Into the Dark by Milly Silver

              

Book Description:

Love the fast-paced action in The Hunger Games Trilogy?
Want to relive the romance of The Twilight Saga?

This 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 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 paranormal romance series. It's a story of family, love, loss, and being uniquely gifted.

This is an exciting four-part YA action adventure series by British author, Milly Silver

Christina's BookReviews

Volume 1-(Chapters 1-5)- 3 Stars

In this first part of the Into the Dark series we meet Emily and quickly learn that she suffers from seizures which make her black out. When she has her black-outs she is transported into another universe where there are Misery-makers haunting her and others. During one of her black-outs something tragic happens.

Three years later she is determined to find the cure to her "symptom". She also starts the University and has a run in with the aloof Henry Seadon.

This is a good start to the series and it intrigued me enough that I quickly went into part 2. 
Volume 2-Chapters 6-13- 2 Stars

In this second part of the Into the Dark Series Emily begins to find out more about the alternate universe she falls into. In this place she meets a little girl and a guy that continuously protects her. In her real life Henry finally begins to be nice to her and the characters become too sappy.

I have to say that the only thing that kept me reading this was the questions unanswered about the other universe. Henry was intriguing in part one but in 2 he becomes just as gooey and weak as Emily. It annoyed me and I felt like the characters were 13.

The 2 stars was because I'm curious about the other elements of the story. I'm going to have to take a small(1 or 2 days) break from this and come back to part 3 and 4. Hopefully the characters get better.

Volume 3-(Chapters 14-20)-2 Stars

In this installment of the series Emily learns more about what the G&T does and what is going on in the alternate universe she travels too. She also discovers that Henry has been keeping secrets as well as she is.

I have to say that although this was not as bad as the second installment I was still annoyed that there wasn't any structure to the writing. Alot of times I felt like I was just reading words on a book. I also didn't like the Emily and Henry relationship any better. It was childish and felt forced. It wasn't believable and I felt no connection to their characters.

Again, the only part that I liked about this book was the alternate universe. And now that the "others" are there as well I don't think I will enjoy it much anymore.

I will read the last volume so that I can give a full honest review of the book.

Volume 4-(Chapters 21-31)-3 Stars

In the fourth and final installment of this book Emily is working on improving her skills so that she and the G&T are able to rescue Irene. As Emily comes to understand the program she finally begins to question Henry's intentions and the role she might play in this rescue.

Will Emily fail at her one and only chance of saving Irene?

I have to say that I liked this installment better than the rest. I figured out that Emily can be a likeable character when she isn't with Henry or when she's angry. Ben is finally back in this final installment and I have to say that I enjoyed him being back. I found that all the characters were a little better in this part. I liked Ben and Mark the most. Mostly because Emily isn't weak around them and they don't act like a lovesick puppy around her.

                                  (INTO THE DARK AS A WHOLE)

First let me stress that this book was a R&R and was give to me by the author for a honest review.

So as a whole this book wouldn't be one that I would reread. I found it to be a struggle to get through the second and third installment. If I had to rate the book as a whole it would be a 2.5 star rating.The premise to the story was what caught my attention and held onto it. Curiosity to what was going on is what pushed me to read on.

The main characters, Emily and Henry, were to me very childish and had no depth what so ever. They acted like lovesick children ad that made this series so hard to read. This is the first book I've ever read where I didn't want the main characters together. I actually liked the guy in the alternate universe and wished the author went that route with the romance aspect. I would have liked more details about the alternate universe and the Misery Makers.

It was saddening because with a synopsis like the one posted you have so many high hopes for this book. I think that alone is what frustrates me about this. Good premise. Terrible execution.If the author were to pull this, work on the structure and development of the characters, do some extensive editing, and make it one whole book I believe this can be a great re-release.

So sadly, I wouldn't recommend this. For younger readers this might be a great read but to the older ones this might be a struggle.