Fade To Black: By Francis Knight

FADE TO BLACK

SUMMARY

It's a city built upwards, not across - where streets are built upon streets, buildings upon buildings. A city that the Ministry rules from the sunlit summit, and where the forsaken lurk in the darkness of Under.

Rojan Dizon doesn't mind staying in the shadows, because he's got things to hide. Things like being a pain-mage, with the forbidden power to draw magic from pain. But he can't hide for ever.

Because when Rojan stumbles upon the secrets lurking in the depths of the Pit, the fate of Mahala will depend on him using his magic. And unlucky for Rojan - this is going to hurt.

REVIEW

Fade to Black is Francis Knight’s debut novel, and I have to say, it kept me glued to my seat.

It starts off with Rojan, the protagonist, trying to catch a runaway girl, who tries to electrocute him and set him on fire when he goes after her, and keeps at that level of action until the last page of the book.

Rojan, while a little ruff around the edges at first is a likable protagonist who over the course of the next few books in the series has the potential to really grow into a fantastic protagonist. Now, the character I really would have liked to have read more about was Dendal. Everything I read about Dendal I really enjoyed and in my opinion he has the potential to offer the story some Yoda style wisdom to help explain some of the happenings of the events as well as some comedic relief. I’m not saying the other characters were bad, in fact I really liked most of the characters, I just really liked Dendal and would like to read more of him.

One of my only problems with the book was the way that the author, Knight, kept repeating herself. I understand that she was trying to make the points that; that Rojan was scared of his magic and didn’t like to use it, that he was a womanizer, and that the synthtox, the predecessor of the glow, killed loads of people including Rojan’s mother. But the number of times I read and re-read these points was ridiculous and began getting a bit annoying as it takes the reader out the story and detracts from the overall level of enjoyment in the book.

That said, this was Knight’s first book, and I really enjoyed it overall. Further, I was able to read a preview of the next book in the series Before the Fall, and Knight does a great job picking up immediately where she left off, starting the story at a jog, and getting readers into the story with a bang.

So while Fade to Black wasn’t perfect, it had tons of action, had some good characters, and it entertained me. All in all, I really liked it and plan to read Before the Fall when it comes out as well. 

INFO

Publisher: Orbit

Published: February 26, 2013

Price: $14.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Fade-Black-Rojan-Dizon-Novel/dp/0316217689/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361866394&sr=1-1&keywords=fade+to+black