Book Review: Token of Darkness – Den of Shadows #6

This was a very interesting little book. I bought it.. a long time ago. It was on sale at Indigo for like five bucks and it looked decent enough so I picked it up. Despite having owned it for a long long time, I only just finished reading it now. It was shorter than most novels I read, but I actually thought it worked in this situation. It wasn’t until after reading it, that I found out its actually part of a series. It’s the sixth book in the Den of Shadows series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. However, the other books in the series are not connected to this one… it’s more of a collection I suppose.

Plot Overview

Cooper Blake was a rising high school football star… until the accident. He is in a terrible car accident that leaves him inured beyond belief. It was no ordinary accident, though. The doctors are baffled as to how he even survived, and when he woke up in the hospital, the ghost of a teen girl named Samantha was at his bedside. Cooper is the only one who can see Samantha, and she doesn’t remember who she is. She has some random and broken memories, but nothing to hint at who she is or was.

After months of trying to help Samantha figure out who she was when she was alive, Cooper finally meets Brent, a boy who is also involved in the world of the paranormal, and says he might be able to help. Their team is completed by Delilah, a long time friend of Cooper’s with magical powers of her own.

Brent and Delilah have more experience with “these things” and suspect Samantha might be more dangerous than she is leading Cooper to believe.

My Thoughts

To be honest, the beginning of this story was a little slow. Cooper is an interesting enough character and Samantha is a bit of a mystery, but things move slowly and I found the writing to fall slightly… flat in places. There were a few things that I thought weren’t quite believable. The way Brent and Cooper make friends, for instance, it felt rushed. Like the author just needed it to happen so she could move on to other things.

However, I powered through and I’m glad I did. It got really good. Cooper finally lets a few other people into his situation and once he does, the mystery starts developing and unfolding as they find answers and put together pieces of the puzzle.

Delilah is a particularity interesting character. She’s a pretty, popular cheerleader with some pretty deep secrets. She’s been practicing magic since she was very very young, and despite the teachings and warnings of her mentor, she’s been bold and foolish with it on more than one occasion. She’s reckless and appears to do everything with a pretty selfish ulterior motive, but there are little things that make me wonder if she really does care and have a true desire to help. Even by the end of the book, I wasn’t sure if she is really a good person or not.

While the forming of their friendship was a little awkward and, like I said, rushed, I really do like Brent and Cooper’s relationship. With so many novels focused on love interests and romantic side-plots, you rarely see the inner-workings of the bond between two guy friends. Here, we really see a strong and lasting friendship form I think, even if it’s strained and more out of necessity at first. Cooper helps Brent out of his shell a little bit, and Brent helps Cooper mentally and emotionally recover from the trauma of his accident

This story was not as creepy as I thought it would be. I was expecting the “scary” scenes to be a little more drawn out, but they were often more glazed over. While I would have liked a little more detail perhaps, I don’t think this is ultimately a negative thing. It focuses more on the relationships and the mystery than I thought it would, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

The ending is… unexpected. Just like in the beginning, it feels quick. I honestly still can’t decide if it’s because once the pieces were all put together, the answer was a simple resolution, or if the author actually was rushing through it. I’m inclined to go with the former, but perhaps a second read will give me a better idea.

Overall, while it’s not what I thought it would be, I liked the ending. I think it was appropriate and I was quite satisfied. It certainly doesn’t leave anything open for a sequel, which I’m actually okay with. I was really glad to have entered the world of Cooper, Brent and Delilah for a little while, but I’m happy to leave them where they are.

This book has, however, gotten me inclined to go pick up some of this authors other novels. While this book did have some flaws, I do like her writing style and I want to read more.

Conclusion

Interesting, thought-provoking, moderately creepy, and touching in the end, this is a worthwhile read. The characters were clever and well developed, I feel like I got to know them, despite the short length.

Want To Read?

It is available for purchase on Amazon: