Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Book:  Darkness Becomes Her

Author:  Kelly Keaton

Publisher:  Simon Pulse

Year:  2011

Reason I read it:  This is book #5 of the modern Greek mythology books for my booktalk in YA lit class.

My grade:  A

Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers just one message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very…different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

My Review

I love it when I read a book that is so original that I can’t even think of anything else that it’s like.

Darkness Becomes Her is one of those books!!!

Ok, it’s true that dreamy Sebastian sort of reminds me of Derek from Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Powers series.  But it’s just his size and broodiness that made me think of Derek.  Oh, and the swoon worthiness! : )

What other book out there mixes together voodoo, vampires, shapeshifters, witches and Greek gods and monsters and then sets it in a dystopian New Orleans?

No other book does that!  Bravo, Kelly Keaton!  In a genre that is starting to get a little repetitive and predictable, you have written a gripping paranormal tale that has more twists and turns than a roller coaster!

And as if I needed more than Anne Rice to get me to want to visit New Orleans!  This novel just sealed the deal!  Maybe that will be my graduation present to myself when I finish this degree.  I would love to visit the haunts of Lestat, the Mayfair witches and now, the places of New 2!

I don’t even know how to describe this book.  I had a really hard time putting it down, much to the chagrin of my 3 year old.  I just wanted to sit and bury myself in this world.  Each revelation was more and more wondrous, until I just sat and marveled at the fact that someone could have this much imagination and pull this book off successfully.  There was only one thing that I saw coming, but really, I think she MEANT to foreshadow it!

Now, I have seen reviewers complain about the “insta-romance” between Sebastian and Ari.  First of all, there is no immediate declaration of love a la Twilight.  Are they attracted immensely to one another?  Yes.  Do they feel a kindred connection?  Yes.  Is this something that happens every day in the high school where I teach?  YES!!!  Honestly, I think that the people who make these complaints don’t remember what it was like to be a teenager.  I mean, hormones do funny things to your brain.  Kids think they are in love within a couple of days.  Add some danger and 2 extremely attractive teens and you get….voila!  What some people refer to as “insta-romance” but what I refer to as “A Normal Day in the Life of Any High School”.

There is only one complaint I had about this book, and it’s the only thing that kept me from giving it the + on the A.  I felt like Ari and Athena both were a little too badass, for lack of a better word.  Sorry, I just don’t see the Greek goddess of wisdom being like a leather-clad urban fantasy chick.  That didn’t work for me.  But it was such a tiny complaint in the face of the greatness of this story that I was able to push it to the side for the most part. 

I was also pleased and delighted to see that Kelly Keaton is a fellow North Carolinian!  We rock in NC!!

This book was great!  I can’t believe I have to wait until February to get the sequel!  Thank goodness I finally was able to join Simon & Schuster’s Galley Grab!  I’m hoping that I will be able to snag an early copy of this sequel.  And I will unashamedly gloat if I manage to get it!