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A Glimpse of Darkness
An original collaboration among five of the genre’s brightest authors, A Glimpse of Darkness is urban fantasy as it’s never been done before. Originally featured on Suvudu.com, this is Random House’s first multicontributor chain story in which the readers voted on the outcome—now published here in its entirety as a thrilling eBook.
Munira bint Azhar, the half-human daughter of a djinn, is a skilled Retriever in the city of Port Nightfall. Now the powerful sorcerer Temesis has given Munira a dire ultimatum: steal a magical lantern—the Light of Ta’lab—from the horrific undead kingdom below the city, or watch her father die at Temesis’s hand. Will she be able to retrieve the lantern and save her father’s life, or will they both perish in the process?
With an Afterword featuring the choices readers were given at the end of each chapter.
Munira bint Azhar, the half-human daughter of a djinn, is a skilled Retriever in the city of Port Nightfall. Now the powerful sorcerer Temesis has given Munira a dire ultimatum: steal a magical lantern—the Light of Ta’lab—from the horrific undead kingdom below the city, or watch her father die at Temesis’s hand. Will she be able to retrieve the lantern and save her father’s life, or will they both perish in the process?
With an Afterword featuring the choices readers were given at the end of each chapter.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
26 people are currently reading
703 people want to read
About the author
Lara Adrian
94 books11k followersLARA ADRIAN is a New York Times and #1 internationally best-selling author with nearly 4 million books in print and digital worldwide and translations licensed to more than 20 countries. Her books have been named among Amazon’s Top Ten Romances of the Year, and have also been nominated by readers multiple times as finalists for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance of the Year. Reviewers have called Lara’s books “addictively readable” (Chicago Tribune), “extraordinary” (Fresh Fiction), “strikingly original” (Booklist), and “one of the best vampire series on the market” (Romantic Times).
Writing as TINA ST. JOHN, her historical romances have won numerous awards including the National Readers Choice; Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice; Booksellers Best; and many others. She was twice named a Finalist in Romance Writers of America’s RITA Awards, for Best Historical Romance (White Lion’s Lady) and Best Paranormal Romance (Heart of the Hunter). More recently, the German translation of Heart of the Hunter debuted on Der Spiegel bestseller list.
With an ancestry stretching back to the Mayflower and the court of King Henry VIII, the author lives with her husband in New England, where she is working on her next novel. Visit Lara’s website and sign up for new release announcements at http://bit.ly/LaraAdrianNews
Writing as TINA ST. JOHN, her historical romances have won numerous awards including the National Readers Choice; Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice; Booksellers Best; and many others. She was twice named a Finalist in Romance Writers of America’s RITA Awards, for Best Historical Romance (White Lion’s Lady) and Best Paranormal Romance (Heart of the Hunter). More recently, the German translation of Heart of the Hunter debuted on Der Spiegel bestseller list.
With an ancestry stretching back to the Mayflower and the court of King Henry VIII, the author lives with her husband in New England, where she is working on her next novel. Visit Lara’s website and sign up for new release announcements at http://bit.ly/LaraAdrianNews
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
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August 7, 2019Got this from the library for Stacia Kane's story.
August 31, 2012
Essentially this short story is a way for readers to taste the offerings of five scribes. A neat little marketing ploy disguised as a fantastic creative storytelling idea.
No matter what the reason, it gives readers a chance to experience and become enamoured with any or all of the talented five within the book.
The first 35% of the ebook is the short story they have written together, after that each author feaures a chapter from one of their own books.
It is an interesting concept and one that is quite difficult to undertake. Instead of each writing a single story and combining them in a compilation, they have each written one chapter of the same tale.
I have to admit I like the idea, because each chapter gives a sense of their individual style and that in turn will most likely entice a reader to seek out more of their work.
As for the story overall, I thought two styles out of the five didn't mesh well with the flow of the story, which made it less spectacular than it could have been.
As for the ploy, that was much more successful.
No matter what the reason, it gives readers a chance to experience and become enamoured with any or all of the talented five within the book.
The first 35% of the ebook is the short story they have written together, after that each author feaures a chapter from one of their own books.
It is an interesting concept and one that is quite difficult to undertake. Instead of each writing a single story and combining them in a compilation, they have each written one chapter of the same tale.
I have to admit I like the idea, because each chapter gives a sense of their individual style and that in turn will most likely entice a reader to seek out more of their work.
As for the story overall, I thought two styles out of the five didn't mesh well with the flow of the story, which made it less spectacular than it could have been.
As for the ploy, that was much more successful.
November 25, 2016
This is a publisher's gimmick to get notice for the authors. It's a collaborative short work about a half-efreet detective. Authors hand off chapters to the next one in the list. Apparently when originally written it was "choose your own adventure" style and the internet audience voted on choices at the end of each chapter. It was successful in that I could picture reading the little scenes at fifth grade recess and maybe it was fun to watch in real time, but did not exactly transcend the genre.
I didn't know the setup or I wouldn't have picked it up. But there's worse stuff out there.
(I almost wish it worked better as intended rather than as a work itself--the story doesn't actually feel disjointed so I didn't come away feeling any of the authors really stood out with a distinctive voice.)
I didn't know the setup or I wouldn't have picked it up. But there's worse stuff out there.
(I almost wish it worked better as intended rather than as a work itself--the story doesn't actually feel disjointed so I didn't come away feeling any of the authors really stood out with a distinctive voice.)
August 16, 2017
Enjoyably an adult "choose your own adventure".
December 29, 2019
It was fine, and if I'd been part of the voting I'd probably have been more into it, but as it was it was more an interesting experiment than anything.
August 1, 2020
A novelty where each chapter was written by 5 different authors. It was nicely and seamlessly written.
I enjoyed chapter 5 best.
I enjoyed chapter 5 best.
February 14, 2011
I was interested in reading this novella for a couple of reasons. First, I like a lot of the authors that helped write this and second, it was an interesting experiment in letting their readers pick the course of the story. So basically as a reader you got to vote on which way you wanted the story to go and the author that wrote the next chapter followed that plot direction.
This is a story about Munira, the half-human daughter of a fire djinn. She is a Retriever, someone who retrieves (aka steals) things. An evil wizard contacts Munira to have her Retrieve something for him from the underworld, when Munira refuses the wizard holds her father captive until she complies. What follows is a crazy adventure into the Underworld. After the story the first chapters from books by each author is included.
There were a lot of aspects I enjoyed in this short story. Munira as a half-fire djinn has some really cool powers and it was fun to read about that. Each of the authors writes a chapter and tries to play to there strong points as an author. I enjoyed the world and the concepts behind the story.
The things I liked about this story was that it was high action and creative. The e-book includes excepts from the authors' books at the end which was nice. It was a good way to get a feel for the authors' writing style to help you decide if you would like it or not.
My biggest problem with this was that each chapter felt a little disjointed because of the shifts in writing style. It was so apparent that it jarred you out of the story some. So, I had trouble staying engaged in the story. Each author definitely has their own style and focuses on different aspects of writing and it is very easy to see this, but also disruptive to the story.
Overall this was a neat experiment and results in an okay story. The ideas behind the story are solid but the jolt in style between chapters makes the story a bit disjointed and hard to stay engaged in. If you are trying to decide whether or not to read things from these authors then this should help you decide what writing styles work for you and what don't. For the price it's not a bad read.
This is a story about Munira, the half-human daughter of a fire djinn. She is a Retriever, someone who retrieves (aka steals) things. An evil wizard contacts Munira to have her Retrieve something for him from the underworld, when Munira refuses the wizard holds her father captive until she complies. What follows is a crazy adventure into the Underworld. After the story the first chapters from books by each author is included.
There were a lot of aspects I enjoyed in this short story. Munira as a half-fire djinn has some really cool powers and it was fun to read about that. Each of the authors writes a chapter and tries to play to there strong points as an author. I enjoyed the world and the concepts behind the story.
The things I liked about this story was that it was high action and creative. The e-book includes excepts from the authors' books at the end which was nice. It was a good way to get a feel for the authors' writing style to help you decide if you would like it or not.
My biggest problem with this was that each chapter felt a little disjointed because of the shifts in writing style. It was so apparent that it jarred you out of the story some. So, I had trouble staying engaged in the story. Each author definitely has their own style and focuses on different aspects of writing and it is very easy to see this, but also disruptive to the story.
Overall this was a neat experiment and results in an okay story. The ideas behind the story are solid but the jolt in style between chapters makes the story a bit disjointed and hard to stay engaged in. If you are trying to decide whether or not to read things from these authors then this should help you decide what writing styles work for you and what don't. For the price it's not a bad read.
November 18, 2011
3.5 stars
I was really intrigued by the idea of a short story where each chapter was written by a different author. I've heard good things about all the authors involved in the collaboration (although the only one who's work I've read before is Lara Adrian and I am a massive fan of hers) so I thought this would be a nice way of getting to try some new to me authors.
I don't want to go into too much detail about the story because it would be too easy to give spoilers but it was action packed and contains all sorts of different paranormal creatures from ifrits to wizards, necromancers to grotesque monsters that have been cobbled together using a mixture of human and animal body parts.
Obviously as it’s a short story there isn't much time to do a lot of character development but if I found out there was going to be a longer book set in this world I would definitely be picking up a copy. I'm also planning on checking out books by the authors who took part in the collaboration.
If you’re looking for a fun quick read you can’t go far wrong with this one.
I was really intrigued by the idea of a short story where each chapter was written by a different author. I've heard good things about all the authors involved in the collaboration (although the only one who's work I've read before is Lara Adrian and I am a massive fan of hers) so I thought this would be a nice way of getting to try some new to me authors.
I don't want to go into too much detail about the story because it would be too easy to give spoilers but it was action packed and contains all sorts of different paranormal creatures from ifrits to wizards, necromancers to grotesque monsters that have been cobbled together using a mixture of human and animal body parts.
Obviously as it’s a short story there isn't much time to do a lot of character development but if I found out there was going to be a longer book set in this world I would definitely be picking up a copy. I'm also planning on checking out books by the authors who took part in the collaboration.
If you’re looking for a fun quick read you can’t go far wrong with this one.
November 5, 2014
This was such a brilliant concept, idea and totally engaging. I loved the idea of different authors taking part and completing a chapter each of the same story. It worked so well and combined perfectly.
This is definitely a book like no other, and although fails to give me inspiration the way I wanted it to, it managed me to imagine things unbelievable, and I definitely was involved from the start.
I am a fan of Lara Adrian, hence the whole purpose of reading this e-book, but not only that her chapters stood out to me and I felt eager to read them. However I wasn't expecting the other authors to be just as amazing, being able to capture the beautifully crafted characters and not lose anything brings so much surprise.
There were some stuff that failed but they can be easily overlooked because this was definitely magical.
I definitely think this should have been released in paperback... Quite possibly expanded too, especially since this is a whole new exciting world.
This is definitely a book like no other, and although fails to give me inspiration the way I wanted it to, it managed me to imagine things unbelievable, and I definitely was involved from the start.
I am a fan of Lara Adrian, hence the whole purpose of reading this e-book, but not only that her chapters stood out to me and I felt eager to read them. However I wasn't expecting the other authors to be just as amazing, being able to capture the beautifully crafted characters and not lose anything brings so much surprise.
There were some stuff that failed but they can be easily overlooked because this was definitely magical.
I definitely think this should have been released in paperback... Quite possibly expanded too, especially since this is a whole new exciting world.
November 27, 2011
It was a great idea- You take some of todays best authors and have them each write a chapter based of the precious authors chapters. Each author would twist the tale in their own special way. I had to read it, Stacia Kane one of my personal favs contributed. It was going along well, each author wrote a very interesting new twist to the main characters plot. Then it was just over ?!?!?! Yes, i know it is a novella, and short is what it is, but it could have been a really good novel. I would have loved to see each of these authors keep going writing another chapter or two when their turn came up.
All in all it was good but could of been great.
All in all it was good but could of been great.
April 1, 2012
I wish it was longer :) I picked it up in an effort to ease myself out of Downside (an absolute must read series by Stacia Kane). I really truly dislike short stories (unless it's part of something I've already read), so I was surprised to see how well it worked, how tiny and yet completely satisfying.
April 17, 2012
This short story was interesting. I like how it had various authors working together to complete one story, with one picking up a new chapter where the last left off. That was a pretty cool concept. The story itself was ok in general though, it isn't one that will resonate with me. The characters weren't anything special either, it was just ok. Read if you want to fill a little bit of time.
March 11, 2020
A novelty short story with five authors (goodreads omits Harry Connolly and Kelly Meding) originally released a chapter at a time on suvudu with a round of voting on a decision by the main character between chapters.
The ebook also includes samples from a book by each of the authors.
*** for the story
***** for the samples (two persuaded me to get the book — Harry Connolly and Kelly Melding)
The ebook also includes samples from a book by each of the authors.
*** for the story
***** for the samples (two persuaded me to get the book — Harry Connolly and Kelly Melding)
August 1, 2013
This is an interesting cohesive book, more interesting in that five authors collaborated to write a chapter each. the story came together well, all of the characters were interesting. I love the little details each author added to make the characters feel real and unique.
December 13, 2014
I found myself more interested in the concept of this story and how it was written more than the story itself. The story wasn't bad, but just sort of meh...for me. I did like how Munira seemed to get the better of people, but didn't think the person she save was worth the effort.
January 7, 2015
Great paranormal short read
Not very long but lots of twists and turns! Worth the download for time occupying read! I enjoyed the story and glimpse of the authors going to check the brothers outwardly an avid Lara Adrian fan!
Not very long but lots of twists and turns! Worth the download for time occupying read! I enjoyed the story and glimpse of the authors going to check the brothers outwardly an avid Lara Adrian fan!
December 16, 2010
Very cool and super imaginative. I LOVED how all the authors came together and wrote a very smooth and gripping story!
March 6, 2017
A Glimpse of Darkness
Great short story by wonderful authors. This is a fun way to get a peek into the mind of several Arthur's at one.
Great short story by wonderful authors. This is a fun way to get a peek into the mind of several Arthur's at one.
May 6, 2014
needed character development, but that wasn't the point of the book. this was a gimmick to advertise each writers talents. it wasn't terrible, but it lacked any real substance.
October 17, 2013
A very interesting collaboration between five different authors... the world it is set in would be really cool to read more about.
September 27, 2014
Four authors write a different chapter of this book and you can tell. It wasn't horrible but it's wasn't great. So an average rating from me.
February 11, 2016
I love Lara Adrian but this was not my cup of tea.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews