Descendent Darkness: Book II, Legacy
By A.J. Macready
I always maintain contact with authors I review for, especially those who allow me to review books that are part of a series. This case is no different. Descendent Darkness is a vampire read with much sophistication—it would put the original Dracula to shame.
Macready is meticulous, insightful, and very detailed. I reviewed the first book in this series and said the same thing with a little less kindness, as I complained that the in-depth details and the pure sophistication of the writing made the book seem a little slow. But book two did not disappoint. The style was still a little slow, but I was expecting that so I found it much easier to get through this book. Plus, I knew the backstory which made it all the more interesting.
The case with the first book is that a curse had been released and defeated but seemed to be arising once again. The second book continues the struggle and gives us a little more to feed on. The way the story went in this book made the first book feel like one big prologue. There was a lot of build-up in the first book along with explanations and much-needed dialogue between the characters. This book kind of felt like the curtains had finally been drawn and the secrets revealed.
The entire town is in on this one. The problems no longer lie within a core group of characters, Macready extended the boundaries in this book and in doing so, crafted a very horrific tale that was so expertly written, it felt like a classic. The night brought on terror and a strike of fear so strong, I got sweaty palms while reading. Despite the pacing, it was easy to get caught up in the mess of 1982 and just what was wreaking psychological havoc on Clarke’s Summit, Virginia today. Macready painted the picture of a town in trouble they could not describe or defeat. The mess was poured into the lap of Mike Gatson who is described as having family with a ‘legacy of evil’ this obviously pertains to the title of the story and it does tie in greatly once you get to read through the novel.
It was definitely a good read. I think Legacy proved that authors develop with their stories. Macready’s writing is one that takes getting used to, but I enjoyed this story better than the first. Vampire novels and dark fiction can have a good or bad rep but Macready did well in providing a unique and quite scary addition to a genre that’s become saturated with romance.
I would recommend this book to readers who are fans of supernatural novels, vampires, dark fiction, and even horror. This has an intense psychological edge and will be a great book to those who enjoy great writing and narration.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*