Stevie‘s review of Darkbeast Rebellion (Darkbeast, Book 2) by Morgan Keyes
Middle Grade fantasy published by Margaret K. McElderry Books 24 Sep 13
Having utterly loved the first book in this series, I deliberately didn’t reread it before picking this one up, in order to have a clear picture of how well the second stands alone. My advice: read the first book before moving on to this one, but read them both. Just don’t expect a romance – although the main character is growing up and has two very different boys paying her attention in the course of their adventures together.
The story opens with our heroine, Keara, trudging through the snow: hungry and feeling more than a little sorry for herself. She’s on the run with two of the friends she made after she ran away from home in the previous book: the adult Traveler, Taggart, and the boy, Goran. We get enough information to realise that Travelers are itinerant entertainers, and that the crime the three have committed, which has caused them to go on the run, is their failing to ritually kill their darkbeasts – magical animals that can communicate with their individual owners and with each other, but are destined to be sacrificed when their owners reach the age of twelve. The worldbuilding of the story is rich and dense, but I do feel that anyone coming to this book without having read the first is missing out by not knowing about the lives and families all three have given up to go on the run.
Keara and her friends are searching for the people known as Darkers: a whole hidden community of those who have kept their darkbeasts with them into adulthood. And just as everything seems as bleak as it can get, it appears that they have been rescued by such a group. Something doesn’t feel right, though, and before long the three and their darkbeasts – Caw the raven, Flick the lizard, and Wart the toad – are in more trouble than ever. At this point the story takes hold and I had trouble putting the book down.
The action moves to the country’s capital city and we learn more about the politics and religion of this world, as well as meeting the two sons of its ruler, the elder of whom has given up his right to rule in order to join the Inquisitors – high priests of the twelve gods of the country – and serve the god of darkbeasts in particular. This has not gone down well with his younger brother, Dillon, who would rather have been left alone with his studies. Dillon befriends Keara, much to Goran’s disgust, but that subplot plays out more as a rivalry between two boys from very different backgrounds than as any sort of potential love triangle. Even if jealousy over Keara does seem to be at the bottom of it.
After suffering cruelty at the hands of the Inquistors, Keara and her two original friends find that they have unexpected allies in the capital and manage to escape with Dillon in tow. That’s not the end of their adventures, and there are more tests along the way towards a potential new home for some, or all, of them. The ending is satisfying, but I see scope for more adventures in this series, and I would love for Keyes to give us at least one more book.
I suspect this book would work well for its intended age group, but there’s a lot in there for older readers too. Definitely a keeper alongside its predecessor in the series.
Grade: B
Summary:
Betrayal threatens everything Keara dreams of in this fast-paced, exciting sequel to Darkbeast.
Keara, her friend Goran, and the wily old actor, Taggart, are fleeing for their lives. They have all spared their darkbeasts, the creatures that take on their darker deeds and emotions and lift their spirits. But their actions defy the law, which dictates that all citizens must kill their darkbeasts on their twelfth birthdays.
There are rumors of safe havens, groups of people called Darkers who spared their darkbeasts and live outside the law. To find the Darkers, the trio must embark on a dangerous journey—and evade the Inquisitors who are searching for them everywhere. In the middle of winter, freezing and exhausted, Keara and her companions are taken to an underground encampment that seems the answer to all their hopes. But are these Darkers really what they appear to be?
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Other books in this series:
