Dark Days

Leonie Rogers

May 2022 · The Albatar Chronicles Book 2 · Hague Publishing

About this ebook

With the defeat of the Greater Gorgone, Kazari has survived her first ordeal as a Hunter. But the battle left both her body and mind scarred. As Kazari’s training intensifies, the nightmares that haunt her sleep threaten to overwhelm her.

Kazari has learned a great deal as a Hunter and Dancer, but she is still the only one who can sense when a demon from Beyond – a gorgone – is nearby. And as the Lady’s followers prepare themselves for war, it becomes clear that Kazari will become one of the Lady’s greatest weapons – if she can overcome her own fears.

But the threat to Albatar is rising – and evil lurks in surprising places.

Ratings and reviews

4.5★s Dark Days is the second book in The Albatar Chronicles series by Australian author, Leonie Rogers. At the first assembly in the Abbey after the awful events in the village of Suborden, those gathered are told that “gorgones are abroad in Albatar. They have penetrated our borders in numbers greater than at any time in the last hundred years. When they will show their hand is unknown, but your time here together is more precious than you can ever imagine. Use it wisely, learn quickly, and work together, because Dark Days lie ahead, and the Lady calls all of us to serve in the war against evil.” They are also warned of the growing trend to heresy: fashionable circles are becoming complacent, discounting the threat as long ago, no longer relevant, a children’s tale, a way for rulers to exert control over the people. Having encountered the gorgones herself, Kazari is shocked by this attitude. As a member of the Hunter sept, she is still trying to regain her equilibrium after the walls of the Abbey were breached undetected by a never-before-documented gorgone; her sketch of it makes her useful in updating their essential bestiaries. But, bearing scars both physical and mental, which see her plagued by nightmares of gorgone attack, she worries about the safety her family and friends. Also concerning, her slow training progress: she fears her abilities and Gifts will be inadequate for the coming war. She’s impressed that her friend Sendar has developed his Gifts into a shielding ability. The Abbot decides to send Kaz, Sendar and their mentors out to Chator to meet with a skilled Hunter, Alexandro, and to her hometown of Athos, which might allay her homesickness. Much is learned from their excursion: an encounter en-route with a viper gorgone makes them aware of worshippers of this evil, and that not all in Albatar hold the Lady in reverence, and some might feign their reverence; that the gorgones have penetrated much further into Albatar than was first thought; and the existence of several caravans of suspicious travellers. A dinner with Lord Juster in the city of Seraph, for all its luxury, turns out for Kaz to be an introduction to the art of politics, greed and corruption: a lesson that not all evil stems from the gorgones. The Hunters begin to understand that they are battling not just gorgones and “changed” humans, but attitudes of complacency and denial, and rulers actively hostile to the Lady’s Order. This instalment has less fighting, less exploration of the Gifts, and more encounters in the world outside the Abbey, with other servants of the Lady, and those who oppose her. There’s also a budding romance between Kaz and Sendar. It is important to read the books in order as there is virtually no recap, some spoilers for the first book in this one. Rogers uses this book to build up to what promises to be an exciting climax. An excellent YA fantasy series that is bound to appeal to older readers as well. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Hague Publishing.

About the author

Originally from Western Australia, Leonie now lives in NSW in the Upper Hunter. She is the author of the Frontier Trilogy, published by Hague Publishing, and works part time as a physiotherapist. Amethyst Pledge, Book 1 of the Albatar Chronicles, was released in 2020. In a past life, Leonie was a volunteer firefighter and SES member and once trekked almost six hundred kilometres with eight camels and several other human beings. She is married with two adult children, two dogs and three cats, one of whom frequently handicaps her ability to use a laptop computer.