Dark Designs by Luisa Prieto

Title: Dark Designs
Author: Luisa Prieto
Publisher: MLR Press
Length: 444 pages
Buy the book: Publisher

Blurb:

When an enigmatic tattooed woman approaches freelance journalist Kyler Withers, he begins remembering a past life as a mage. Once known as Etherwolf, he served a sentient evil known as the Darkness.

Horrified, Kyler fights to keep his humanity. Against him are growing memories of the monster he previously was. Aiding him is the love he rediscovers he had for a powerful mage artist named Sorin. If Kyler cannot overcome his past, he’s afraid he’ll help the Darkness destroy everything, starting with his lover.

Review:

I’d enjoyed Luisa Prieto’s story Cooking With Ergo, and so when I saw she’d written a dark fantasy novel, I was interested to see if I would like it as much as that book. In many ways it’s going to be difficult to review Dark Designs because, even at over 400 pages it is very much still only the opening to a much longer series. In fact this book basically sets the scene, gives us background on the characters and then stops just as the main part of the story is about to start. This was a little disconcerting to say the least, but I still enjoyed getting to that point enough that I would consider this a four star read.

The book is divided into two storylines. The first story is set in present day USA in San Jose where we are introduced to a set of characters. Kyler is a English professor and writer who is taking up a chair in a small College after a horrific experience with rebels in Colombia. Sorin is a student at the College who edits the College paper. Sorin’s brother Ryan hosts a show on the cooking network along with his friend Slyvain. Gavin is a famous writer of dark fantasy fiction. Finally there is Dean who runs a local coffee shop and provides the food for Ryan’s TV show. Life is about to change for all these men as they become embroiled in the work of evil mages who work on behalf of the ‘Darkness’. This aspect of the book was intensely creepy and filled with genuinely frightening moments. Kyler becomes aware that he is about to undergo a change called a convergence which will join his present life with that of a knight of the darkness, Etherwolf. His resistance to this causes harm to a number of people and the casual deaths that happen during this part of the book were chilling. This story is not going to be for the fainthearted, but as a fan of dark fantasy I found myself both compelled through this part of the book and repelled by some of the characters especially Rhune, and the lack of compassion she displays.

The second story strand takes place in England during the 17th century where we follow the past lives of Sorin and Kyler (known as Etherwolf, or Kai). This part of the book explains how the men meet and the circumstances which surround an attack by the ‘Hunters’ on the mages. It fills us in on much of the back story and is an exciting and thrilling adventure tale in amongst the fantasy. I liked that it helped to bring greater understanding of the characters, especially Rhune and Avery whilst also providing the history behind the mages and the knights and servants of the Darkness. The history aspect is very complex, which in some ways is a good thing because it all added to the intricacies of the world building, but I did sometimes find myself getting a little lost and confused over the different characters, how they related to each other and whether they are friends or enemies. Some of that was because the lines between who is a friend or enemy were very blurred on occasion. I also kept getting a little mixed up with all the different titles and terms, especially since many of the characters are originally from Italy and they used the Italian form of the title as well as the English. In some cases I just had to push on past my confusion, otherwise I would have been forever going back and forth through the book trying to work out who was who again and whether they were a good or bad guy. A glossary would have been very handy and about half way through the book I was regretting not making detailed family tree type notes. By the time I got to that point I was too far through the book to want to go back and start again.

The romance in the book comes during the historical part. It’s a slow build and quite sweet considering that Etherwolf is an evil knight of the Darkness and Sorin is one of the ‘good’ mages. I have to admit I liked Sorin a great deal. There’s an enderaing innocence about him which contrasted well with the obvious great power he has at his disposal. Despite Etherwolf’s inhumane character – and believe me, the author makes this very clear throughout this part of the story – his attraction and desire not just for Sorin’s body, but also for his wellbeing was perhaps his one redeeming feature.

Believe me, I’ve only dipped my toe into the themes and ideas and characters in this story. The cast is huge, the sweep of the story complex and breathtaking. It may be long, but the pages turned quickly despite the fact that very little actually happens in the story. You could sum up the action in just a few sentences, but that doesn’t matter because the main point of this book is to get everything in place: the history told, the key players identified and in position and the relationships explored in readiness for the next part of the story which looks to be a thrilling battle of good against evil, coupled with the struggle in Kyler to remain as himself when his body is overtaken by Etherwolf.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this intricate introduction to what may well be a compelling series and I’m looking forward to reading the next part.  I recommend Dark Designs for those who like complex dark fantasies and don’t mind graphic violence or disturbing scenes.