By Kate Pentecost

A three hundred year old curse made the Ankou what his is, but a ravaged handmaiden will define his future.

That Dark Infinity is told in past tense and alternates between the eyes of Lazarus, the Ankou and Flora, Handmaiden to Princess Bethera of the city-state Kaer-Ise. It’s set in a believable and interesting fantasy world, full of colourful descriptions.

The book is a complete novel and does not appear to be the start of a series. It tells the tale of how the characters meet and go on a quest to get their most fervent wish granted. Themes of love and friendship, grief and inner struggle are strong in the narrative as well as plenty of action scenes.

I purchased this partly because of the cover art and partly because I’d seen it listed in a top ten best dark fantasy novels of 2021. Sadly I was a little disappointed. Although it had a brilliant start, something changed towards the latter third of the book. I found myself skimming the chapters, not really engaged and just going through it to get to the end.

I think this was because the idea of the Ankou – a man that could only live at night and turned back into bones every sunrise – never really developed into anything dark. The story rolled along in a fairly benign way. Monster were fought and the heroic quest completed, but the romantic theme overwhelmed everything. None of the characters became edgy or questionable the way I expected they would in a ‘dark’ fantasy.

Having said that, the novel held my attention in the beginning, so was well written. In my opinion, this book would appeal to readers looking for a fantasy romance with a bit of action, set in an incredible, descriptive world.

4 out of 5 coffee beans

To find out more about the author visit her web site