Book Review: The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Title: The Better Part of Darkness
Author: Kelly Gay
Publication Date: November 24, 2009
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy
Age: Adult
Pages: 384
Series: Book 1 of at least 2.
Publisher's website: http://www. simonandschuster.com
Author's website: http://www. kellygay.net/default.asp

Atlanta: it's the promised city for the off-worlders, foreigners from the alternate dimensions of heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon. Some bring good works and miracles. And some bring unimaginable evil....

Charlie Madigan is a divorced mother of one, and a kick-ass cop trained to take down the toughest human and off-world criminals. She's recently returned from the dead after a brutal attack, an unexplained revival that has left her plagued by ruthless nightmares and random outbursts of strength that make doing her job for Atlanta P.D.'s Integration Task Force even harder. Since the Revelation, the criminal element in Underground Atlanta has grown, leaving Charlie and her partner Hank to keep the chaos to a dull roar. But now an insidious new danger is descending on her city with terrifying speed, threatening innocent lives: a deadly, off-world narcotic known as ash. Charlie is determined to uncover the source of ash before it targets another victim -- but can she protect those she loves from a force more powerful than heaven and hell combined?

(from publisher's website)

Simply put - this book kicks ass! I devoured it. I read it in two days. I read it when I should have been eating, sleeping and bathing. I couldn't put it down. I didn't want to put it down! And when it ended - I was sad. I wanted more, more, more! More Charlie and all her badassness. More Hank with his heavenly beauty. More Emma. More Bryn. More Will. And not just the characters. I want more background, more history, more of the fantasy!

I have to be honest. I'm a fantasy/sci fi junkie but I have been reading so many YA books lately I thought I would get bored with an adult novel (especially after my last disappointing adult read). Fantasy is wonderful in any form, in my book, but some adult novels bog you down with so much extra nonsense that does nothing to add to the story. Not so in The Better Part of Darkness. The setting laid itself out beautifully. I felt like I was being drawn into the story - like I was a long for the ride with the rest of the characters. I laughed when they did, gasped when they gasped and was left longing when they...well...you get the picture.

The world that Gay has created is spectacular. I found it incredibly unique. Mythical creatures we would associate with heaven and hell are really creatures from different dimensions. They have been visiting our world since time began but when a brilliant American scientist discovers the existence of these dimensions, humans find themselves living side by side with beings that previously only existed in their dreams...and nightmares.

Kelly Gay is an award-winning writer but The Better Part of Darkness is her first novel.
I was truly blown away by the awesomeness of this book.

My last words on the subject? READ THIS BOOK! :)
Thank you Kelly!!!

5 out of 5 stars