My Review of Michael Nadeau’s The Darkness Returns

Fantasy is one of my favorite genres to read. By definition magical elements impossible to the regular world are necessary to the plot. There aFre various subgenres within the standard fantasy genre. Michael Nadeau’s The Darkness Returns falls into the category of High Fantasy. In this sub-genre, the story is set in a world of the authors creation, usually a medieval but magical world. At the same time the plot is carried by a hero’s quest. In my review I will explore how Michael not only creates his magical world of Lythinall, but follows or in some cases turns the standard archetypes on their heads to build his story.

Archetypes and the Hero’s Quest

It is impossible to discuss the high fantasy genre without defining the standard archetypes associated with the genre.

http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html

What I really enjoyed about Michael’s story is that while he does employ some of the basic archetypes, he twists them in such a way so that they are fresh. We are not stuck with the tired, old valiant heroes, virgin princess, ancient seer, etc. I will explore these in more depth when I get into the characters.

Motivations and Themes of the Hero’s Quest

Then there are four motivations that drive our hero forward according to the traditional Hero’s quest. Some call them the orientations. They are common to certain archetypes over others. I would argue they also motivate the antagonist as well. Michael does a good job of using one or more of these themes for each of his characters to drive his story forward.

• Ego
• Order
• Social
• Freedom

In all stories these four themes are at the heart of what drive a character’s actions according to Jung and Campbell. They are particularly important to the genre of High Fantasy.

Storyline

From the very beginning Michael sets a good pace to the story, starting us out first in the head of the villain as he awakens and claws his way out of the ground. He then moves through the land of Lythinall, on a path of destruction. He literally decays all he comes into contact with. Michael maintains the pace throughout, while dropping hints of previous stories where the minor characters (in this book) had quests with one another.

Characters

Dar’Krist

His villain was possibly the most well written character of all the characters of the story. As he moves through the story bent on destruction his attitude and personality reminded me of Randall Flagg, “The Walking Dude” from Stephen King’s the Stand. So as not to include any spoilers from Michael’s story, I won’t give away his supernatural origins. Dar’Krist has broken free of his containment and is loose. He is a destructive force and is now bent on revenge for being so confined. Michael plays on all 4 of the above motivations with this character. I would say the biggest is Ego. Which also becomes this character’s fatal flaw. He is so sure he is unstoppable that he misses vital clues when he charges into a fight.

Allissanna

One thing that the fantasy world gets a bad rap for is sexism and objectification of its female characters. Either subjugating them to a damsel in distress role, over the top sexualization, or creating harsh female “butch” characters. Michael on the other hand, has created a relatable and believable character in the Princess Allissanna. He neither saddles us with a frail damsel or a Mary Sue. With Allissanna, Michael is combining both the princess/maiden and the hero/warrior archetype into one character. Ego and Social standing play a huge part in this Allissanna’s development. Both her mother and father (the King and Queen) were legendary warriors so she wants to show that she is just as capable and more than just a princess. Her desire to prove herself, and her youth lead her to make mistakes that almost get her killed on several occasions. As she and Rhoe travel through Lythinall fighting both fighting Dar’Krist and trying to get back to Castle Everknight, she begins to mature.

Rhoe

Part of the Hero’s Quest is also a sense of magical destiny. To some extent it involves Allissanna, but from the very start of the story, when Rhoe has a vision of Dar’Krist’s approach, we know that Rhoe is something out of the ordinary. He embodies three characters rolled into one: the hero archetype and to some extent, the magician and the innocent. While he and Allissanna end up on the quest together, there is a lot of foreshadowing that the ultimate climax and showdown is going to be between Rhoe and Dar’Krist. Michael does a good job of building up the mystery of Rhoe’s magical capabilities and origins, leaving the reader wanting to know more

I enjoyed the romance between Rhoe and Allissanna. Michael doesn’t try to sell us on some tired trope of having them start out hating each other or something silly like that. Instead he shows us two young people who are attracted to each other but don’t quite know how to express it at first. Their awkwardness is realistic and endearing. By the end of the Darkness Returns, they have confessed their mutual feelings for one another. I get the sense that it will be the reality of their social standings and possibly the origins of Rhoe’s magic that creates conflict in their relationship as the story progresses.

Karsis the Bard

Karsis is definitely a unique character. He can be any archetype at any given point in the story, as he tends to morph to what the other characters need at the time. His character is very fluid and dynamic. To Rhoe and Allisanna is he a mentor and sage. Though predominantly, he is the jester/explorer travelling throughout the land of Lythinall singing songs and combatting evil. Like Rhoe, we get hints of his magical past.

Side Characters

Michael creates and intriguing cast of side characters. At the risk of spoilers for what I hope will be the rest of his series, I will leave off going into detail here, but we get a sense of previous adventures with Karsis, Carana the Warrior, the King and Queen of Everknight, and many others.

Telling

There were times in the story that I felt there could be more showing and less telling. Some of the scenes felt a little compressed with a lot of side information and subplots (which I would expect from a good fantasy novel). I wanted to see more build-up between the characters in certain high-intensity scenes (especially the scene between Carana and Karsis). At the same time, Michael does a good job of keeping a steady pace, so more showing might have sacrificed the momentum he sets from the beginning of the story. He also keeps this story to a length that is digestible for a first novel. It gets the reader invested in the world and characters, but without dragging it out too much. Michael does a great job of leaving the reader wanting more.

I really enjoyed my journey through Michael’s world of Lythinall. I can’t wait to see where he takes us next and how our young heroes Allissanna and Rhoe will deal with Dar’Krist.

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