The Sweetest Dark

by Shana Abe

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Set in England during World War I, The Sweetest Dark is a mesmerizing combination of Historical Fiction and magic. Lora has no memories of her past until she was sent to an orphanage and later to an institution for hearing voices and music. Upon her release she is granted access to a prestigious boarding school on scholarship. It is there where the voices and music return and she learns what she really is from the groundskeeper, Jesse. She's a dragon. The prologue and opening chapters immediately drew me in, and the author's vivid descriptions and imaginative take on dragons kept me enthralled until nearly the end.

I had read one of this author's adult novels previously and was already impressed with the way she can provide a lot of detail without slowing down the story. This is very true in The Sweetest Dark. It was easy to picture the dark setting, and even though I'm not really a fan of flowery writing, I loved her descriptions of the purple night sky. They're really wonderful. She also gave Lora a very distinctive voice and I enjoyed her story very much. My only issue with the writing was the random sections in 3rd person from the two male POVs. I don't think they added much overall until the very end when we learn their connection to the 100 year old letters which are also included.

I adored this world and the magical creatures! Lora is a dragon, but she's not exactly one of those monstrous scary ones often seen in fairytales. At first she can only shift into smoke, which provides her much freedom and an advantage in perilous situations. However, once she can fully shift...wow. She is gorgeous and fierce. I wish there had been color illustrations, but I could still imagine her clearly. Then there's Jesse who is also something special although very different from a dragon. He is made of stars and can turn anything living into gold. He's also bound to Lora in a way that transcends space and time. I just loved it all!

The only reason that The Sweetest Dark gets 3 stars instead of 4 is because it kind of lost me in the last 10%. While I loved the historical setting, I wasn't too fond of how the war came to the forefront all of a sudden. I had a hard time accepting dragons fighting the Germans. The reason for it seemed quite rushed and contrived, so that also added to my disbelief. I just didn't care for this part.

Overall, The Sweetest Dark is amazing though! The dark, gothic tone is extremely atmospheric and easily to fall into. The romance is sweet, the magic is...magical. I'm just not sure where this story is going. There didn't seem to be an overarching plot that I could identify, so I suppose I'll just have to keep reading and find out!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.