Good morning everyone I’m very happy to hand over the reigns to Kirsty again for her spot on the Absolute Darkness blog tour. As well as sharing her review she has details of how to enter a giveaway to win a copy of the book.
Absolute Darkness is available now in ebook and paperback. You can purchase a copy of both here.
Before I share Kirsty’s review with you here is a little bit about the book.
Book Synopsis:
A thrill ride through time that will make you hold your breath.
Sitting by the campfire, Brandy admitted a secret to her friends. She swore she saw a ghost when exiting a cave earlier that day. Was she seeing things? Did they believe her? The next day, breaking a cardinal rule, she snuck back to the cave alone. No one knew where she was. What if she fell or was trapped? There would be no rescue.
For ten thousand years Alexander had kept the time streams of this universe safe from an eternal destructive force that continually threatened to tamper and destroy all. Locked in an unremitting battle, the two foes become sidetracked by an unexpected visitor. An entangled journey begins with chilling twists and turns until becoming locked into an inescapable death in a submerged cave.
Who will come out of the watery depths alive?
Kirsty’s Review:
Absolute Darkness
Inescapable death and love await…
….in the timeless depths.
Sitting by the campfire, Brandy admitted a secret to her friends. She swore she saw a ghost when exiting a cave earlier that day. Was she seeing things? Did they believe her? The next day, breaking a cardinal rule, she snuck back to the cave alone. No one knew where she was. What if she fell or was trapped? There would be no rescue.
For ten thousand years Alexander had kept the time streams of this universe safe from an eternal destructive force that continually threatened to tamper and destroy all. Locked in an unremitting battle, the two foes become sidetracked by an unexpected visitor. An entangled journey begins with chilling twists and turns until becoming locked into an inescapable death in a submerged cave.
Who will come out of the watery depths alive?
This was a really interesting concept of a book, the whole idea of someone (a being) able to experience time in a different way and can manipulate it to their own ends, changing the linears (people who travel through time in a straight line) past to influence the future and keep the universe on track.
Brandy and Susan are best friends who like to spend their free time caving. I know nothing about caving, however I found these scenes really well written and I felt immersed in the experience of the hobby – almost claustrophobic in some instants – especially the cave diving scenes, having had a diving accident, I do know first hand how dangerous that can be.
I really warmed to the characters of Brandy and Susan, they have flaws like any person but their friendship endures and helps them through the events to come. It took me a lot longer to warm to the character of Alexander, I initially felt he was very selfish but his character evolves as the book goes on and you realise his motivation for doing what he does. I did enjoy the descriptions of Alexanders home, it reminded me very much of the plane that DEATH lives on in the Disc World books.
Tina has borrowed bits of myth and made characters and a world that is truly her own – this book is really fast paced for the most part which kept me engaged and reading. The pace slows a little in the middle of the book where everything is explained and plans are formed but it soon picked up again. I got a little confused in places when the timeline gets altered but you soon get back on track. Throughout the book you feel like something is coming, something big – it just keeps building and building to its ultimate crescendo.
For fans of the genre I would recommend picking up this book and giving it a whirl you won’t be disappointed.
Excerpt:
Alexander shivered. Cold air, cold skin, cold stone floor. The sun had set in their time. He considered. It was her time now. Not theirs.
“Main time,” he thought. Not theirs, not hers, just main. He concentrated and willed his body to pull energy from the earth. It felt cold and lifeless. It could sustain him, but not for long.
“What if I just stay here?” Alexander thought. He pictured his naked body flat against the ground. Here where time stood still, no dust would settle on his still form. Slowly he would lose the ability to move but he would live. His body would breathe energy from the earth and continue to keep the cells of his body tuned to this frozen time. Without sustenance, physical food, he would lack the energy to drive his muscles. Alexander pictured himself trapped in a frozen existence with only the company of his thoughts. Perhaps he would lack the ability to even close his eyes. A waking death. With leaden limbs he rolled then drug himself to a seated position and brushed the sand from his chest. The rubble flitted away from him randomly through time and landed on the ground.
A sharp, needy pain gripped him. This pain sharper than the ache he had felt before, the ache caused by a universe moving towards chaos. He dropped his head forward, rubbed a hand over his hair. He should cut it all off, save that nuisance. It would only grown when he was in main time, her time. A grunt. He felt forward for Yindi. Nothing. “Patience is not one of your virtues. What are you up to?”
Alexander walked slowly and with effort through time and towards the entrance of his cave. He walked by the vision of himself at the pit, without glancing its way, and came to stand near the ghostly vision where she had turned to look at him. He stared into her transparent grey eyes. Defeated, hungry and weak he walked on.
The full moon hung heavy in the sky when Alexander slipped into main time. A cool breeze brushed delicately on his skin. It felt like silk. Away from his time and the earth of his cave the sharp pangs of hunger hit again. He slipped back to his cold, frozen time to conserve his energy as much as he could. In that future full moon he could see the comings and goings of his love and her friend. She had come back to the cave today. He had been so preoccupied with leaving that he hadn’t noticed the new vision of her there. He followed their ghostly trail through the grass and woods. Alexander studied the frozen transparent women for a moment. They had stood by a small truck, talking, examining something in her hands. Eventually they had driven away, east. Alexander stood still and tried to pull energy from the earth. This far from his cave, his dirt, the energy was barely enough to aid him.
Giveaway:
#FORLINEARS puzzle: Please check out the virtual blog tour and you might find some embedded fun in the imagery.
(https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/absolute-darkness) In fact, I dare you. Can you find the hidden puzzles that lead to an autographed book give away? First one to figure it out wins an autographed book.
Please note Over The Rainbow Book Blog is not responsible for this giveaway.
About The Author:
Tina O’Hailey (author of animation text books “Rig it Right” and “Hybrid Animation”, professor in animation, visual effects and game programming, caver and occasional mapper of grim, wet, twisty caves—if she owes a friend a favor or loses a bet—whose passion is to be secluded on a mountain and to write whilst surrounded by small, furry dogs and hot coffee) was struck by lightning as a baby.
Links:
Absolute Darkness: Virtual Blog Tour: June 28 – July 4
https://www.rachelsrandomresources.com/absolute-darkness
On Amazon:
Preorder from the publisher. Use code: PREORDER2018 to receive a 10% discount!
http://www.blackrosewriting.com/sci-fifantasy/absolutedarkness
Author Blog:
https://coffeediem.wordpress.com/
Absolute Darkness Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/AbsoluteDarknessBook
Over The Rainbow Blog 