Summary :The Bright Heart and the Dark heart have fought for millennia by the intermediary of their immortal children, the Servants of the Light or the Servants of the Dark, and by the intermediary of the human empires and kingdoms those Servants have built. Erin is the granddaughter of the Lady, the First Servant of the Light. The novel starts when she is only a child being taught to wield her light in order to later become one of the warriors of the Light. Her father was human and his corpse is brought back with those of other fallen warrior. Her mother, the Lady’s daughter, is not a warrior but she is a healer. With her husband dead, she can’t stand to stay on the side any longer and go on the front line. Erin is left alone with tutors in the Lady’s city, but after some begging, she is allowed to go out and meet her mother as she comes back to the city in order to have a few days of rest. However, as she is a powerful healer, her actions on the front line have drawn the attention of the Servants of the Dark Heart and one of them has laid an ambush for her. Erin assisted to her mother’s murder hidden in a cart and is only saved by the intervention of a Servant of the Bright Heart. Profoundly marked by the events, Erin find that she is unable to call a True Ward, that’s to say to call to herself the power of her God, the Bright Heart, as she is resentful to him (he let her mother die). This important event is supposed to mark the passage to the adult age of the follower of the Light. Nonetheless, after waiting some years, the Lady grants her special dispensation and Erin is allowed to go fighting on the front line as a third class warrior in a scout unit.The Sarillar (Sarillorn for a woman) is a warrior who has been chosen to become the vessel of the Lady’s power and who is thus the general who coordinate the contingents of the Light, in addition to being the strongest warrior of the Light. During a battle, the current Sarillar is wounded and the fighters of the Light are retreating. Erin is mortally wounded and is thus able to speak to her God and exceptionally called a True Ward, killing all the other army by herself. Shortly after, Erin is called back at the Lady’s side. The Lady has seen the future: the end of the long battle is drawing near and Erin is the only one able to bring the victory to the Light. Reluctantly, Erin accepts to become the Sarillorn but she know that despite all her power she is a liability to the Light as she is only able to called a True Ward when she is mortally wounded. Nevertheless, she manages to cause enough problems to draw the attention of Stefanos, the First Servant of the Dark Heart. He meets Erin when she is alone behind the front lines and captures her without difficulties. In order to save the lives of other prisoners, Erin accepts to let him taste her blood and her Light despite the fact that all of the warriors of the Light know how to kill themselves when captured and thus avoid the ritual tortures the priests of the Dark offer to their God. Stefanos is surprised when he drinks her blood, there is a Light in her that is different from the light his enemies used in the battlefield. Intrigued, he decides not to kill her and to bring her back in his Empire. Erin is confused by the First Servant of the Dark, he is not like she has imagined him, he appears far too human and he is too polite and too considerate with her. She finds herself drawn to him against her will, but she can’t forget the sacrificed that take place in the church every nights. Yet, to please her, Stefanos forbid them while still refusing to free her.The rest of the novel show them try to adapt to the situation and attempt to understand each other. Yet, they are both unable to forget their true nature… My review :The beginning of this novel is slow, as Stefanos and Erin meet only halfway and that’s why a lot of people give up in the first 140 pages. Yet this slow beginning allow Michelle Sagara the time to lay down the world building and give us time to understand and grow attach to the characters.The world building is less complex that in Michelle Sagara/Michelle West’s other novels, but it is still well written and interesting. Erin is a healer and like all healers, she hears the suffering of the people around her, it calls to her, she feels them as her own suffering and it is hard for her to ignore them, whether it is on the battlefield, or later in Stefanos’ palace. In the same way, the Servants of the Dark are drawn to the suffering of others, their hurts and their fears, and thrive on them. That’s the reason of the long battle between the Light and the Dark; there is no possibility of peace without the complete destruction of one of the side. In addition, Erin and Stefanos relationship is so interesting because both of them have to struggle against their very nature at each instant and to make sacrifice just by being in the presence of each other. Despite his decision to not kill Erin, Stefanos his drawn to her fear and almost attacked her before coming back to his mind. Even with all the sacrifice they make, they stay true to their nature during all the novel and I really appreciate that, as it’s not something that I often see: it’s too easy to redeem suddenly a bad character or excuse his action and that’s not done here.Another interesting point is Stefanos’ Empire. More than the Light Servants, he understands the importance of normal humans: he is the first to used them in the battle as they are not sensible to the Light and can only be killed with normal weapons. I also find interesting that the dark priests always complot against Stefanos and try to make him bow to their will because they think that they know best the Dark Heart’s desires. Stefanos is often oblige to kill priests because they make the mistake to forget what Stafanos is, as, contrary to the Lady, he plays a real role in human politics. Therefore, despite all his cruelty and the different ways his mind works, it is easy to mistake him for a human. In addition, he really understands humans and he has thought of elaborate ways to enslave the survivors of the conquered lands without letting them any possibilities of struggles.This is Michelle first novel and it is her shortest with only 300p. Therefore, some parts of the story may not be as details as her fans are used to. It’s nothing that impairs the understanding or the appreciation of the story but I would have appreciated if she would have spent more time developing the construction of Erin and Stefanos’ relationship. The world building is not as detailed as in her other novels, but we know the essential of their culture, their history and the working of their power. Healers are familiar characters in Michelle’s novels, but Erin is different from Kaylin in The Chronicles of Elantra as she hears the call of people’s suffering. In that, she is more similar to healers in her Sun Sword series.To conclude, I found this novel to be very interesting for its characters and its interesting take on the eternal struggle between the Light and the Dark. It is the first book in a series of four and I really advise readers not to give up because of the slow beginning as it is what allows us to grow attach to the characters and to better understand them.
So I love the theme of the good girl and the evil guy and the love between them. Every time someone asks for recommendations this book comes up, so I finally bought it and read it.This book lacks details. That much is true. There's a fine line between too much detail and not enough. I felt like I was given a decent idea of the characters but I was also plugging things in from similar types of books. I really couldn't tell you what any of the characters looked like, including the main characters. With the possible exception of Stefanos who in his servant form has a ghost like face with red claw-like hands burning red eyes and grey skin. Hmmm. It also really seemed like there was a big difference in the servants of the Bright Heart and the servants of the Dark Heart. The Lady was very standoff-ish while Stefanos is set up rather like Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movie. Yes, he's the evilest of evil and can kill anyone but he's got people in positions of power that are just waiting to overthrow him. How can you even do that? Doesn't make sense.I enjoyed, to a point, the story of Erin as she grew up. But I was pretty much just waiting for the real story to kick in. The real story being when Erin goes to the other side. From there I enjoyed the story but really wished it could have been more adult. I don't really need gratuitous but it really felt more childish than adult. But I really think what kept the book afloat for me was the fact that these two had to make choices for each other that weren't always the right choices. And the massively horrible conclusion had me absolutely in love and ready for the next book.I still see the problems, but I am curious.The only problem is, I'm very worried that the next book will have the characters spending most of their time battling against each other. I really don't care about the world around so much as the relationship between the two. Yes, one affects the other but I'd rather focus on them together. That has stopped me from immediately attempting the second book in the series.
Do You like book Into The Dark Lands (2005)?
The first half of the book took me 10 times as long to read as the second half. I think it's a problem when it takes a book nearly 200 pages to really get into the good stuff. The beginning dragged on and on with all the battles and background, and I actually put the book down and started reading other books instead. It was only when I was left with nothing to read but this, that I picked it back up and finished it.Thankfully, the second half of the book (when Stephanos comes into the picture) becomes much more interesting. Despite this, I still had a hard time understanding what was going on in most of this story. Still not quite sure what happened at the very end, but I don't think I like it. There was a very dreamy, vague quality to the writing that didn't do it any favors. I wish the beginning was a quarter of its length, and I got a bit more of meat in Stephanos and Sara's story.
—Tina
It probably only deserves 3 stars... but I guess I liked it. It does feel a little slow moving for quite a while-- and I always wanted better description of the action scenes.Chosen champion of the light, Erin of Elliath, Sarillorn the descendants of Lernan, God of Light-- encounters one of the most powerful servants of the God of Darkness, Malathorn (or whatever his name is...) Said servant does not destroy Erin-- as had been his initial intent, and Erin becomes much more intimately aware of the Malanthi's ways. But the Servant of the Dark is in for a ride himself...
—Mykle Law
Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara West is the beginning of a multi-book series starring Erin, a swordfighting healer, and Stefanos, the Beast to her Beauty. It is literally Light against Dark, Good against Evil, and somehow Erin is at the center of it all. Into the Dark Lands I understand completely the draw of the Bad Boy. And, to be fair, Erin doesn't go running into his arms drawn by his dark, brooding ways. Rather, it is an incredibly difficult decision she makes nearly against her will. Her parents have both sacrificed their lives for the fight against the dark forces. She is driven by revenge to take down the enemy. She trains daily, enduring bruises and beatings, all in order to step up and do her part in the war. It is only when she is faced with a horrific choice that she finally gives herself over to the evil side for what she believes will be a lifetime of pain and torture. Of course, that's not what happens. The leader of the Evil side, Stefanos, is drawn to her beauty despite himself. His entire life has been about conquest and causing suffering. But due to this one intriguing woman, he begins to soften. He cancels the nightly torture sessions in his castle. No, I'm not joking. It really is this "campy". He begins to make small adjustments to his lifestyle for her. The other nasties around him get grumpy, of course, but he doesn't care. He has Erin to think about. He's obsessed with her. And, over time, she slowly becomes obsessed with him. To get into why I did not fall in love with the story, we'll need to get into a few spoilers. First, this appears to be an early work by Sagara West - the back of the book says it was nominated for an award for "Best First Novel". There are numerous issues here that a talented editor should have fixed. The reader barely knows what people look like and how places should be envisioned. The author expects the reader to somehow know these things through osmosis. A confusing hierarchy of family lines and cultures is dumped without much concern for the reader deciphering them. Even far more confusing lineages such as in the Lord of the Rings make much more sense because of the author taking proper time to lay things out. Here it's more like a large box of Legos was upended and we're forced to fend for ourselves. Point of views are switched without warning, so areas have to be re-read to make sense of them. Details are tossed in without explanation or meaning. The heroine is strong, dedicated, and talented in the first half of the book. Then she near-instantly disintegrates into a helpless, flopping fish during the entire second half. So let's say all of that was simply due to the author being new to writing, and to the editor team not doing their job. How about the actual storyline? Again we have a traditional "young woman becomes orphaned and has to adjust to a new culture" cliche which I literally have read in four of the last five novels I've picked up. We have the young man who stands steadfastly by her side, but who she ignores because he is too tame. We have the adults who don't understand her. We have her near-unbelievable attainment of top notch skills in a wealth of areas - healing, sword fighting, leading warriors in battle, and much more. But all of that pales in comparison with what happens once she falls into Stefanos's grasp. She becomes a complete weakling. She becomes the epitome of the stereotype that women around the globe have been fighting for thousands of years. She is sure he's not REALLY bad - he's just misunderstood and that through her patience and efforts he'll turn around. She quietly accepts his brutality. Sure, it bothers her he's over-the-top violent - but he doesn't MEAN to be violent. She knows there's hope if she just hangs in there. And yet part of her technique is to undermine his authority in front of his troops. No woman who had been to war leading troops for years would be unaware of the issues here! I suppose at least you could say that he doesn't rape her repeatedly until she falls in love with him. That's a saving grace, considering a few other books I've read recently. But it's not that far off. There are so many battered women's shelters overflowing with women who tried to "tame the bad boy". It simply doesn't happen. A person who enjoys hurting others doesn't somehow miraculously covert to a loving, caring person. For the book to set this situation up as an ideal hero-heroine pairing concerns me greatly. Sure, most readers might realize this is wildly improbable and read it as an outrageously campy version of a dream state. But what about the remaining readers who think this is realistic and possible? Who think that hurtful, pain-inflicting bad boy in their life might be "brought around" if they just endure the pain for a while longer? Every nine seconds a woman is assaulted or beaten. Every nine seconds!! A man who loves inflicting pain shouldn't be idolized. He shouldn't be heroic. In this story we have a man who IS heroic and who stands by Erin's side no matter what. She ignores him because he is too quiet. Instead, she gets drawn into the pain-inflicting, child-beating bad guy and thinks she can somehow mitigate his actions. I just don't find this to be a storyline I can get behind as being one I want to dream about.
—Lisa Shea
