Meg Whitlock

Jason Latimer is saved by a young woman, Alex, one night when he is attacked by muggers. The muggers, however, are demons, and his green-eyed (or is she gold-eyed?) saviour is rather older than she looks. Quite a bit older. She’s been around since the year dot, pretty much. She wants to protect Jason—she is a Guardian, she is Light representing goodness; she wants to protect him from the evil Guardians who are Dark and from Lucifer in particular. Jason believes she’s quite simply deranged, but some unanswered questions pertaining to his recently deceased grandfather and his mother’s reticence about his own father lead him to uncover some extraordinary facts about himself, why Lucifer is so intent on seeking him out and why Alex is committed to protecting him. Alex has to do everything in her power to keep Jason out of his reach.

This was probably a fantasy tale on the border of my limits of the genre, but I did like the veil of wry humour embracing the story. The dialogue was sharp, witty and modern—streetwise almost. I got a little dizzy with the leaps into different time frames. Alex is immortal, so she’s been around quite a bit, and the story jumps into different centuries. Confusing also is the fact she has different monikers. However, these kangaroo hops were well done, with famous names like Botticelli being characterised, and their relevance soon becomes evident. Meg’s characters were meaty and substantial; Jason is suitably good-looking and takes his parentage and his new future in his stride; Alex is Light and Goodness in a neat, attractive little package—positive, caring, and well-intentioned. Cassius, her brother, and Rorik, her trusted friend, have their own demons within their demon souls and have their consciences to fight as well as their foes.

What I also liked was that although this is the first in a series, the ending was solid enough to end the book without unanswered questions, but with just a smidgeon of a hint that there is more to come.

I’m still a little on the fence with this genre, although some recent books have been moving it up my hit charts, and Meg has certainly helped push it along upwards. Aficionados of the genre will certainly get their money’s worth with this one.… (plus d'informations)

The Dark Man’s Son was one of those books that I could tell, right from the first paragraph, that I was really going to enjoy reading. Perhaps it was the style of writing—Whitlock has a knack for elegant and rhythmical prose, and she pains a dark, evocative scene—or maybe it was the fact that the first chapter thrust me right in the heart of the action, which didn’t let up until the last page. Whatever it was, it kept me reading far into the night, eager to discover what would happen next.The two arguably main characters are Alex and Jason. Alex proves to be quite the strong female character, swooping in and saving the damsel-in-distress Jason from a pair of street thugs that are more than they appear. I don’t want to give too much away about the plot, but suffice it to say that Alex (though she goes by many names) is an old and powerful entity, and her destiny is tied up in Jason’s in a way that truly resonates throughout the book.This book, in case you were wondering, is somewhat of an angels and demons kind of book, but with many more layers than that. The mythology behind this book is artfully done. I’m not very familiar with religious themes and icons like angels, demons, heaven, and hell, so reading about Lucifer and Abaddon and all of that was like reading about these characters for the first time, and Ms. Whitlock does them justice. The antagonists working against Alex and Jason are sufficiently evil, and what I loved about some of them was that you couldn’t quite guess their true motives. I love morally ambiguous characters like that.The narrative was slightly confusing in parts, particularly since it jumped around so much. A lot of the story switched back and forth between present day and various parts of history that Alex and her counterpart, Cassius, experienced. Though I really liked these glimpses into the past, I found it difficult to keep track of when and where things were taking place.Overall, I found The Dark Man’s Son to be an original and creative addition to the supernatural genre. It ended with quite a bang (and a cliffhanger!), and I look forward to the sequel when it is released… hopefully soon!A copy of this book was provided for review by the author via Bewitching Book Tours.____For more book reviews, visit my blog The Bookshelf!… (plus d'informations)