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Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand |
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The Dark Divide by Jennifer Fallon Harper Voyager Supplied for review by Harper Collins New Zealand |
Reviewed By: Jo Foster |
| The Dark Divide is the second in the
Rift Runners series, and continues where The Undivided left off.
Warning – this review will contain mild spoilers for The Undivided. Ronan and Darragh are the Undivided, identical twins, psychically linked, but separated between realities through the treachery of Amergin, the Druid who was supposed to protect them. Darragh comes from an Ireland where the Faeries and the Druids signed a treaty providing the Druids with magic, through a succession of Undivided twins. Ronan has been brought up in our world, as the spoilt adopted son of an Irish film star. In an effort to prevent Ronan from returning to the world of magic, his enemies frame him for murder. On the run from the police, Ronan escapes through the rift, but ends up in a third version of Ireland ruled by the Shinto Japanese. Darragh, meanwhile, remains trapped in our reality, unable to convince those around him that he is neither Ronan nor a murderer. With Ronan in a reality with magic that he does not know how to use, Darragh in a reality without magic, and the ceremony which will kill them both fast approaching in a reality that neither of them can reach, the twins must use all of their ingenuity to survive. The second of the Rift Runners series definitely lives up to the promise of The Undivided. The pace holds up throughout, and the switching of storylines between worlds and characters left me not wanting to put the book down until it finished - reading the book whilst cooking was a challenge, but I succeeded without burning supper too badly! The character development continues from the first book. Each of the viewpoint characters is presented with a dilemma (either moral or physical) through their separate journeys, and how they tackle this provides the reader with insight into the characters, their growth and the worlds they inhabit. Side characters from the first book, who only appeared to be in the story to ensure that the next scene moved on, or to help a main character to get from A to B, now take on greater importance, with hints that were dropped in the first book now coming to the fore. The alternate worlds that have been crafted in The Dark Divide are vivid and believable; I even managed to get my head around a Japanese tea ceremony in rural Ireland without too much trouble! I continue to be impressed with Jennifer Fallon and her writing, The multiple cliffhangers at the end of the book promise even more from the third in the series and I look forward to reading it to see how she lives up to that promise. |
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