Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 1
Author: Milly Silver
Series: Into the Dark #1
Publisher: White Hot Books
Original Publication Date: November 16, 2012
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance
Purchase: Amazon
Find on Goodreads
Description from Goodreads:
Love the fast-paced action in The Hunger Games Trilogy?
Want to relive the romance of The Twilight Saga?
Want to relive the romance of The Twilight Saga?
This new Young Adult series is for you!
"The only three people in the world who I truly loved were my best
friend, Ben, my Uncle Spencer and his fiancee, Irene. I am now grateful for
what I didn't know on that sunny afternoon. One of them would soon be lost to
me. The other two, I was destined to kill without hesitation or remorse.
It wasn't premeditated.
It wasn't premeditated.
It was what needed to be done.
So I did it."
Success means love. Failure a death sentence.
When seventeen-year-old Oxford student Emily Baxter steps forward to
become part of the search and rescue team for her kidnapped family member, she
sees it as her last chance to put things right. Despite her seizures and being
ripped between parallel universes, Emily is determined to get back to living a
normal life. But first Emily has to join forces with the mysterious Gifted
& Talented set and the darkly beautiful Henry Seadon. And survive. Killing
the Misery-Makers who get in their way is a necessary evil.
INTO THE DARK SERIES #1-4 by Milly Silver is a YA fantasy romance
series. It's a story of family, love, loss, and being uniquely gifted.
This is an exciting brand-new four-part YA action adventure series by
British YA author, Milly Silver.
My thoughts on Volume 1:
When I started reading this book, I didn't bother to go back and read the description and I didn't remember exactly what it was about, only that the description sounded interesting when I signed up for the Read 4 Review. Let me say this straight off MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL FOUR VOLUMES BEFORE YOU START READING!!!
The beginning of the book manages to suck you right in. You start out learning about what happened three and half years ago. We start out with Emily in someplace very dark and hiding from the Misery-Makers. I think they could be named better, but can't think of something off the top of my head. Anyways, if they get a hold of you they basically torture you very slowly and painfully.
After the incident, we find out that in the real world Emily has blacked-out and had a seizure. Only, she doesn't really black-out when she has a seizure, she really travels to different parallel universe. Sometimes, it's one she has been to before and sometimes not.
I like how the author shows us the differentiates between when Emily is in a parallel universe or in the real world by using a bold font when she is blacked out and regular font for the real world. It helped me keep track of where I was when one of my kids would distract me.
We find out that for an unknown reason, the blacking out has been happening to Emily since she was thirteen and have slowly been happening for a longer period of time. We also find out that Emily was basically abandon by her parents shortly after she started blacking out and having the incidents. She lives with and is home-schooled by her Uncle Spencer. She is also very close with Uncle Spencer's girlfriend Irene and her best friend Ben. They are the only ones who know what really happens when Emily blacks out. I feel the author does a pretty good job of establishing their close connection all within the first 15% of volume one before our story really kicks off. With one last black-out three and half years ago Emily accidentally drags Irene with her into the world of the Misery-Makers. We don't know how it happens, but it does and Emily panics and Irene is taken by the Misery-Makers.
Fast forward three and half years. Emily walks around feeling guilty all the time for what happened to Irene. However, Irene is NOT dead. She is merely in an unresponsive coma. With only a short period of time before Irene's family is planning on pulling the plug. Can Emily find a way to bring Irene back before time runs out?
Emily is also trying out university and is attending her first year at Oxford. On her very first day she visits Irene and heads off to school on her bike only to almost get ran over by a mysterious hot guy in a fancy sports car. While yelling at him she is also drawn to him. You also meet quite a few more people in first volume that sets up the story.
Needless to say, the first installment in this four volume series that adds up into one full length novel really manages to suck you in. It ends on a little bit of cliffhanger. I thoroughly enjoyed it and went directly from volume one into reading volume two.
Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 2
Author: Milly Silver
Series: Into the Dark #2
Publisher: White Hot Books
Original Publication Date: November 30, 2012
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance
Purchase: Amazon
Description from Goodreads:
In this second installment, Emily
becomes dangerously close to the intriguing Henry Seadon and his elite G&T
group. As Emily tries to piece together what is happening in her life, she
begins to see Henry as the key to saving Irene... and herself.
My thoughts on Volume 2:
I immediately started this volume after reading the first volume. In this part Emily continues making friends and is drawn into a relationship with the mysterious Henry Seadon. She also finds out a little more of the teen who she has been helping her when she is in the parallel universe. She also meets a little girl who tells her that Henry and The Logician are the key to helping Irene. Who is Henry really? Who is the Logician? And how can the two of them help Emily get Irene back?
This part is also a really quick read and is filled with a fair amount of budding romance/I'm instantly in love with you. I devoured it all in a very short period of time and moved onto volume 3, as volume 2 also ended on a cliffhanger.
Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 3
Author: Milly Silver
Series: Into the Dark #3
Publisher: White Hot Books
Original Publication Date: December 10, 2012
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance
Purchase: Amazon
Description from Goodreads:
In this third installment, Emily learns from Henry how she is to become
a crucial member of the G&T team. And that she is not alone in the quest to
save Irene. As pieces of the twisted jigsaw fall into place, will Emily and
Henry find a way to be together?
My thoughts on Volume 3:
Yea! I finally found out more about the G&T Team and what they do. All very interesting information. Lots of good stuff in this volume. I don't want to spoil, but you will want to read it one sitting if you have the time. I, unfortunately, I to go to bed in the middle of reading this. I started right back up the next day as soon as I could. Emily gets a seizure dog in this part and is recruited to be on the G&T team. I like the dog, Laisa. Although, she doesn't predict Emily's seizures a whole lot sooner than Emily feels one coming on herself.
Title: Into the Dark, Vol. 4
Author: Milly Silver
Series: Into the Dark #4
Publisher: White Hot Books
Original Publication Date: December 27, 2012
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Fantasy, YA Romance
Purchase: Amazon
Description from Goodreads:
In this final installment, Emily discovers Henry is not all that he
seems. With her world crashing down around her, how will she rescue Irene? And
as she faces the biggest decision of her life, will she have the strength to do
whatever needs to be done? Find out how the exciting story ends!
My thoughts on Volume 4:
Overall, I liked the final installment in the series. I did feel that the whole fight with Henry was very contrived. I think a little more creativity could have been used to get where the author was trying to go. I was surprised to find out who the Logician really was. I wasn't expecting it to be the person it was.
My Thoughts on the Series as a Whole:
I felt this was a very good book. I do wish the author would combine all four volumes into ONE ebook that people could purchase though. It is a very quick and engrossing read. If you do pick it up, you might want to try to have enough time to read it all in one sitting. It is a hard one to put down. The book is written by a British author, so you do have all of the British spellings, like colour, favourite, realise, etc...I find myself reading the British versions slightly different in my head, but it's not too distracting from reading the story.
I thought Volume 3 was definitely the most exciting. Like I mentioned on my thoughts about volume 4, I was surprised about who The Logician really was.
THIS happens, just like the author said it would: "The only three people in the world who I truly loved were my best friend, Ben, my Uncle Spencer and his fiancee, Irene. I am now grateful for what I didn't know on that sunny afternoon. One of them would soon be lost to me. The other two, I was destined to kill without hesitation or remorse.
It wasn't premeditated.
It was what needed to be done.
So I did it."
I like how the book didn't have a love triangle like almost every other YA book. Although, at the very end, it seems like it was opened up for one. You do end up with a nice conclusion, even though the story is left open enough for a sequel. I would recommend this book to others and definitely enjoyed reading it.
My Rating: 
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