Rising Darkness: A Game of Shadows Novel (Game of Shadows, #1)

by Thea Harrison

USA Today bestselling author Thea Harrison begins an all-new, darkly romantic paranormal saga, in which the fate of existence itself lies in the balance—and the key to victory may rest in the hands of two eternal lovers…

In the hospital ER where she works, Mary is used to chaos. But lately, every aspect of her life seems adrift. She’s feeling disconnected from herself. Voices appear in her head. And the vivid, disturbing dreams she’s had all her life are becoming more intense. Then she meets Michael. He’s handsome, enigmatic and knows more than he can say. In his company, she slowly remembers the truth about herself…

Thousands of years ago, there were eight of them. The one called the Deceiver came to destroy the world, and the other seven followed to stop him. Reincarnated over and over, they carry on—and Mary finds herself drawn into the battle once again. And the more she learns, the more she realizes that Michael will go to any lengths to destroy the Deceiver.

Then she remembers who killed her during her last life, nine hundred years ago…Michael.

• ISBN10: 0425248453
• ISBN13: 9780425248454
• Publish Date: 2 April 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 9 August 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425248454

Reviews

[Cocktails and Books]

The first book, in what promises to be a great new series, is so intricately detailed that it’s impossible not to get lost in the incredible world the author has created. I was absolutely blown away at her attention to detail. She put so much into painting a unique setting for the series, and it’s done brilliantly. The characters, while unique, are thoughtfully tied to historical/mythological legends, making them so much more exciting to read about. They are developed wonderfully, adding yet another layer of depth to this fabulous story.

The two main characters, Mary and Michael, are centuries old companions, reincarnated over and over again to try and destroy the Deceiver, a former acquaintance of theirs who came to destroy the world. The start of their journey together is poetic and meaningful; as Mary slowly begins rediscover herself through Michael.

Thea Harrison has always been a great writer, but she literally takes the cake with this one. I can honestly say that it was an honor to have been able to read this first in her new series, and I absolutely cannot wait to see what else she has in store! Dark and thrilling with a touch of romance - do yourselves a favor, and pick this one up!

[EBookObsessed]

I did not finish this book. I just couldn't. I read the first 200 pages or so and had to force myself to read that much. I am sorry to sound so harsh. I really love Thea's Elder Races series, so I wanted to like this one too. But this one was just too much in the way of set up and I didn't enjoy any of the story I read. I knew by page 200 that there was no reason to finish since I had no desire to pick up the next books so why bother with the set up.

The basic premise of the story is that several beings--mated pairs (I wasn't sure if they were aliens, angels, or what) took a poison so that they would be re-born as human and follow the Deceiver to earth. For 6,000 years they have been reborn and once they finally reclaimed their memories, which they would do gradually while they grew up, they would then try to locate each other and then the Deceiver and try to kill him. 6,000 years? Not doing such a great job so far. While the beings lost time being reincarnated (every time the deceiver killed them), the Deceiver skipped all that by stealing bodies, killing the existing soul and slipping into that new body with his memories in tact.

There was the physical plane, the spiritual plane, all levels of life and we had to watch as they reclaimed their memories of their past lives so they could move forward with the new one.

I didn't see any indication that they even inconvenience the Deceiver over the 6,000 years.