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Dark Designs
Dark Designs by Luisa Prieto
Half Lives series #1
When an enigmatic tattooed woman approaches freelance journalist Kyler Withers, he begins remembering a past life as a mage. Once known as Etherwolf, he served a sentient evil known as the Darkness. Horrified, Kyler fights to keep his humanity. Against him are growing memories of the monster he previously was. Aiding him is the love he rediscovers he had for a powerful mage artist named Sorin. If Kyler cannot overcome his past, he's afraid he'll help the Darkness destroy everything, starting with his lover.
Half Lives series #1
When an enigmatic tattooed woman approaches freelance journalist Kyler Withers, he begins remembering a past life as a mage. Once known as Etherwolf, he served a sentient evil known as the Darkness. Horrified, Kyler fights to keep his humanity. Against him are growing memories of the monster he previously was. Aiding him is the love he rediscovers he had for a powerful mage artist named Sorin. If Kyler cannot overcome his past, he's afraid he'll help the Darkness destroy everything, starting with his lover.
437 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 2010
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395 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 5, 2010
Genre: Paranormal Dark Fantasy/Historical
Length: Novel (444 Pages)
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5
Summary Review: A complex and darkly fascinating fantasy which I couldn’t stop reading, even when it scared the heck out of me.
THE BLURB:
When an enigmatic tattooed woman approaches freelance journalist Kyler Withers, he begins remembering a past life as a mage. Once known as Etherwolf, he served a sentient evil known as the Darkness.
Horrified, Kyler fights to keep his humanity. Against him are growing memories of the monster he previously was. Aiding him is the love he rediscovers he had for a powerful mage artist named Sorin. If Kyler cannot overcome his past, he’s afraid he’ll help the Darkness destroy everything, starting with his lover.
THE REVIEW:
I had to wait a full day after finishing Dark Designs before I could attempt this review. The experience of reading it was intense and took me to some seriously dark places, and I wasn’t sure at first how I felt about it. Now I know, and the answer is: impressed. Very impressed.
The story begins with Kyler Withers, a journalist, returning to the US to try and rebuild his life after a terrible experience while volunteering as a teacher in South America. Within a few pages his attempts to shake off his nightmares and recapture normalcy are destroyed by the intervention of Rhune, a woman who claims to be a beloved friend and comrade of his – from his former life. It doesn’t take long before Kyler realises this woman isn’t crazy. The fact that her tattoos come to life, leave her skin and kill people is something of a hint. Kyler’s main problem, though, is that even as most of him is repulsed by the woman and her murderous acts, another part of him – a part which grows in power and dominance during the story – cherishes her and revels in her killings. That part is Etherwolf, a Knight of the malevolent force called the Darkness. In his last life, Etherwolf made Rhune seem warm and cuddly; his idea of a fun evening was to rape, torture and dismember an innocent young boy and then hand his victim’s still beating heart to the Darkness as a gift. And if what I’ve just written makes you cringe, this book is not for you.
The story’s second protagonist is Sorin, a college student and gifted artist in charge of his student newspaper and a rather interesting comic strip. Again, within pages of meeting him we see his life begin to fragment, as a sinister character called Avery – another servant of the Darkness – approaches him. Avery treats Sorin with every appearance of reverence and love, but reduces Sorin’s friend Blake to nothing more than ashes when Blake tries to get between them.
Both men manage to get away from their friend/attacker, but it’s clear that they won’t be free for long – especially since the trauma causes both of them to ‘converge’, meaning that the memories of their past lives begin to meld with their current consciousness, and they re-experience those lives once again as if for the first time. To call this traumatic would be to put it mildly.
I’m going to resist summarising the story anymore than that, because it becomes very complicated from here on, flicking backward and forward between the first time that Sorin and Etherwolf met hundreds of years ago and their present lives. We also see glimpses of the current and previous lives of several other people in the story, such Rhune, Avery – and Dean, a coffee shop owner who was the witch-hunter Asher in his past life. Some of the characters keep the same name in both lives, others have two names, and some, like Kyler/Kai/Etherwolf, have three.
This all sounds terribly confusing, but actually Ms Prieto has masterly control over all these flashbacks and flashforwards, and I only found myself hopping a couple of times, mostly with Sorin’s sections, since his voice, personality and name stay virtually unchanged in both lives. There’s a reason for that, but I’m not telling.
This book is beautifully written, and the author contrasts beauty and obscenity, life and death, light and dark, to create stunning and horrific images which are likely to stay with me for a long time. I only have two niggles with the writing. One would be the author’s over-use of the word ethereal. It’s a great word, but once you see it for the fifth or sixth time, it starts to feel tired. Secondly, because the historical characters come from many different countries, their inner and external dialogue is peppered with words and phrases from multiple languages. As the book went on there were several moments when this felt distracting. When a character is thinking, everything they’re saying is obviously being translated into English for us anyway, so why add random Italian or French words? But these are tiny problems which don’t really detract from the enjoyment of the novel.
Ms Prieto has a cunning way with her characters, and she tricks us into feeling interest in and empathy for people we would run from screaming in real life. I was also very impressed with the way that the story of the Darkness, the knights, founders and mages was told as a myth within a story and woven into the narrative so that it never felt like info-dumping. The section with the woman telling the child about The Beginning was really well done and gave me shivers.
I did wish that there had been more of a chance for the romance to flourish in this story. There was only one love scene, and Sorin and Kai/Etherwolf only actually meet twice, at the beginning and end of the book, in their prior life. With one of the protagonists wavering back and forward between whether he wanted to murder or make love to the other for most of the story, the events had to be structured this way, but it made the novel feel more like a fantasy that happened to have gay leads, rather than an M/M fantasy. Of course, there are further books to come, and I expect that when Kyler and Sorin meet in real life, probably in the next book, things will be explosive. If they don’t kill each other first.
The single reason Dark Designs didn’t get 5 stars from me relates to the above. Clearly, Half Lives is going to be one of those series where the action is continuous and the whole thing feels like a single, long book. As a result, the ending of Dark Designs is left open and nearly all the questions raised are left unanswered, which meant that the book felt incomplete. But while I couldn’t judge this book as a 5, I have a feeling that if the author can maintain the high standard set here, the series as a whole might be.
Length: Novel (444 Pages)
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5
Summary Review: A complex and darkly fascinating fantasy which I couldn’t stop reading, even when it scared the heck out of me.
THE BLURB:
When an enigmatic tattooed woman approaches freelance journalist Kyler Withers, he begins remembering a past life as a mage. Once known as Etherwolf, he served a sentient evil known as the Darkness.
Horrified, Kyler fights to keep his humanity. Against him are growing memories of the monster he previously was. Aiding him is the love he rediscovers he had for a powerful mage artist named Sorin. If Kyler cannot overcome his past, he’s afraid he’ll help the Darkness destroy everything, starting with his lover.
THE REVIEW:
I had to wait a full day after finishing Dark Designs before I could attempt this review. The experience of reading it was intense and took me to some seriously dark places, and I wasn’t sure at first how I felt about it. Now I know, and the answer is: impressed. Very impressed.
The story begins with Kyler Withers, a journalist, returning to the US to try and rebuild his life after a terrible experience while volunteering as a teacher in South America. Within a few pages his attempts to shake off his nightmares and recapture normalcy are destroyed by the intervention of Rhune, a woman who claims to be a beloved friend and comrade of his – from his former life. It doesn’t take long before Kyler realises this woman isn’t crazy. The fact that her tattoos come to life, leave her skin and kill people is something of a hint. Kyler’s main problem, though, is that even as most of him is repulsed by the woman and her murderous acts, another part of him – a part which grows in power and dominance during the story – cherishes her and revels in her killings. That part is Etherwolf, a Knight of the malevolent force called the Darkness. In his last life, Etherwolf made Rhune seem warm and cuddly; his idea of a fun evening was to rape, torture and dismember an innocent young boy and then hand his victim’s still beating heart to the Darkness as a gift. And if what I’ve just written makes you cringe, this book is not for you.
The story’s second protagonist is Sorin, a college student and gifted artist in charge of his student newspaper and a rather interesting comic strip. Again, within pages of meeting him we see his life begin to fragment, as a sinister character called Avery – another servant of the Darkness – approaches him. Avery treats Sorin with every appearance of reverence and love, but reduces Sorin’s friend Blake to nothing more than ashes when Blake tries to get between them.
Both men manage to get away from their friend/attacker, but it’s clear that they won’t be free for long – especially since the trauma causes both of them to ‘converge’, meaning that the memories of their past lives begin to meld with their current consciousness, and they re-experience those lives once again as if for the first time. To call this traumatic would be to put it mildly.
I’m going to resist summarising the story anymore than that, because it becomes very complicated from here on, flicking backward and forward between the first time that Sorin and Etherwolf met hundreds of years ago and their present lives. We also see glimpses of the current and previous lives of several other people in the story, such Rhune, Avery – and Dean, a coffee shop owner who was the witch-hunter Asher in his past life. Some of the characters keep the same name in both lives, others have two names, and some, like Kyler/Kai/Etherwolf, have three.
This all sounds terribly confusing, but actually Ms Prieto has masterly control over all these flashbacks and flashforwards, and I only found myself hopping a couple of times, mostly with Sorin’s sections, since his voice, personality and name stay virtually unchanged in both lives. There’s a reason for that, but I’m not telling.
This book is beautifully written, and the author contrasts beauty and obscenity, life and death, light and dark, to create stunning and horrific images which are likely to stay with me for a long time. I only have two niggles with the writing. One would be the author’s over-use of the word ethereal. It’s a great word, but once you see it for the fifth or sixth time, it starts to feel tired. Secondly, because the historical characters come from many different countries, their inner and external dialogue is peppered with words and phrases from multiple languages. As the book went on there were several moments when this felt distracting. When a character is thinking, everything they’re saying is obviously being translated into English for us anyway, so why add random Italian or French words? But these are tiny problems which don’t really detract from the enjoyment of the novel.
Ms Prieto has a cunning way with her characters, and she tricks us into feeling interest in and empathy for people we would run from screaming in real life. I was also very impressed with the way that the story of the Darkness, the knights, founders and mages was told as a myth within a story and woven into the narrative so that it never felt like info-dumping. The section with the woman telling the child about The Beginning was really well done and gave me shivers.
I did wish that there had been more of a chance for the romance to flourish in this story. There was only one love scene, and Sorin and Kai/Etherwolf only actually meet twice, at the beginning and end of the book, in their prior life. With one of the protagonists wavering back and forward between whether he wanted to murder or make love to the other for most of the story, the events had to be structured this way, but it made the novel feel more like a fantasy that happened to have gay leads, rather than an M/M fantasy. Of course, there are further books to come, and I expect that when Kyler and Sorin meet in real life, probably in the next book, things will be explosive. If they don’t kill each other first.
The single reason Dark Designs didn’t get 5 stars from me relates to the above. Clearly, Half Lives is going to be one of those series where the action is continuous and the whole thing feels like a single, long book. As a result, the ending of Dark Designs is left open and nearly all the questions raised are left unanswered, which meant that the book felt incomplete. But while I couldn’t judge this book as a 5, I have a feeling that if the author can maintain the high standard set here, the series as a whole might be.
May 15, 2010
Kyler Withers is a journalist back in the States after a traumatic event forced him to leave his teaching assignment in South America. Sorin Prentice is a gifted artist and the editor of his college's student newspaper. Soon after being introduced to each of the main characters we begin to see their connection to a sinister force known as the Darkness. Each man struggles with his memories and the deadly and often scary companions they meet as the author draws us deeper and deeper into a complex world that is at times quite horrific.
The book is extremely well written and as the story moves back and forth through time we begin to see the connection between Kyler and Sorin and the scary and fascinating supporting characters they deal with. The story is filled with knights and mages and the ever present Darkness and along with the many flashbacks the plot is at times confusing but nevertheless kept me glued to my eReader throughout. This is not a M/M romance although there is one love scene in the book. In fact the protagonists only meet a couple of times, during most of the book they interact with others. This book is a dark fantasy, some might even call it horror, that is just the beginning to what promises to be an epic series. There are many questions left unanswered at the end of the book and hopefully at least some of them will be answered in the next installment, where I hope that Kyler and Sorin have much more interaction with each other.
Dark Designs may not be for everyone as there is quite a bit of violence and darkness to it. However, if those things don't bother you and you're looking for a book that is well written, has complex characters in a storyline that is dark and action packed, I recommend it.
The book is extremely well written and as the story moves back and forth through time we begin to see the connection between Kyler and Sorin and the scary and fascinating supporting characters they deal with. The story is filled with knights and mages and the ever present Darkness and along with the many flashbacks the plot is at times confusing but nevertheless kept me glued to my eReader throughout. This is not a M/M romance although there is one love scene in the book. In fact the protagonists only meet a couple of times, during most of the book they interact with others. This book is a dark fantasy, some might even call it horror, that is just the beginning to what promises to be an epic series. There are many questions left unanswered at the end of the book and hopefully at least some of them will be answered in the next installment, where I hope that Kyler and Sorin have much more interaction with each other.
Dark Designs may not be for everyone as there is quite a bit of violence and darkness to it. However, if those things don't bother you and you're looking for a book that is well written, has complex characters in a storyline that is dark and action packed, I recommend it.
June 27, 2010
Excellent m/m dark fantasy romance about a Pulitzer-winning journalist haunted by a horrifying event he can't quite remember and a graphic novel artist who has been drawing strips that he believed were fantastical, but which may be echoes from a previous life. Deft and complex, this book drew me in slowly until I realized I couldn't put it down. Do be aware that things are not at all resolved by the end of this book. *commences waiting impatiently for Book 2*
Read
May 14, 2010You have to bring a lot of patience and passion when you will start this book, and you have to save them till the end and beyond. Dark Designs is a more than 400 pages book and it’s only the beginning of a series, which, from what I understand, will have the same two main characters as leads.
Everything is complex in this book, from the intricate plot, switching back and forward in time, from the darkness of a past age with knights and mages, to the even too much light of modern time, where sometime the darkness would be welcomed to cover the ugliness of today. It’s also complex in the writing style, the author spent a lot of time to create her own language, mixing English, with Spanish and French, and yes also Italian, and I well know how much she took care in doing it, since I checked the Italian part of the story. It’s also complex in the relationship between the two men, probably one of the first time I read a book where the main heroes barely meet; true, as I told before, this is only the first book in a series, and maybe the author needed time for the world building and in the following books she will let her characters live inside it.
It’s strange since Kyler Withers, journalist and teacher, winner of a Pulitzer, who decided to join a small College instead of a big Ivy League, virtually meets Sorin, student in the same college, practically in the first pages, while Kyler is reading the college paper Sorin is editing. But then both of them are “kidnapped” by the Darkness, or better by two ambassadors, Rhune and Avery; and the author didn’t save the reader, and Kyler and Sorin, from anything, all the bad experiences are their to be lived, from having to witness the murders of innocent kids, to the one of your best friend. They are all proofs the Darkness is powerful and it doesn’t like t be ignored. Page after page the reader is waiting for the moment when Kyler will meet (again? eventually?) Sorin, something he was teased from the very beginning, something he understands is written in the stars, of better in their blood, but page after page he is delusional, it seems never the time.
In a way, especially for Kyler, I think that the Darkness is not a stranger, but it’s your half, like the Devil and the Angel playing on your shoulders, and when one is stronger than the other, you chosen path in life follow the consequences. Take modern Kyler for example, he is grieving from the bad experience he had in Colombia, he is continuously saying that he fears what he was, above all since he doesn’t remember; but then he wrote a book, and that book won a Pulitzer, and Kyler is the first to admit that it was his dream comes true… what if unconsciously Kyler is doing all of it basically to accomplice his thirst of recognition? What if he is paying his tribute to the Darkness in a macabre barter?
If you are starting this book with the attitude of reading 440 pages, filled till capacity of events, but hoping to find a resolution in the end, change your path. 440 pages are only the starters, and to complete your meal you will have to stay a lot of time with these men… after all, we are speaking of hundreds of years for them to wait, what is for us some months to know their complete story? This is not a light book, on the contrary, it’s quite oppressive, sometime even distasteful; it’s for sure more a dark fantasy than a romance: the characters have to let the Darkness go out in plain sight, to be finally free from it, but to do so, they have to fight and not in a fair play.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/160820071X/?...
Everything is complex in this book, from the intricate plot, switching back and forward in time, from the darkness of a past age with knights and mages, to the even too much light of modern time, where sometime the darkness would be welcomed to cover the ugliness of today. It’s also complex in the writing style, the author spent a lot of time to create her own language, mixing English, with Spanish and French, and yes also Italian, and I well know how much she took care in doing it, since I checked the Italian part of the story. It’s also complex in the relationship between the two men, probably one of the first time I read a book where the main heroes barely meet; true, as I told before, this is only the first book in a series, and maybe the author needed time for the world building and in the following books she will let her characters live inside it.
It’s strange since Kyler Withers, journalist and teacher, winner of a Pulitzer, who decided to join a small College instead of a big Ivy League, virtually meets Sorin, student in the same college, practically in the first pages, while Kyler is reading the college paper Sorin is editing. But then both of them are “kidnapped” by the Darkness, or better by two ambassadors, Rhune and Avery; and the author didn’t save the reader, and Kyler and Sorin, from anything, all the bad experiences are their to be lived, from having to witness the murders of innocent kids, to the one of your best friend. They are all proofs the Darkness is powerful and it doesn’t like t be ignored. Page after page the reader is waiting for the moment when Kyler will meet (again? eventually?) Sorin, something he was teased from the very beginning, something he understands is written in the stars, of better in their blood, but page after page he is delusional, it seems never the time.
In a way, especially for Kyler, I think that the Darkness is not a stranger, but it’s your half, like the Devil and the Angel playing on your shoulders, and when one is stronger than the other, you chosen path in life follow the consequences. Take modern Kyler for example, he is grieving from the bad experience he had in Colombia, he is continuously saying that he fears what he was, above all since he doesn’t remember; but then he wrote a book, and that book won a Pulitzer, and Kyler is the first to admit that it was his dream comes true… what if unconsciously Kyler is doing all of it basically to accomplice his thirst of recognition? What if he is paying his tribute to the Darkness in a macabre barter?
If you are starting this book with the attitude of reading 440 pages, filled till capacity of events, but hoping to find a resolution in the end, change your path. 440 pages are only the starters, and to complete your meal you will have to stay a lot of time with these men… after all, we are speaking of hundreds of years for them to wait, what is for us some months to know their complete story? This is not a light book, on the contrary, it’s quite oppressive, sometime even distasteful; it’s for sure more a dark fantasy than a romance: the characters have to let the Darkness go out in plain sight, to be finally free from it, but to do so, they have to fight and not in a fair play.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/160820071X/?...
November 5, 2012
“No matter what you call yourself, you are still my knight.”
The Darkness’ knights are rising and Kyler Withers is one of them.
While Kyler slowly learns who he really is or was, all the other main players are starting to gather around him for the big showdown (sadly not in this book). Among them are some old “friends” – Rhune and Avery, the Darkness itself and Sorin – once Kyler’s lover. Like Kyler, Sorin struggles with dreams and memories of his past life as a mage. But despite the fact that he never was the Darkness’ servant, it still has a special interest in him…
Dark Designs gripped me from the first page and held my attention all the way through. Luisa Prieto created a fascinating and imaginative dark fantasy story, where the focus is more on what is happening to our main characters and the story itself. Don’t get me wrong, there is romance, just not in the “present” and not as graphic as some of you would like. ;) But I didn’t care (on the contrary, I loved it!), because this book was so full of other good stuff, I never felt like I missed anything.
My only problem now: I WANT THE NEXT BOOK!
The Darkness’ knights are rising and Kyler Withers is one of them.
While Kyler slowly learns who he really is or was, all the other main players are starting to gather around him for the big showdown (sadly not in this book). Among them are some old “friends” – Rhune and Avery, the Darkness itself and Sorin – once Kyler’s lover. Like Kyler, Sorin struggles with dreams and memories of his past life as a mage. But despite the fact that he never was the Darkness’ servant, it still has a special interest in him…
Dark Designs gripped me from the first page and held my attention all the way through. Luisa Prieto created a fascinating and imaginative dark fantasy story, where the focus is more on what is happening to our main characters and the story itself. Don’t get me wrong, there is romance, just not in the “present” and not as graphic as some of you would like. ;) But I didn’t care (on the contrary, I loved it!), because this book was so full of other good stuff, I never felt like I missed anything.
My only problem now: I WANT THE NEXT BOOK!
March 2, 2011
A really compelling start to a new series, Dark Designs takes the idea of star-crossed lovers to a dark and twisted place. I rarely get freaked out by reading stuff that's supposed to be scary, but the opening chapters of this book, which of course I started right before going to bed, kept me cringing and unable to put the book down at the same time. Oh, and yeah, the rest of the story just got better! I'm excited for the next installment and the opportunity to return to such a richly built world and characters.
November 30, 2010
Amazing!
LOVED IT. CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE.
I did not think that this book is going to be so much fun, but I just couldn't stop reading it.
the 400 pages felt like 200.
great fantasy, great characters and a very good and exciting story.
more please!
LOVED IT. CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE.
I did not think that this book is going to be so much fun, but I just couldn't stop reading it.
the 400 pages felt like 200.
great fantasy, great characters and a very good and exciting story.
more please!
March 22, 2021
Well written story, but it's only a start of a story. I look forward to any follow up books, whenever they become available. :)
August 31, 2013
I'm not much into horror or dark fantasy, but I liked the author's previous stories, a lot and got that one as well. First of all there are flashbacks, and different POV's and they change sometimes at an inconviniet time. Secondly I struggeled with the plot, mostly because all the POV's switching and the flashbacks, some history and old memories, distracted from the actual story, which was getting more complicated as I read on. My last complain is that after 444 pages, that story is still not finished. Imagine reading Loard of the Rings book 1 and then there is no part two available. There is a lot of violence and fighting and yes it is dark, darker than I like my fantasy. It took me most of this week to finish this book and I didn't really form any attachment to the characters, the plot had me struggling to wade through, to see what the whole story is about and when I was into the story it ended. Oh and it's not really a romance, so be warned.
currently-reading-soon
December 21, 2012haven't started yet
May 15, 2011
3.5 Stars
August 23, 2011
I have no idea where this is going. It has potential though. I'm interested to see what happens next.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews