters are entirely sympathetic but yet still somehow likeable. I also really love that the science language in this series sounds like it makes actual sense too, it makes things more immersive.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

8- I wished I could have afforded this an 8+ or more, but in the end I was a bit 'meh' on the book. It felt like I was plodding along with the characters, without having a great sense of what was at stake and what was the course of action needed to turn things around. We are plunged in the action, yes, but at that moment our protagonist, Nick, is back at the side of child genius and inventor Johnny and dealing with his love/hate-relationship with her, so we don't see the effect of the invasion from 'Them' on regular families or normal people. This time the invasion is different than the earlier one, but it doesn't feel very different and even though the horrors are well thought out and imaginatively rendered, we always see them from afar, on the horizon so to speak, at a safe distance from our heroes, who even at the end of the book can think of drinking coffee and buying jewelry. So the threat remained abstract. Couple with that are the changed relationshipdynamics between the main characters that could not be resolved for most of the book (seeing how this is part 2 of a trilogy and a lot of progress naturally had to be saved for part 3) which lend proceedings a bit of a repetitive feel. Only at the end, in another world, things come to a boil and Nick is confronted with a choice to make about Johnny that feels like there's something 'on the line'. Maybe it's just middle book syndrome, maybe Mohamed was pressured into writing a sequel to her first book (that functioned well as a stand alone, I thought, and didn't really need a sequel in my opinion), but it just didn't engage me. I was looking forward to having finished the book more than reading it.
Even so, I reward four stars, so my opinion can't be all that negative. I just wanted the criticisms out of the way. Because, let's face it, you won't start reading a second book in a series if you haven't read the first book. And if you are a fan of the first book even critical reviews of the second book are not necessarily stopping you from going on. I can reassure you even so that wat I liked from the first book was brought over to this installment. Like the first book this is an exhilerating combination of science fiction/cosmic horror and globe trotting adventure, with huge dollops of humor and sarcastic banter mixed in. It's a weird combination but it works! Like taking Lovecraft, blending it with Indiana Jones, adding a pinch of Discworld and some Star Trek level techno babble and voila: Beneath the Rising is served. And it's all garnished with some beautiful descriptive language and pithy remarks. Mohamed can write! Some of the monsters and transformations are genuinely disturbing and there were some fascinating other worlds visited here, like a dimension seemingly made of dragons and a library in a pocket dimension where the books could communicate with books elswhere (the only thing missing was an orang utan). And it ended on a high note, a cliff hanger where (almost for the first time in this installment) it felt that there were really things at stake, that made me want to continue in the third book in the series. I look forward to the third book and guessing from the ending of this, I think the trilogy will end at a high note. Still, it's sad that for part of this middle installment it felt like the story was treading water.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOTE ADDED: Now it's looking like there WILL be a third book in this series, so I'm upping my rating to a 5/5 instead of a 4/5. I'm fine with waiting to see what's going on--I just didn't want things to end so abruptly.

Okay, straight up, the only reason Premee Mohamed’s A Broken Darkness (2) (Beneath the Rising) didn’t get a perfect score is that it felt like it just cut off abruptly rather than ending naturally. If there were going to be a follow-on I’d still consider it to be perfect, but as it is I feel like the book ended too early and suddenly.

NOTE: There is no way to review this book without including spoilers for Beneath the Rising, the first book in this duology. If you haven’t read that book first, go read it. I don’t think book two stands alone without it, but then in a two-book series that isn’t a big deal.

From my review of book one: “The book immediately establishes itself as being in an alternate timeline from ours by mentioning the day two planes almost crashed into the World Trade Towers. Most of the changes we see are due to Johnny. Her solar panels adorn roofs around the world, she has a drug that treats dementia, and she cured HIV.” At the end of book one, there was a horrific event in which invaders from another dimension killed hundreds of millions of people. And it was Johnny’s fault, even though she and Nick also stopped the world from ending. Now it’s a little while later. Since Nick found out that Johnny had his life manipulated such that he would be her always-loyal always-present faithful companion, his love for Johnny has turned to hate. He even joined up with the secret society that doesn’t trust her (the feeling’s mutual), the Society, and he’s starting to learn magic. Nick’s mentor sends him to a gala event at one of Johnny’s companies, and it’s attacked by horrific monsters who shouldn’t be there–when Nick and Johnny saved the world, they shut all the doors from the other dimension into their own. Sofia, the daughter of Nick’s mentor, also gets caught up in events as Johnny and Nick form an unlikely temporary alliance to try once more to save their world.

There’s a fairly large amount of navel-gazing on Nick’s part, as he’s being put in a spot where he has to constantly question and examine his feelings for Johnny. If you got attached to the characters in book one, then I think you won’t be put off by this, because it’s certainly interesting.

Johnny and Nick get sucked into some fascinating extra-world dimensions and places in which things are absolutely crazy. Not to mention crazy dangerous. There’s still excellent banter between Johnny and Nick because they’ve known each other for years and can practically read each other’s minds, but it’s barbed now. There’s a lot of time pressure on this one too, because the entire world seems to be mutating and changing, from the people down to the tiniest of plants and creatures.

This book is fantastic–character growth, character interaction, scary creatures, blood and gore (but not too much), physical mutations (some body horror), and a wild exploration of a few alternate dimensions!


Original review posted on my blog: https://www.errantdreams.com/2021/05/...

[Sarah S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like many others I would give this a solid 3.5, maybe a smidgen higher. I almost did 4, but it seems to high since I felt this needed more story and less inner monologue. The book also ends in a devastating way I didn't love. Even if you know this is a series, there's always a chance a series won't get finished. So cliff hangers that drastic are not my preferred choice, especially since the first one really could have been a stand alone book on its own.

I also feel at this point the relationship between Johnny and Nick really needs to come to a head, but it is continuing to yo-yo even though she continues to get more awful. It's a classic abusive relationship I suppose, but 2 books in we should finally see Nick standing up for himself and maybe connecting with some other characters? It seemed like he would with Sophia, but it never really went anywhere by the end, even though they were pretending to date. The story itself, for being so grand, then ultimately becomes extremely isolating in the 3rd act. You only ever get their tiny perspective about what's going on, and when they do introduce other characters (Often ones I quite like) they eventually leave and it comes down to just the two of them again. They did put Rutger in this one more, but he's not an overly compelling character considering he's just another person being abused by Johnny.

I also wish we had gotten more of Nick working with the Ssarati, and again, maybe connecting with the people there and feeling like he was breaking free of Johnny's control, and starting to become his own person. But that also requires things to finally come to a true confrontation between them, but the second it does something happens and it gets dropped. Which is exactly what happened in the end as well. I will be reading the next one, because I have to know what happens, And ultimately I do like her writing a lot, if just for the visual story telling element of it. The Love-Craftian esque universe and creatures are really cool, and it's not a style you get often, especially from a female author.

[Denise Ruttan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the first book so I had high hopes for this one, and I’m not usually a fan of series. It shared many of the elements I loved about the first one; the jumble of cosmic horror, the reckless pacing of Indiana Jones meets Fast and the Furious. The writing style is breathless and rollicking.

But I also found myself frustrated. It started off with a small error that could have been foreshadowing but was so subtle it seemed like just an error easily Googled. Sorry, but Jude Law was not in Die Another Day and Tomorrow Never Dies. Funny how small possible mistakes like that can color the tone of the rest of the story. When you’re being asked to suspend belief for stuff like alien invasions and child prodigies details are important.

I also had a harder time with the relationship between Nick and Johnny in this one. In the last one he followed her around like a lovesick puppy but I understood his motivations; in this one they are recovering from great trauma and a fracture of trust so their tension is warranted, but why he follows her around this time I don’t know; it seems more like an odd, jumbled obsession in this book. Then revenge turns into a kind of creepy resigned inevitability, with Johnny continuously unapologetic, Trumpian in that sense. It is accepted that we need this monster working for us and that felt unsatisfying.

But what kept me going despite some clunky elements was this universe and the fascinating blend of magic and science. The alien/being from a quantum universe incursion was well done, and it left me reminded of how humans reacted to our own recent pandemic. It’s still a wild, fun ride in the end even if this time you’re left scratching your head at the characters. I don’t know if I’d pick up the third book honestly. It felt like this one was still finding its way. Still fun but a little messy.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnny was the Nick's best friend, the girl he was in love with for the longest time. Then she accidentally summoned incomprehensible beings from beyond the universe. Even that was so bad, but while driving them back, he learned a secret that changed their relationship forever, and now he hates Johnny. Mostly. Of course, hate and love aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, and when a new threat targets their world--one Johnny promised was no longer possible--the two must team up again. Only he's not sure if she's keeping more big secrets... and Nick certainly is, having thrown in his lot with a society that monitors magic use and is often works opposed to Johnny. Though that might not matter with the end of the world approaching, again.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, and this one is largely an improvement, containing more of the stuff I enjoyed (the complicated relationship and banter between the main characters) and less of the things I was unsure of (the almost comic-book level super-science). The main character also has a bit more to do than just tagging along while Johnny does stuff... although that's still a big part of things, it certainly feels like he's got more agency. And, once again, it goes a few places I didn't expect, particularly in terms of the ending. I was a little mixed on that kind of ending when I read the first book, but it seems like I'm definitely here for it now. So I think I could call this one a success, and it's easy call to move on to the third book (I mean, not right away, but probably soon).

In terms of scores, it's still comfortably in the three range. But I think the improvements raise it just enough that, with rounding, I'd convert it to a four (although I still wish Goodreads let us rate with half-stars). Looking forward to how the trilogy concludes.

[Finchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should not have read this book in a dark room at midnight. Mohamed's whirlwind of a sequel has everything I loved about the first book, with cosmic horror and toxic friendships and impossible odds. And did I mention horror?

PROS:
As always, Mohamed's writing is quick and sharp, with twists upon twists that made it impossible to stop reading. I loved all the new elements introduced in this book and the way we get to see Nick grapple with the events that ended Beneath the Rising. My favorite part of this series is the cosmic horror, and A Broken Darkness had that in spades, taking Them to a whole new level of disturbing. I also liked Johnny's development and the way the narrative handled her actions.

CONS:
I was disappointed to see Nick slotting right back into the "Johnny's sidekick" role that he had thrown off in the last book. The changes were acknowledged, but at times it felt like nothing had changed at all, and even when he was essential to the plot he needed her help to move forward. I really wanted to see him shine by himself in this book but I don't recall him spending more than a few pages away from Johnny.

I docked a star for that con because it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most in the sequel, but overall, I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. If you liked the first book, I'll bet you'll like A Broken Darkness too.

I received an advance e-copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

[Damien Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The follow-up to the excellent, frenetic Beneath the Rising, sees our odd couple (increasingly at-odds couple) Nick and Johnny thrown back together and back into the fray against Them, the vast cosmic horrors seeking to gain entry to our world. In the previous book, the truths behind their tense dynamic — she, the child savant, changing the world daily, burning bright and fast and finite; he, poor, brown and unremarkable, but bound to her, in love with her — was the gravity that kept us connected to a fast-paced adventure horror that sparked and scared in equal measure. Now the full truth of that relationship is out there, and Mohamed rightfully exposes the abuses of power that underpinned it. It’s painful and genuinely toxic. The character development is mature. The crackling dialogue returns. Basically, all the elements that made Beneath the Rising so good are here again, but with the creep show elements ramped up even further. It’s a very good read.

But it’s not as strong as its predecessor, and the dynamic between Nick and Johnny is the abiding issue. With the nature of their connection revealed, but with no breathing space given to its impact, no distance given to process it, and no realistic pathway to develop it, the toxic interactions are frequently distracting. The plot doesn’t let up, which is good, but it leaves the two characters a bit frozen in place and swept along. At times, it’s just wearing.

[K De · Rating 5 out of 5]

Premee Mohamed's novel "A Broken Darkness" is a excellent sequel to her first novel. The characters are there with the love/hate view of the protagonist Nick Prasad and Johnny Chambers, his best friend, super genius, and their fight to save humanity from extinction from Them. Them a cosmological horror but not even Them are the top dog on the cosmological "great chain of Being". However for humanity's sake Johnny Chambers and her incredible scientific inventions have saved millions of lives but at the same time one of her inventions allows for Them to eradicate hundreds of millions of lives in their eternal "game" of conquest.

The writing is top notch for super science colliding with "magic" utilized by Them. The haunting views of a "dead" city are clearly invoking of a descent into hell. The tone for those scenes in the latter half of the book reminded me of Mike Mignola's "Hellboy" comic book series with the journey into the Hell populated by various demons and angels. The sheer invocation of death, sliminess, and the smells of decay within the dead city's architecture is stunning.

Johnny and Nick's journeys are well written. The conclusion of having some kind of closure is fitting to the overall framework of the two novels. There really doesn't need to be another novel as the are no major loose ends. Well worth reading for Lovecraftian 21st century horror.

[avoicefromthelighthouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hot take: the sequel is way better than the first book.

But okay, I have such a conflicted relationship with this series. I want to love them, and I did go out and buy the sequel right away, so clearly something's working. I love Johnny and Nick's banter, I love their horrifying but ultimately addictive relationship, and I love the evocations of different cities with such rich detail. And, of course, stellar monster content.

But there's just some sloppy editing that throws me out of the story over and over again. (I don't actually think this is Mohamed's fault; I think it's her editor's). By this I'm referring to repetition of the same information, or contradicting things already revealed. (There's one scene, in particular, where Johnny reveals something and Nick is all 'ANoTHeR LiE?!" when actually, that exact piece of info about Johnny's deal was revealed to us already in book 1. #nospoilers). Nick also has the same kinds of thoughts over and over and over again. And that clearly IS intentional - to dive into moral conundrums and character introspection. But I do find that sometimes it gets too heavy handed. Minor flaws, though. I'm still obviously very invested in this story!

Also, Nick needs to stop wandering off. Seriously Nick, why do you always go for a walk? WHY?

[Alexander Tas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this review and other Science Fiction/Fantasy book reviews at The Quill to Live

Beneath the Rising was one of the early Dark Horses of last year, and boy, oh boy did it pack a punch. I wasn’t expecting a sequel, but Premee Mohamed decided to grace us with one anyway. If her debut novel had my curiosity, the follow up has my attention. A Broken Darkness is a strong follow up that builds on the foundation of its predecessor and delivers strong writing through great characterization. This review is primarily for those who have read the first novel, though some spoilers have been avoided. So if you haven’t I would recommend checking out our review of Beneath the Rising here instead.

Following the events of the first book, A Broken Darkness follows Nick Prasad on another dark adventure with his estranged friend and world renowned genius Johnny Chambers. They had managed to seal away the Ancient Ones, but their friendship was destroyed in the process. Johnny has another amazing reveal, promising the future of clean energy, and Nick is sent by the Ssarati Society to witness the event. While there, something happens that shouldn’t have, They have returned and in an even stronger fashion than before. Johnny says she didn’t know and was sure she sealed them away forever. However, Nick has his doubts, while also fearing that she may be the only one to save them once again.

Mohamed does a great job diving right back into the fray with A Broken Darkness. Nick’s head is just as jumbled as it was before, and in some ways he’s even worse off. The revelations of his relationship to Johnny at the end of Rising have clearly fractured his mind, and his choice to walk away from her only splintered it more. He constantly seems at war with himself, trying to convince himself that Johnny has every intent to save the world again, while having trouble with the fact that she has previously let him down. At times it gets a little repetitive, but Mohamed approaches it freshly enough that it didn’t feel like it was dragging. It helps that Nick’s mind and his body feel completely separated. He thinks one thing, but acts another in front of her, as if he can’t quite break the hold she has on him. This is excellently conveyed through their great chemistry, and his constant berating of her within his head. It’s painful to watch, but easily conveys the nature of their toxic relationship and feels realistic given their history and the events they are living through.

The story is still rip-roaringly fast. Nick and Johnny are globetrotting again to new places and also seeing some familiar faces. It’s fun, and at times scary. The lengths they go through to find the information they need are astounding. Mohamed is pretty good at reminding readers who specific beings are, and what purpose they had in the previous story without taking you out of the flow too. The writing is still incredible, specifically within Nick’s head. There are a few times where the dialogue was a little much, particularly when Nick and Johnny would share references to each other. There were times when it felt purposefully out of place, like Nick was caught in the trap of Johnny’s presence and needed to please her. Other times it just felt like it was filling space. Overall it wasn’t that big a deal to me, even with the pop culture references, because they felt real for the most part. It’s as if the only way to close the distance between them is through a shared superficial past. Darkness is filled with moments like this that remind you of who Nick wants to be, while constantly reminding you of who he is and how it’s directly tied to Johnny.

Rising was great at highlighting the racial and class tensions between Johnny and Nick, and Darkness is no different. In fact, Mohamed doubles down on the race and class aspects, making them impossible to ignore. The ties between these two tensions run incredibly deep between the two books and it’s impossible to cover them without spoilers. To avoid them, I want to highlight a few ways Mohamed weaves them into the narrative, keeping the story going while alluding to the darker themes hiding in the shadows. The phrase that reverberated through my mind as I read this book was “she can’t keep getting away with it!” Johnny constantly thinks she can do whatever she wants to save the day. Many times the Ssarati Society, a secret organization of watchers that Nick now belongs to, tries to foil her plans, but often Nick gets in the way. Johnny can never be defeated, and often brushes Death’s shoulder while pulling off some grand scheme. And Nick, for all his internal bluster, lets her get away with it and fights for her, even though he hates her. It leads to a somewhat baffling but terrifying climax that doesn’t attain the heights of the previous book. However, it made me do a double take so I could be sure I read it right, and it really clarified the rest of the book for me.

If you enjoyed Beneath the Rising, I am sure you will enjoy this one too. In some ways it’s a little more of the same, but Mohamed has gotten sharper. It’s semi-repetitive nature feels like a feature, begging to be examined instead of brushed off. Nick’s point of view is messy and it’s hard to trust him and those he embeds himself with. There were fewer moments of dread from the Ancient Ones this time around, but it felt far more tailored to Nick and Johnny’s relationship, and Johnny’s hubris. The ending is definitely worth the read on it’s own, but the journey only makes it more horrifying. While it does not break new ground in the way it’s predecessor did, A Broken Darkness still represents a great addition to this story. If you haven’t picked up either book, and are curious about Lovecraftian inspired horror with a modern twist, I implore you to read them.

Rating: A Broken Darkness – 8.0/10
-Alex

An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts on this book are my own.

[Hassan Clemons · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magic carpet ride of new ideas and horror

I have not read a book that has combined horror, inventive new ideas about magic, adventure, and personal relationships in such a seamless dish. This is the second book and it is like the middle of a beautiful song that the author has poured everything into, a master chef's final meal.

This book is like if someone who you just met and kind of trust tells you to close your eyes and they place a small piece of warm food into your mouth, and the flavor is undescribable and delicious, the texture is mouthwatering chewiness and the more you chew, the higher they turn up an audio track of a symphony you've never heard before. Just as you are about to swallow this friend tells you to hold on, and then you feel them rip the walls away from around you and you are suddenly in sunlight, and the symphony is turning up into its highest most beautiful point and then... Stops. Silence.

Yeah.

[xyZeereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC.

Since this is the second book in a series, I felt a little lost concerning what created the Anomaly in the first book. However, the narrator, Nick, spends a lot of time referring to the Anomaly and how it has affected his relationship with Johnny, the other main character. There's also a lot of bickering between Nick and Johnny; the toxicity just emanates from the page and it's SO exhausting to read.

There’s a lot going on in this book. A lot of SciFi and something other reviewers call “cosmic horror”, which I’m not that well versed in. As a result, a lot of what I've read went straight over my head; too many superfluous descriptions which would probably excite hardcore SciFi lovers, but didn't really do it for me. However, I mostly enjoyed the magical parts, especially the ones in a library.

[Elly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astonishingly, colossally fucked up! I loved it. The last book started like a normal monster horror, but as the book went on, the tentacled and evil monsters somehow became less horrible and monstrous than the human relationships. The monsters just want to own everything/everyone, whereas the people want to use and betray and destroy each other while also loving each other and desperately wanting still to be loved.

This one somehow manages to up the ante on everything! The monsters are even more threatening! The human relationships are even more convoluted and fucked up. It’s fantastic. The voice of the narrator, Nick, is truly excellent. Funny and so angry and hopeful and desolate. What a joy. I cannot wait to start the next.

[Uudenkuun Emilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should probably have reread the first book before diving into this one, because I felt I missed some nuances and references due to not remembering some stuff. The best thing about A Broken Darkness was the relationship between Nick and Johnny, as in the first book - here, the realisation of the brokenness of the friendship, developing into hate, was well done and sadly relatable. I also really enjoyed the creepiness of Them infiltrating our world. However, I felt there was some slack here, and the pacing was a bit weird from the first third on. Still, very interested in reading the final book.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The relationship between the two MCs is still the best part of the story, carried forward from the first book. I listened to the audiobook and struggled quite a bit trying to separate Johnny and Nick’s dialogue who said what and if Nick was actually thinking or speaking. Still a very compelling story. I’m not a fan of horror but this series makes things more about the people and what they are going through. I enjoyed the first book more but I’m still invested in the story so I will read book 3.
Loved all of the Canadian-isms and mentions of Edmonton and the province, probably because I live there too.
Looking forward to The Void Ascendent

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read book 1 after being approved for this arc, and then trudged through this one too. I wish I had better things to say about the series, because the characters are interesting, the premise is cool and I like the author. Unfortunately both books just dragged for me plot-wise. I’ll keep an eye out for what the author does next, though!
Disclaimer: I listened to them in audio and there’s a chance that affected things. I believe the narrator didn’t always distinguish very well between characters when doing back-and-forth dialogue, which sometimes made it hard to follow.

[Natasha Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 2 in the trilogy series "Beneath the Rising." And WOW is it such a good book in this series! I highly recommend this book (and series!) if you are one to enjoy Cosmic Horror mixed with some form of realism. I absolutely adore how Premee Mohamed adds a personal and relatable feel to the characters in this series so far! I am thoroughly invested in the trilogy and just finished the second book today. Mohamed's writing technique and skill to fully engulf the reader is one I am envious of, truly! Such a great sequel from the first!!

[Bethie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not read the prequel. Somehow I didn't realize this was the second book of a series so I was thrown in with no idea of what was happening. I think if I had read the previous story and fully understood the story I would have enjoyed it more. What I did read was interesting and I can see this author writing some great stuff but I'll need to go back and find what I'm missing. Three stars for creativity.

[Melissa Polk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was flipping amazing. In order to not spoil those who haven't read the first book (what are you doing?! Go read it now!) let me just say this: Johnny is still the worst. Nick is still a mess. They both need a nap and a good meal. Parts of this book had me cackling out loud and others grabbed my feelings and beat them against a wall. Bonus, Premee referenced the film Wizards. I look forward to insta-buying everything she writes forever.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know when you’re starting to learn how to analyze books in high school, that the teachers tell you that there’s a plot climb until the climax, and then a downward slope to the end of the book? That’s not this book. It’s a climb and the climax is a huge plateau, and no downward slope. Admittedly, there were large swaths of explanations about people’s feelings and such, that made me think this book needed a little bit more editing, but still an amazing book.

[Jaymi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the concept of this series. I like the spooky creep out factor. I don’t really like the characters. And the dialog is written to seem “natural” or a casual, but I find it halting and less than optimal as a reading experience. It seems like you can’t tell who the protagonist or antagonist really is. Who are we, as readers, supposed to be rooting for?!?! I will probably read the third book, but honestly, this series is just okay.

[Sang · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Thank you for this ARC, NetGalley!*
Enjoyed this book SO much more than the earlier one. It still felt very YA, but that didn’t take away from the story. I’ve been thinking a lot about the cosmic horror part, and the reason I didn’t really feel that aspect of the book is that the whole YA, teenager vibe diluted and drowned out the horror.

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and was fascinated by the cosmic horror and the world building.
It's easy to follow, even if I didn't read the prequel, and I liked the characters.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine