Courting Darkness by Sarah LaFevers

COURTING DARKNESS

A review by Jeana To
★★★★☆

Courting Darkness is the first book in a companion duology to Lafevers’ His Fair Assassin trilogy. Rather than a companion duology, Courting Darkness is more like a continuation of Sybella’s story from the second book of His Fair Assassin (called Dark Triumph), following Sybella’s story as well as a newly introduced character named Genevieve. 

The world of Courting Darkness is based on England from the Middle Ages. Sybella is from the convent of Mortain, which means that she is one of Death’s Daughters -- literally sired by Death -- giving her special abilities that set her apart from regular mortals. She lives with the duchess and helps protect her as well as give her council. When the duchess agrees to marry the king, Sybella agrees to accompany her to France. In a foreign court with not many allies, her only hope is in two mysterious girls from the convent of Mortain sent to spy at court many years ago. Meanwhile, Genevieve, also a Daughter of Death, is a spy sent to court to spy at a young age with her friend Margaret as ladies in waiting. They are told that when they are needed, the convent will contact them with the sign of a black crow feather. However, not long after being sent to the king’s court, both are sent away with Louise, a lady and a newlywed, to her husband’s court. With the passing of many years and no contact from the convent, she is slowly starting to lose sight of her purpose - until she meets a mysterious prisoner in the dungeons. The book is split between Genevieve’s and Sybella’s perspectives and talks about political events that affect both girls’ lives as their fates twine together and slowly interconnect.

Although the author claimed that it wasn't necessary to read His Fair Assassin to understand what was going on in Courting Darkness, I did find that it was slightly difficult to follow along without any background knowledge of what had happened before. However, it was nothing that a reader wouldn’t be able to figure out without context clues, though I may recommend reading at least the second book of His Fair Assassin before reading Courting Darkness -- the author jumps right in with Sybella’s perspective, and it took me a little bit to fully comprehend what was going on and why. However, some of the confusion on my part was due to my misunderstanding that Courting Darkness was a stand-alone YA fiction novel, not a companion series. If you do plan to read Courting Darkness straight up from the start, I would recommend that you keep that in mind as you read.

The plot of this book was very interesting to me. The book managed to show political intricacies that were happening at court while keeping the reader from getting too bored with shots of action in between. I also found the feminist ideal of the book interesting as well, different in a way from Alanna. The setting is based on England in the Middle Ages, which means that sexism does exist. Women are married off for political reasons, and many of the men in the novel (in particular, the king) think of women as helpless without a male to guide them along. Sybella has to help the duchess/now queen try to gain some respect at court along with political power. 

Courting Darkness wasn’t afraid to discuss the good and the bad qualities of women, making it more realistic and more interesting to read. Although the main characters are kick-butt young women who are not afraid to kick butt (and soundly at that), there are also instances where the reader is able to glimpse the ugly side of women at court. This refers to gossip, rumors, jealousy, and all sorts of creative ways to get petty revenge. As Sybella puts it, these are the women who instead of sympathizing with other girls who have been trapped just like they are through political marriage or by another means, they bitterly try to encircle them even more and make their lives miserable instead.

I found that while reading this book, I spent the entire time waiting and waiting for Sybella and Genevieve to finally (FINALLY!!!) meet. Yes, it is one of those books…I’m not going to add any spoilers, but the book does end in a cliffhanger (why) and the next book is probably not coming out in a few years. If you don’t like cliffhangers and if you especially don’t like cliffhangers when the next book isn’t out yet, do not read.

Otherwise, this is a fascinating read and I enjoyed this book very much. If you are into political drama, strong heroines with deadly powers, and some romance, I definitely recommend!