Bright Burns the Night is the sequel of Dark Breaks the Dawn, which should for sure be read first.
Evelayn is a queen without power and without a kingdom, a kingdom without the Light to help its’ earth and forests stay healthy and alive. Stuck in her swan form nearly all year long, she is only allowed the smallest snippet of time as a Draíolon, and that’s when the usurper, that dark king Lorcan who stole the conduit stone from her chest, that’s when he demands that she bond with him.
Um, no thanks.
But on one of these visits, something has changed. Not only is she able to continue to stay a Draíolon after refusing him, but some balance of power has shifted, something deeper and more sinister is at work. Evelayn will have to find a way to trust Lorcan if she wants any answers - trust him and find a way to keep fighting for a time when her land and people can live in harmony again.
At the beginning there were some interesting plot twists. Evelayn is a changed woman - older, wiser, less naive and more world-worn. But her heart is still full of love for her kingdom and as a character she has a solid arc throughout the two books. I like the brothers relationship here and Lorcan is a suitably handsome and brooding love interest. As much as I was engaged in the story, the last quarter of the book felt super full and fast, almost frenzied with new creatures and backstory and so many injuries and healings that after a while I nearly wanted to roll my eyes. I also have to say, and I acknowledge that this is nit picky of me, but the author uses the words “male” and “female” so often when referring to characters we know (or don’t) that it sorta drove me bonkers. It jarred me out of the story every time because it felt so incongruously formal and stiff. That and some pretty large plot holes bogged me down.
Overall, it’s fairly fast paced and the romantic thread kept things fun, I’m not sorry I finished the story, I just found that I had to work too hard to suspend my disbelief for me to love it.
(note regarding the audiobook version - the narrator is really quite good except she drove me crazy with how she would slow wayyyywayyy dooowwwnnn on the last sentence of a chapter, trying to give it more emphasis but it somehow just made whatever the author wrote feel silly instead of powerful. It's still worth listening if you prefer that to reading, just be aware :)
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