Surprise! Dark City, New Day (Part 4 of 4)

WARNING: I strongly suggest you read my previous reviews of the Dark City series, before you read this review: 1) Dark City Dark Night, 2) Dark City Darker Night, and 3) Dark City Darkest Night which has been revised and renamed, Dark City Dark Day.

The final chapter of the Dark City stories. Jo Lamp's niece Yima has become very independent and fearless. They visit a growing community outside the Dark City and his niece meets a young man, who becomes her friend and first love. Lamp becomes the community's constable after he and his niece rescue a girl from two kidnappers.

New Day is the fourth and final installment of the Dark City series by Abe Evergreen, and full of new developments. A lot has changed for Lamp and Yima, while a few things have, unfortunately, stayed the same. While some survivors are attempting to rebuild, others are violent for the sake of violence.

Evergreen has declared this the final chapter, but I haven't had enough of the Dark City. Perhaps, the author would consider writing another series, set in the same dystopian society, but from a completely different viewpoint. I'd love to know Grit's story!

If this is the grand finale, I'm good with how Evergreen chose to wrap up this series.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Abe Evergreen Shakes Up The Dark City Series!

WARNING: I strongly suggest you read my previous reviews of the Dark City series, before you read this review: 1) Dark City Dark Night and 2) Dark City Darker Night.

Originally in the Dark City series by Abe Evergreen, the third installment was titled Dark City Darkest Night. You can read my original review here. I felt the author had radically changed his writing style and I was left thinking the series ended as a disappointing trilogy.

Imagine my surprise when I did an Amazon search on Mr. Evergreen to see what else he'd written lately and found, not only a fourth installment, but a new third installment. Darkest Night is nowhere to be found.

The third part of the exciting Dark City stories. After saving his niece's life in Dark City Dark Night, and rescuing her in Dark City Darker Night, Jo Lamp and his niece, Yima, fight to survive in the Dark City.

Dark Day by Abe Evergreen is a thousand times better than Darkest Night. Evergreen reworked the character Yima, so she appears to be a conflicted teen, rather than a brat with a bad attitude. The result is Yima's coming-of-age in a post-apocalyptic society, emphasizing the family drama which has always surrounded Lamp and his loved ones.

Evergreen delivers one hell of a gunfight as well, when a clan of scavengers attack Lamp in effort to kidnap his niece...not to mention the author's suspenseful mix of horror and science fiction in this dystopian series. Dark Day proves to be just as thrilling as the first two stories. I can't wait to read the fourth installment!

As always,
AstraDaemon

Dark City, Part 3 of 3

WARNING: I strongly suggest you read my review of the first story, Dark City: Dark Night, before you read this review, as well as the second story, Dark City: Darker Night.

Dark City: Darkest Night by Abe Evergreen takes place two years after the second story ends, followed by several time jumps, two years each time. Most of the focus is on Yima's survival training. As she becomes a teenager, she starts to act out. The ending sucked, mainly for the lack of details of the night's events.

I don't know what in the hell happened to the author. Evergreen did such a great job at building suspense and orchestrating intensely devastating scenes in the first two stories, but the third installment is a fart in the wind compared to the previous events. It didn't help that Yima comes off as a spoiled, ungrateful brat.

I didn't mind the time jumps when I thought they would lead to some serious action, but that never happens. What a disappointing ending to the trilogy.

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I'll never understand why an author would change his or her writing style before a series is completed. I'm not even commenting as a reviewer...as a reader, I almost feel betrayed. Maybe I will start calling this Gimple Syndrome.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Dark City, Part 2 of 3

WARNING: I strongly suggest you read my review of the first story, Dark City: Dark Night, before you read this review.

Dark City: Darker Night by Abe Evergreen is the second short story in a dystopian trilogy. The city is overwhelmed by mutating flu viruses, with scientists unable to keep up with the demand for vaccines. Hoarding is a crime, but also a necessity to survival. I really like the way Lamp thinks, but his sister just pisses me off. I couldn't get over her level of denial and how she puts Yima, Lamp's niece, at risk with her stubbornness.

I enjoyed this story even more than the first one. Life in the city has steadily deteriorated since Lamp last ventured out for medicine, and the desperation makes for a very intense situation. I hope the third story reveals what is going on inside Lamp.

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There are details which suggest the Dark City flu mutations are taking place in the future, making Evergreen's series a science fiction nightmare with the realistic horror of illness, mass hysteria and the collapse of society. I had no idea I would be sucked in like this when I picked up the first story.

As always,
AstraDaemon