Review: Igniting Darkness by Robin LaFevers

Igniting Darkness by Robin LaFevers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This picks up where Courting Darkness leaves off and continues to follow Genevieve and Sybella as they navigate the politics of the French court and the dangers within.  The both have to wrestle with their duties as novitiates of the convent of Saint Mortain, their loyalty to the Duchess of Brittany soon to be Queen of France, loyalty to the crown of France, and their own personal desires and conflicts.  The girls are caught up in what can only be described as a live match of chess and the loser will pay dearly.  This is jam packed with historical references, political intrigue, deception, friendship, and a bit of romance.  There is a bit of magic and fantasy woven in, but it takes a back seat to the politics and movements of the players at court.

I really enjoyed this final installment.  We finally get to see how all of the decisions and deceptions finally play out.  Each of the daughters of Mortain has had their part to play, but Sybella and Genevieve have the biggest parts to play as everything comes to a head.  I feel like all of my questions were answered and that this came to a satisfying ending.

I did listen to the audiobook and felt the narration was very well done.  I really appreciate when there are multiple perspectives that there are multiple narrators.  This really helps distinguish the voice of the characters.  I do feel that this was a bit slow at times.  Because it leans so much on the politics and movements of those involved at the court either for or against the French crown, there are times where nothing seems to be happening as the players take time to make their moves without upsetting the balance.  I do think there was enough action sprinkled in throughout to keep the reader engaged in the story and the pace moving along.  While most of this is told from the perspectives of Sybella and Genevieve, there are some random chapters told from Maraud and Aeva's perspectives, while they are helpful and informative, I'm not a fan of a 3 and 4 perspectives in general especially when they aren't consistent voices throughout.

I would not recommend starting with this book as it heavily relies on information from the previous book.  You could potentially begin with Courting Darkness, but I feel that beginning with Grave Mercy and reading the original trilogy would give the reader a much richer reading experience.  The author does a good job filling in gaps to make the duology stand on it's own, but the reader would gain a much greater understanding of the convent, the politics, and the events of the past by reading the original trilogy.

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