Darkness Breaks by Jessica Sorensen-a review

DARKNESS BREAKS (Darkness Falls #2) by Jessica Sorensen

DARKNESS BREAKS is the second novel  (June 2012 release) in Jessica Sorensen’s Darkness Falls YA series. Continuing immediately after Darkness Falls, Kayla continues to struggle with her new ‘humanity’. Once a powerful Bellator, Kayla is barely able to hold her own against the zombie-like vampires roaming the ash-laden and fire-ravaged city. Without the daily injections that make her stronger and faster, Kayla must consider whether to become a Day-Taker like Sylas or risk losing everyone she once loved to the mutant strain of vampire virus. As the ONE who will be humanity’s savior, Kayla knows that there is only one option. And the once feared Highers will reveal themselves to be a bigger threat than anyone had thought possible.

Sylas and Kayla continue their nightly hunts, and only Kayla remains impervious to the vampire virus. But years of captivity and experiments have left Kayla without her memories and no one is willing to help her regain them back. Imprisoned against their will as children, Kayla, Sylas and his brother Aiden, as well as numerous other children, were subjected to daily injections and training in order to determine who was capable of saving the world. Without their special abilities,the children were eventually eradicated and their whereabouts unknown. And to complicate matters, many do not know if their special abilities and affinities were manufactured by the doctors at the Colony, or part of their own DNA. And once outside the Colony, the lies will continue to perpetuate the cycle of abuse.

Outside of the Colony, Kayla must face those who were once her friends and are now considered the enemy, but many of these former captives, hold the secrets to Kayla’s memories. Ryder holds the ‘key’ to Kayla’s past, but Aiden holds the memories that the key will unlock: young Emmy can help bring forward the past, but Maci sees a future that continues to change. Sylas has the ability to manipulate emotions, but in truth he says he can never lie. And where does that leave Kayla? These people must survive if Kayla is ever able to regain her past. The memories that come unbidden will show that there was something behind the Red Door and Cell 7 was the place where everything began.

As a Day Taker, Sylas is a hybrid of sorts-half human/half vampire with the ability to stay awake during the daylight hours, and this will ensure Kayla has someone to keep watch while she battles the unknown. But Sylas and Kayla will encounter a new-hybrid that will threaten their safety once again. Only this time, the experiment has gone totally wrong. And for Kayla to survive she must become the very thing she was programmed to destroy.

There is a love triangle between Kayla, Sylas and Aiden, and Kayla’s memories will slowly reveal that she was close to both young men throughout most of her life and now Kayla’s humanity remains in question when Sylas and Aiden are a different ends of the spectrum. One wants her to remain human while the other demands she take the next step. Tristan returns but his intentions towards Kayla add to an otherwise tense situation
and it is revealed, that Tristan is not the same boy that Kayla once loved at the Colony. But where Kayla is concerned, nothing will ever be simple and in the end, there will be another form of hybrid, that is impervious to the vampire virus and is able to walk in the sun. And the virus? What will be revealed behind Cell7 and the Red Door is a struggle for perfection that went horribly wrong.

DARKNESS BREAKS is a vampire tale with a twist. These are not your beautiful, sexy vampires, but are the rotting, life-destroying creatures of your worst nightmare. The small group of friends will lose a member while another’s fate is unknown. Lies and betrayal will build walls that will be difficult to tear down but there is still the hope that one young girl will be the savior that either saves the world or tears it completely down. Darkness Breaks is fast paced, well written and finishes with a cliff hanger, that like the characters will keep you wondering what was a lie and what was the truth.

Copy supplied by author.

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Reviewed by Sandy