Dark Light of Day (A Noon Onyx Novel Book 1)

I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic books, so how could I not take a look at a book set 2000 years after the Apocalypse?I don't want to spoil it for you, but this was a delightful debut novel. Strong characterization and amazing detail to setting lead me to give the book 5 stars; the plot is solid, but isn't what drew me in and had me enjoying this read. As a debut novel, this was a winner-- my only complaint is that the heroine seems to flail about emotionally and be a tad more whiny than a 24 year old might expect to be. (Then again, I remember being 24 and in professional school... whining was considered to be a high art by all of us first-years.) And thank you, Author, for not making this book into a clone of all the 'woe is me, I have two hot men lusting after me and I don't know what to doooo or which one to pick' urban fantasies that are out there.I'm looking forward to, and will certainly buy more books in this series. My hope is that we get a bit more of the backstory of the Angels, but I'll trust this Author to lead us where-ever she chooses for book #2.

Okay, so I've read all four books and I figured I was a bit unfair with what I said in my original review (which is down below).Most of the problems that I had with Noon as a character and her love triangle between Peter and Ari were resolved in later books. In fact, I was very pleased with how the love story turned out. It's fair that Noon has love issues as she's 21 and has never had a serious relationship before and Archer does recognize that the two men Noon is torn between do have issues of their own. I don't want to spoil it, but if you were wondering *why* Noon was deciding on *either* of them, that gets resolved.The world building is a touch limited in the first book BUT it expands dramatically in books 2-3. Likewise, all the things that I wish were explained in the first book are explained in books 2-3.Basically, Archer's first book is a little rough, but that's to be expected with anyone's first book, and the roughness goes away/the story comes into its own/Noon becomes a much better, stronger character in the future books. That's why I'm a bit upset that it's been something like 6 years and there's no Book 5. I do want to know what happens next.The only enduring criticism I have is that Noon's emotional states are very frequently told, not shown, so it was hard to really *feel* for her. Once I figured that that was just a quirk of the writer, I was able to suspend disbelief and get on with the story.________________________________________________________________________________________My last review wouldn't post, probably because I wrote about the subject matter of the book and it was flagged for "profanity" or something like that. I didn't swear, but I may have mentioned the Bad Place or some of the people who reside within. (I don't remember.) So here it is, condensed.The book needed 2-3 more rounds with a developmental editor and a bit more in terms of beta reading.This book is underfleshed in terms of world building. For example, the river Lethe figures prominently in the landscape, but I don't actually learn anything about the river until the very end of the book. I'm talking basic stuff. How wide is it? How deep? How fast? Etc. It's just a river that is mentioned even though it figures into the plot. Very little is adequately described.Likewise, it isn't until book 2 when the author explains what the Host is. I spent the entire book trying to figure out if the Host were half-demons, humans with magic, or what. I still don't know if the Angels are actually angels or if they're people with angel blood in them. It's not explained.I couldn't figure out the morals and ethics of the place. It's important that everyone follows the law, but there were demons and the Host doing good things. Healing, creating, growing things. On the other hand, they're evil. This wasn't a case of "it's too deep for this simple girl to understand." It was a case of "the author hasn't mentioned how all this works."For this reason it was very hard for me to immerse myself in this story. I had so many questions and so few of them were answered.I also didn't much care for the love triangle aspect. I know that when this book was written love triangles were the thing, but now they're not. In this case, the love triangle is between the protagonist and an Angel and a member of the Host. Predictably, they are both really jealous of each other and make the protagonist's life very hard. In addition, the protagonist is incredibly wishy-washy. I disliked both of the love interests and could not figure out why she chose one of them. Raging possessiveness just isn't appealing any more. But maybe that's because we've moved past love triangles. I actually thought, at one point, that maybe the Host guy had enchanted the protagonist and that's why she chose him, but that didn't seem to be the case.The ending was also flat and unsatisfying. I won't spoil it (much) for you, but I was pretty upset at what happened because it was a little deus ex machina AND a wee bit "what, you've rewarded the bad guy?"That said, it's a very interesting premise, and I liked the premise enough to buy Book 2. The author did clear up a little of the confusion at the beginning of the second book, so maybe it'll turn out well.

Dark Light of Day by Jill Archer is about a world where the apocalypse has already occurred and the demons actually won. Despite this change in power the way of life has barely been altered. In fact, it has been so long since Armageddon that the truth about much that happened in that war has been lost or forgotten. Enter Nouiomo Onyx, or Noon as she is better known, who has waning magic, something that no female was ever supposed to have. Some would shun her, or possibly much worse, if they knew of her unique power so she is forced to hide it until she is accepted and forced to enroll in St. Lucifer's, a demon law school. There she must declare her special powers or risk death. Will she hide her powers and risk everything, and could there be a way for Noon to reverse them?I loved that the author chose to have the demons win the war as it was a perspective I had never seen before, at least not where the world was intact and mostly unchanged afterward. I was easily able to connect with Noon and her plight as she dealt with being an oddity at best, an abomination at worst. As those of you who read my blog know, if the character development is excellent I can forgive anything, and though there wasn't much to forgive with Dark Light of Day the characters were superb for the most part and allowed me to dive into this new reality.There was one thing that kept Dark Light of Day from reaching its full potential, at least as I see it, and that was the lead male character Ari. I'm not a fan of the controlling, do-as-I-say type of male characters, especially when they are supposed to be appealing. It is that "appeal" he supposedly had that made the situation worse, he was practically irresistible and that included when he was putting on his dominant male act which I despised. Let me clarify, I don't have an issue with a strong male character whatsoever, but when it comes to them ordering people around, forbidding them to do certain things and on top of that it supposedly is a sexy thing for the female character? That's where I have a problem. Ari exhibited signs of uncontrolled jealousy, stalker-like tendencies and all before he really even knew Noon. Not cool.Outside of Ari and his domineering I did enjoy the book. The plot had plenty of well executed twists and turns and even when it slowed down to cover some of the details in the classes at St. Lucifer's I never felt like I needed the pace to quicken. The scenery on the campus and the atmosphere that the author created was vivid and breathtaking, which I don't find is easily done. Having been on a beautiful college campus myself I could envision the different places that were depicted and never felt as if they were contrived. Oh, and without giving too much away, the battle scenes, oh how I loved them! They were exquisitely done. ^.^I really enjoyed reading Dark Light of Day, and if it weren't for Ari's chauvinistic tendencies I easily would have given this an enthusiastic five star rating. With that nagging annoyance throughout the book, however, I will give it a very satisfied four. =)Recommendation: Buy it now!Rating: 4/5

Noon and her brother Night live in a world run by demons. The Apocalypse has come and gone, the demons won. And the demons are more active in the lives of the humans, who two thousand years after the Final Battle, humans who have gone on with their lives. There are two types of magic. Those women who have magic, general have Waxing or Healing magic. Men who have magic have waxing or killing magic which is harnessed to keep the demons in control. Noon is a woman born with waning magic, her brother - waxing. Her family hides this all their lives. Until her mother sends her to law school. She must declare her magic by her 21st birthday or else.This skeleton is fleshed out with an amazingly strong heroine. Noon never once lets a man run over her, never once lets a man save her and in fact does most of the saving at great cost to herself.Her love interest, Ari, is equally stronger and their scenes together sizzle.The writing in itself is lyrical, intoxicating and joyful.The world that is created is fun and scary at the same time. The knowledge of fallen angels and lesser known gods and goddesses turned into demons is rich and thoroughly beautiful. And as rich as that part of the world, I am reminded why I didn't go to law school, because that is the background upon with this story is painted. I can remember college and being beaten down by homework just like the characters.I have read it twice and will probably read it a third. Strong characters, rich mythology, and exciting new world all add up to a thrilling, enjoyable read. I highly recommend it to anyone, whether or not they enjoy urban or dark fantasy.

The premise of this book was a first for me. After the end of days things don't turn out quite like it was expected. The demons win and the world goes on, just a little different. At some point in time the demons and the angels started to "get along" (sorta). There are three types of humans that have evolved. Waning magic, waxing magic, and no magic. Noon sees herself as a freak because she is the only female they know of that has ever been born with waning magic - the power to destroy.The story follows Noon as she starts her first year of law school (with a demonic twist) trying to hide her magic nature. It was a very well thought out world with a wide variety of characters for Noon to interact with. One of the, Ari Carmine, draws her to him like no one ever has - and he knows her magical secret. The story follows these two and their friends as Noon navigates the tricky corridors of demon law and control.While the story was quite interesting, at times I felt the characters were behaving more high school-ish than law school-ish. It was really the only noticable fault in the story for me. There were some very humorous moments as well as some very serious and deadly moments (they're bound to happen when you're dealing with demons). The two mysteries Noon finds herself investigating twist around each other perfectly, always keeping me guessing where they were going to end up.- See more at: [...]