DAUGHTER DARKNESS

The first installment of Charpentier’s Myrk Maiden trilogy offers a dark fantasy revolving around a teenage girl’s struggle to find her place in a world where she’s seen as an abomination.

Twilight Urik,a 15-year-old with dark hair and eyesand unnaturally light, “pearlescent” skin, describes herself in narration as “not good, nor evil” and someone who perpetually exists “in the twilight realm of life.” She lives on the world of Aash with her parents and siblings, who verbally and physically abuse her daily; she’s essentially enslaved to her parents, who obviously despise her. Her life changes, however, when she finds a picture of a beautiful woman in a photo album that her father lent her, and he reveals that the photo is of Twilight’s biological mother, who died during childbirth. The girl’s miserable existence is turned completely upside down when she discovers that she’s not only a Sharavak—one of many magical beings that humans call “Shadows”—but their prophesied queen who’s destined to save her kind from extinction and help to elevate them as rightful rulers of the world. But she also discovers that Sharavaks are malevolent, shape-shifting monstrosities who see humans as things to be consumed and has trouble accepting that she could soon be the leader of a group of ruthless murderers. The second half of this narrative is action-packed and features some impressive bombshell plot twists. However, the novel’s worldbuilding is superficial at best, as Aash mirrors contemporary Earth with such amenities as television, phones, and automobiles; even the fauna is the same, including deer, turkey, and cats. Twilight even wears jeans in one sequence. Additionally, the prose feels a bit overwritten in spots; very early on, for instance, the author spends multiple paragraphs describing her and her father’s eyes. Lastly, the story's hook doesn’t come until well into the read, and some readers may put down the book well before the narrative gains focus and momentum.

A promising but unevenly executed fantasy series starter.