Away from the Dark (The Light, #2)

by Aleatha Romig

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

This is a very hard review to write. There are SOOOO many spoilers from book one. I will do my best to keep it spoiler free. So, in book one, Into the Light, we meet Sara. She has just woken up from a horrible injury. Her eyes are bandaged and she is badly bruised, but remembers nothing. She is told that she is a member of The Light. She lives in a remote Alaskan village where everyone else that lives there is part of The Light too. She also learns that she is married to Jacob. Now, because this series is told from multiple POVs, the reader learns very quickly that Sara is a new initiate and that she is being forced into this new life. Many brides are “acquired” this way and brought into The Light. We learn this from Jacob’s POV.

There is also a third POV, Stella. She is an investigative reported. She’s also looking for her best friend who’s gone missing. Stella lives in Detroit. She’s dating a cop and has a fish named Fred.

Now, this story picks up right where Into the Light ends. It ended with a big cliffhanger end to it. We start to get answers right from the beginning of this book. Many of the questions that come up in book one are answered relatively quickly, but there are also new questions. Jacob has know from the beginning what he was a part of. However, things to take a turn for the worse, not just for Jacob, but also Sara and others in this cult.

In the first book, everything takes place at the Northern Light, the Alaska camp. In this book, we get to see more of the Eastern Light, that is located in Detroit. It is also the place where The Light does a lot of it’s “recruitment”. Some people do join willingly, though most of those are men. We also learn a lot more about the leader of this sect, Father Gabriel.

I know that I haven’t given much detail on this book. I really can’t without giving HUGE spoilers of book one. Just know that this series is a twisted tale of a cult and the people within it and some people who aren’t in it at all. This entire series is full of suspense with several twists and turns. Things seem to go in a completely different direction that you think they will go.

This is a duology, so this is the last book in this series. While most things are answered, there are a few strings left open. Not so much that it feels unfinished or unsatisfied. More like, there is an opening for a spin off. Aleatha Roming could also be allowing readers to come to their own conclusions about a few things. Whether or not there is another book set in this world, I’m happy with how this series played out. I loved the entire journey.

Narration
This book did have a change in one of the male narrators. That didn’t hurt the narration of this story at all. We did get different POVs in this story, so the second male narrator got more page time than in the first book. I think the trio did a great job with the entire story. I loved the voices, pacing and tone. All fit well with the current scene. I would highly recommend this series on audio.