Innocent Darkness (The Aether Chronicles) [Paperback]

Suzanne Lazear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2012 | Series: The Aether Chronicles (Book 1)

A hoverboard appeared in her rearview mirror. “This is the Los Angeles Air Patrol,” a voice boomed. “I command you to land your vehicle  in the name of the law.”

Noli Braddock and her best friend V’s incident with a flying auto have landed them in a heap of trouble. And when Noli is sent to a spirit-squelching reform school in San Francisco, she’s sure that her rebellious adventures are over.

Meanwhile, Kevighn Silver has been ordered by the Faerie Queen to bring a mortal girl back to the Otherworld. The magic requires a blood sacrifice every seven years, and only a mortal girl who shines with the Spark—a girl like Noli—will keep the Otherworld from complete destruction.

When an ill-timed wish sends Noli tumbling into the Otherworld, she’s more homesick than ever . . . until V arrives to save her from an untimely demise. But who exactly is V? And if he helps Noli escape, who will save the realm of Faerie from utter annihilation?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Suzanne Lazear is the author of the Aether Chronicles series for young adult. In addition to writing for teens, Lazear gives presentations on the steampunk subgenre at conferences nationwide—resplendently attired in all the bustles and whistles. She is a regular contributor to the steampunk-themed blog, Steamed!, and is an active member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the young adult debut author groups the Apocalypsies and the Class of 2k12. Lazear has her master's degree in public policy from Pepperdine University. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

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Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Flux (August 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738732486
• ISBN-13: 978-0738732480
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Title September 4, 2012

By Nikki Wang

Format:Paperback

Innocent Darkness takes place in an alternate 20th century LA where there are flying airships and where air pirates roam the skies. Almost nothing is the same, but there were still "society girls" who were expected to be, well...boring! Our main character is, of course, incredibly rebellious and has completely no interest in becoming a brainless zombie, preferring to be mechanic and fix up old cars/hoverboards. But something goes wrong when she test-drives a pixy she's been fixing up and crashes with her best friend, V, who went along for the ride.
This is the first in a chain of events that somehow lands her in a boarding school where things are dreary to say the least. Water rooms, cruel punishments, little food, and no contact with the outside world, Noli is desperate to get out and finally snaps when her only friend, Charlotte, is taken away. On Midsummer's Eve, she makes a wish that changed her life. This is where Noli is fully introduced to Kenign, the notorious hunter who has been searching for a girl with the "spark" for years to sacrifice to the Otherworld so that he and his people can live, if only for 7 more years.
But the magic won't take hold of her for some reason and meanwhile V is searching for her high and low for his best friend because he knows something is wrong. After all, V isn't who he seems either.

Innocent Darkness was more innocent than dark for sure, which I definitely enjoyed. I love my share of dark books, but something a less heavier was a relief. Not that it's completely light. But I loved the steampunk elements that were thrown in along with the faery aspects! It's incredibly contradicting actually, but I loved the way Suzanne Lazear wrote it!

Pacing. I actually loved the pacing in Innocent Darkness a lot! It was steady and never actually went up and down. Well, not unless you talk about the romance of course. I didn't like the romance, I'll admit. I think that Innocent Darkness would've been better if the feelings weren't so...expressed. Nothing ever told me why Kevign was in love with our MC. Sure she was independent and different, but so is every other girl with the spark, right? So why Noli? It just seemed to false and sudden. V, I sort of understood. They knew each other since they were kids so of course, Noli would trust him! Mainly, it was the love triangle that annoyed me, though not much admittedly.

Noli was definitely one of those stubborn, but smart, characters. Unlike a lot of characters, Noli didn't think or say anything stupid. She knew when enough was enough and was smart enough to keep her mouth shut when she needed to. And she didn't continue to believe stupid lies even when evidence was there, thank goodness! And even though Noli was an amazing character, I found that my favorite character was defunuteky Charlotte! She was just so sweet, kind, and caring and I don't think there could've been a better best friend that her! She was always supportive and always made sure that Noli was alright no matter what.

There were a lot of key surprises that were entirely predictable though and I was a bit disappointed, but I think that all the other amazing points definitely made up for it! There have been a number of mixed reviews and I definitely have mixed feelings about it, mostly good though! This is my first steampunk, honestly, but even I know it had more to do with faeries than steampunk. So anyone with a love of faeries? Definitely pick this up. Steampunkers may be a tad disappointed, but Innocent Darkness was amazing!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Second half didn't measure up to the first August 8, 2012

By Gretchen @ My Life is a Notebook

Format:Paperback

Despite having awesome amazing steampunk trappings at the beginning, fans of straight steampunk might find themselves a little upset with this book. Since I personally didn't request this book just because of the steampunk factor and I enjoy reading about fairies this didn't bother me, but I can only imagine steampunk fans not being warned of this. So, yeah, you've been warned.

Noli is my kind of girl. She makes fun of simpering, vain girls and prefers fixing machines and hoverboarding. The time she spends at the abusive boarding school is written fantastically, and it sent chills up my spine while making me ill. (Not graphic anything, mind you. Just the idea that they would do these things to these girls.) That entire first section is the entire reason this gets three stars. It made me excited for what was to come and allowed me to fall in love with Noli.

Unfortunately, the second half of the book wasn't as great.

To be fair, I loved the setting. I loved the plot. I loved the description and the little wood fairies. But the characters began to grind against me. Noli, for example, begins to lose her independence a little bit. She spends a lot of the second half crying and running away. Granted, freaking everybody DID lie to her and she does do some spectacular slapping-of-faces, but she spends so much time crying and simpering and it really began to grate on my nerves.

The "mysterious man" from the blurb is a Fae named Kevighn. He's the queen's huntsman, tasked with finding a girl full of "Spark" to sacrifice so the Otherworld, magic and the Fae can continue to exist. He does this by seduction, usually. However, Noli is just different from the other girls and he finds himself falling in love with her. Because she ... gardens? Never once did she do much of anything except frustrating him by not giving into his charms or binding to the Otherworld. His character was bland, seemingly unnecessary, and made way too many mentions of how much he wanted soft women and opium. So why was he there?

Love triangle.

Thankfully, at least Noli's best friend from forever, Stephen "V" Darrow, is the other half of the triangle. Despite being a little over swoony, he's actually a realistic kind of guy. Noli's reasons for liking Kevignh are flimsy at best, but at least with V the attraction makes sense. They are clearly in love with each other right from the get-go, so they also lacked insta-love which I enjoyed. (Well, until it got awkward there towards the end and I was wondering if I was going to need to warn people under 16 about this book. That was ... spontaneous.)

It is the plot that saves this second half. After all, I still like Noli enough that I don't want her to DIE. V showing up gets her away from Kevighn (at least, until he randomly shows up, twice), which makes a lot of things more bearable. V's brother James and Noli's friend Charlotte are also fun characters, and I enjoyed reading about them.

The first part of the end seemed like a deus ex machina. This huge issue seemed to be resolved too easily. What I didn't realize what that the book was NOT over yet. What happens to Noli at the end was definitely a twist that I wasn't expecting, and it left me interested in what would happen next.

Overall, the book was a solid 3 stars. I even thought about giving it 3 1/2. I recommend this book for people looking to ease into steampunk, as long as you are the kind of reader that likes romance-centric novels with love triangles. If you're looking for straight steampunk or something with a little less romance (the latter of which I was hoping for) then this might not be a top choice for you. Still, I enjoyed the world and I look forward to the next installment!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars This Book Had The Potential... August 8, 2012

By Step Into Fiction

Format:Paperback

I'm torn. There are aspects of this book that I enjoyed but there are other parts that I really disliked. Sadly, I do believe the dislike bits stand out more than the enjoyable ones. Let's start off with things I did like. I liked Magnolia. I don't think she was strong, necessarily but she had an enjoyable personality with a lot of potential. I loved the time period, I do enjoy steampunk novels. I love the fact that there were surprises in this book. Twice did something come up that I wasn't expecting. That is always exciting for a reader. What I loved best about this book was V, aka Steven Darrow.

Now to what I really didn't like. A lot of the dialogue was very weak and highly unbelieveable. I know it's from their early 1900's and they do talk differently than we do now, believe me, I get that. But I've read enough period novels to know they didn't talk this way. The worst bit of this was the bad boy/other love interest, Kevighn Silver. Argh. In any YA book I am always leaning towards one guy in the mix of a love triangle. Rarely do I ever like both of them equally. But every time I feel some sort of attraction toward the other guy. Not in this case. There is not one attractive thing about Kevighn. Not his appearance, certainly not his personality. I don't mean to be so blunt but he was just boring and lame, especially for the 'bad boy'. I wonder how Noli could even be the slightest bit attracted to this...thing when she's got V. How could any woman, for that matter.

The story itself was OK. It was neither mind-blowing or insanely boring. It kept me entertained most of the time and it kept me wanting to read more. I just wish some of the dialogue was changed and I especially wish Kevighn would just not exist. Or maybe at least made up a bit better. The author did wonders on V, she really did. I fell for him right from the beginning and that never changed throughout the book.

Am I going to read the installment? Probably because I'd like to know where things go from here. Will I probably skim over parts where Kevighn is involved, most likely. Do I recommend this to book to other YA readers? Depends. It's not one I'd tell you to go out and buy the second it's released but if you just want something to read, that's steampunk with fairies, go for it. I do wish I liked it more, I really truly do. But I just can't. I finished it and was just torn up about it that I had to wait a few hours for it to settle in before I could even write this. I really like the idea Suzanne had with this story, I really did but I just wish it was executed a bit better. (And Kevighn really needs a makeover)