While Darkness Gathers is a follow up novel by author and professor Philip Chase to his fantastic Edan trilogy. It’s not often that an author follows such an amazing achievement, that was just barely released less than two years ago, with an original end cap. (Time flies!) After taking 18 years to perfect his trilogy creation, you would think Chase would need more time to tackle a sequel. You may be concerned that this book is rushed, hastily put together, or is just an afterthought. Well, fear not, friends!
Right from the prologue, Chase reminds us that certain loose ends cannot be forgotten, and that happily ever after is a transient thing, only good for the moment and not sustainable without putting in a lot of hard work. Our favorite fantasy tropes remain. There’s a dragon. There’s a chosen one. But these tropes are a result of consequences, rather than incipient placements of arbitrary beginnings.
Chase’s characterization is spot on from the preceding trilogy. You already know some of these people and you intrinsically understand their motivations, personalities and quirks from three books of story around them. The new characters introduced also come with a sense of history. They are tied into the ones we know so well by familial, tribal or political bonds. Their introductions are seamless and welcoming.
So with all this familiarity, wouldn’t the story become predictable and, dare I say it, boring? Not for a minute. I was so engrossed with the story, because I’m invested in the world. The setting was so well done in the trilogy that everything that happens in this book, I’m interested in its implications. How does our chosen one’s action affect the societies and peoples I’ve come to know? How does a dragon’s vengeance impact the sociopolitical landscape? These questions arise and get answered in turn during the narrative. In this sequel, Chase’s prose is a bit more compact and the pacing is tighter. We don’t meander as long on the wild beauty of the world and stay in the characters’ heads a bit more. That’s a good thing. The locales visited have already been established in the trilogy. Further expository showcasing of these places may have been deemed redundant and therefore, would have bogged down the story Chase was trying to tell. I think the narrative choices were quite deliberate and necessary to keep the reader engaged.
Chase does have a knack for tender moments, and this book ramps it up. The bittersweet moments that defined some of the character arcs in the trilogy are fully on display here, and only serve to enhance our relationship to the characters we already knew, and the ones we’ve come to know. There are more philosophical excursions into the nature of magic and consciousness that serve to enhance what we’ve already come to know. There are also a few moments in the book where really bad things happen that the characters, and by extension, the reader, have to put to the back of their mind in order to deal with the circumstances they are currently in. Chase doesn’t shy away from bad things happening, but he also keeps us close enough to the thoughts of the protagonists so we don’t dwell on them too much. This wouldn’t serve the story. Instead, we get to focus on the heroics, the self-sacrifice, and the actions that make those we care about rise above their circumstances and do the right thing.
I can’t recommend this book for anyone who hasn’t read the Edan trilogy. But I can say to those who have, don’t hesitate to pick up this companion sequel. It is well worth it!
