Sixteen-year-old, Nara, has a secret; she sees the future. Since the age of seven, she nightly dreams her entire next day and her dreams are never wrong.
Although Nara longs for just one “surprise” day, in reality she depends on her dreams to navigate her life. It comes in handy when taking exams, dealing with friends and playing goalie on her soccer team. Trying to change her future often backfires so she rarely takes the chance, until the day she has no choice.
Acting on information revealed in a dream, Nara tips off the authorities about a bomb threat in her high school. Her tip saves the lives of her classmates but she must deal with the consequences. Nara’s dreams fade and she can no longer see the future. Her life suddenly becomes unpredictable and complicated, that is, until she meets Ethan, a loner with a bad reputation and secrets of his own.
The emerging relationship between Nara and Ethan makes the first half of this story engaging and promising. Ethan is dark, brooding, wise beyond his years and selfless. The reader longs to know the details of his mysterious past. Even while wrestling with his own demons, Ethan is fiercely protective of Nara. The plot intensifies as accidents begin to happen and people around Nara start getting hurt. Nara and Ethan have more than one brush with death. Tempting fate is dangerous and dark forces are in play.
In the second half of the book, the mysteries continue to pile up but little is revealed and the story begins to stall. Although the plot is intriguing and the characters very well written, there are too many questions and not enough answers. Reader fatigue sets in long before the book ends and it becomes apparent that answers would not be provided in this book, but in a sequel.
“The Brightest Kind of Darkness” begins with great promise but falls short, as too many questions went unanswered. Patient readers can look for answers in the next book.
Reviewed by Maureen Fajt for IndieReader