I enjoyed Valldeperas’s YA debut this year so I had the highest hopes for Daughter of the Dark. While I found the world fascinating, I couldn’t get over the beginning meeting and the character chemistry. Keep reading this book review of Daughter of the Dark for my full thoughts.
Summary
For Solana, survival has always meant staying sharp—and staying alone. With a blood-forged dagger as her only inheritance, she’s made herself Supay’s fiercest demon slayer, hunting muki—monsters born from human death—through the kingdom’s streets.
But the work comes with a curse of its every body she leaves behind swells the muki’s ranks. The city that raised her has been her cage for so long she’s stopped believing freedom is real.
Then a twist of fate drags her into the palace and crowns her Royal Demon Slayer, a title wrapped in silk and sharpened like a blade. The magic is dazzling. The secrets are darker. And whatever is poisoning Supay didn’t start in the alleys. It started behind gilded doors.
Worst of all is Reyes, the king’s right-hand man, a captain of the Masters, and her personal torturer turned mentor who’s dangerously hard to resist. Wanting him is a mistake. Trusting him could be fatal.
Because if Solana walks away, the kingdom falls. And if she stays, she may have to become the monster Supay needs.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Daughter of the Dark has the makings of a fascinating world. I loved the building blocks of this Peruvian inspired fantasy. We love a good demon, and Daughter of the Dark takes it to new heights and grounds it. There were so many elements I found out that I wanted to dive more into, but Daughter of the Dark doesn’t let us go that far. I was so intrigued by the world and just wanted to find out more depth. I know that Daughter of the Dark is a book one, but for me, as a reader, I wanted to have a solid foundation of the world before I could really sink into the ramifications. At the beginning, I really liked Solana and her motivation, her amount of care for the ones she loves.
But I couldn’t get over their very painful start to a relationship, I know that this enemies to romance is one of the major tropes here. However, this takes it to a new level I am not really sure I got over. Combined with their foundation, the pacing for the romance felt really quick at times, and really slow at times. I found that the times where it felt slow where in reaction to the things which were quickly forgotten, until then we weren’t sure if we could trust them. I felt that their romance didn’t feel as developed and that eventually made me feel differently about Solana as well. I didn’t feel their chemistry and so it made these passages feel sort of hollow.
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Overall, the pacing felt inconsistent in Daughter of the Dark. I felt like there was this slower lead up after and incredibly fast hook. It made it difficult to get back into Daughter of the Dark. Additionally, I enjoyed the side characters, but really wanted to have more of them to start rooting for them as individuals, instead of just sides. The theme of having to question what we know is such a compelling theme, I just wish this had some more depth to round it out. Find Daughter of the Dark on Goodreads, Storygraph, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.