Path of Darkness by Anthony R. Karnowski

The sequel to Anthony Karnowski’s first novel ‘Forgotten Prophecies’ begins in The Grove, a haven for elves trying to avoid the watchful eye of The Shadow King. When a Stalker discovers Kyr Astaldereg in the Elven city and relays the information to its master, the elves are forced to evacuate their beloved home and join the dwarves in their underground tunnels. However even there they cannot find safety as the enemy is determined to control the entire world and has dispatched an army to obliterate those who would oppose him. Kyr is the one spoken of in prophecy who can finally bring an end to the Shadow King’s tyranny, and ‘Path of Darkness’ follows his journey as he makes his way to the land of Dormar to face the Lord of Lies.

‘Path of Darkness’ gets off to a great start with an exciting opening action sequence and I liked how I could have followed the story even had I not read the first book. Past events were revisited in a slightly new way which kept the story moving while keeping it entertaining and enjoyable for a reader who has read the previous story. I felt that the time spent getting ready to depart the city was excessive when focus should have been on their difficult decision to leave and not irrelevant detail. I also felt at times that the book dragged during the middle of the story – there were too many similar scenes such as traveling through tunnels, and while these may be necessary to the story the reason for their inclusion was lost to me. Amongst these slightly tedious areas there were also some interesting ideas which hooked me in and made me want to keep reading. Towards the end of the book I finally felt a true sense of threat and excitement which had been lacking in the rest of the story.

There were some great ideas and fresh concepts which took the world into a new place while retaining a link to the hero’s journey. But overall the originality of the first book was lost – I noted several places where the author had just rehashed other writers’ ideas, with nothing magical or new offered.

Anthony Karnowski created some strong emotional conflicts where characters are faced with making difficult decisions and offered carefully worded variations on age-old themes. Kyr’s character development was really well done over both the course of this book and the story as a whole. He finally seems to have come to terms with who he is and is someone the reader can admire while still relating to his conflicts. I was pleased with the main resolution of ‘Path of Darkness’ however was disappointed that something I felt was a major component had been left unexplained. Perhaps this will be revealed in the third book but if this is the case the author should not have placed as much emphasis on it now.

I feel that with additional editing this book could be a great fantasy story. All the vital components are there: interesting characters, original world with new concepts to challenge the reader’s mind, and of course an exciting end. The writing style is flowing and descriptive where the author does not get bogged down in too much detail. If you are willing to push past the tedious chapters at the beginning I am sure that you will enjoy reading ‘Path of Darkness’.