Four out of five stars
Dark Matter is the second in a great new series by author Christie Rich. I have found the story so far to be a fast, fun, and an interesting new take on the world of fae. Definitely high on the sexual tension scale for all you hopeless romantics like me.
So recap book one—Rayla finds out she is an Elemental, or one who can influence the elements. But there is a catch. She needs to bond with one of the fae lords before she can gain access to her power. Enter four hot men who are all trying to win Rayla over to them, only she’s not sure she wants to be tied to any of them.
Dark Matter finds two of her prospective lovers caught, tortured, and held captive on an island in order to lure Rayla in. It seems there is a group of people who have been experimenting with Elementals through genetics and they have plans to impregnate her in hopes of producing the first male Elemental. They figure she will eventually show up to try to rescue her two favorite fae lords and when she does they can trap her the same way they trapped the lords. This part is interesting and kept the tension level up throughout the story. Rayla also manages to gain access to some of her power without having to bond with one of the lords.
In the first novel I had a lot of trouble connecting with Rayla in a believable way when it came to some of her thoughts and actions. Relationships with family and friends were shallow and didn’t come across well, sometimes downright irritating. Minor characters tended to be two dimensional and flat. There were also quite a few typos and punctuation errors that tended to trip me up. In this second novel both of these problems improved a great deal. I still have trouble connecting with Rayla in some of her actions, but I was more willing to forgive her in this second story. Her relationship with her best friend Cassie is coming across better and I loved watching her relationship with Heath develop (a hot new lord). I’m not so sure I’d be so wishy-washy about choosing one of them, but this is not a fault in the story, only a difference of opinion.
Bottom line—I enjoyed the novel quite a lot. The first one pricked my interest and this one worked to build on it. I very much look forward to book three and I’m hoping Rayla will make up her mind soon and choose one of the guys because she’s driving me as crazy as she is them. For all you fantasy romance lovers out there, this one is well worth your time and dollars. They remind me a little bit of Laurell K Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series, though thankfully without all the graphic sex.
Denna Holm 