The Dark Court

I imagine there is a dial that an author has when they are writing their book, it spans the gamut of subtle to outrageous. Where do you decide to place your story? Should you keep it lowkey, writing about a world like our own, but with a small tweak? Or do you embrace all that science fiction has to offer and create some mind-blowing concepts? Vyvyan Evans had already swung for the bleachers in The Babel Apocalypse, book one of the Songs of the Sage series, but the second outing pushes the ideas even further. The Dark Court takes your international conspiracies and tech thrills and throws in the concept of an intergalactic war! 

Lilith King is an Interpol investigator and one of the main reasons that the plot to undermine the language chips failed five years earlier. Now that people can again understand one another, society has not become much better. In a world of haves and have nots, the lower social classes are deemed unemployable, and it appears that someone, or something, is killing them off via chronic insomnia. Lilith must work with a leading sleep expert, Dr Kace Westwood, to stop this extinction level event. Is it more errors in the tech, or another conspiracy? 

Babel was an all-out enjoyable slice of science fiction thrills that had some grandiose ideas and ran with them. Dark takes the baton and runs even faster. Rather than use the main characters from book one, we instead focus on Lilith, and this is key as not only does she become involved in an investigation but becomes part of the solution.  

I questioned the wisdom of a society that fished out everyone’s ability to speak in favour of a universal translation chip. We all know that tech can pull a wobbly and book one showed what would happen in a world when suddenly no one could understand one another. This version of future Earth got no wiser after these events and kept the chips, but compounded problems by splitting society into social ranks. This only causes friction. 

Lilith sits apart, not only as an investigator for Interpol, but because of her abilities. She can touch people and feel their emotions and their past. As the book progresses, her powers evolve. It is no coincidence that this is happening as she is investigating the shadowy group known as The Dark Court. The book is a real conspiracy thriller but goes far beyond Babel. Evans adds a whole new strain of story as we learn about Lilith’s origins and how this is linked to beyond Earth. 

I hand it to Evans to add even more complexity to the world of Songs of the Sage. It wobbles a little in places as you try to keep up, but it remains coherent and most importantly fun. This is a fun science fiction thriller full of high concept ideas and action. Lilith is a larger-than-life character, and we learn that this is both literal and actual. By book’s end events start to turn around to the events of book one and we have the potential for an epic conclusion with the best love characters from across the series. Do not sit down to read Dark expecting a subtle techno thriller, this is an all-out action tale that borders welcomely on the pulp.