Dark Lady’s Chosen is the fourth book in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series. The previous book, Dark Haven, ended with a cliffhanger and thankfully, Dark Lady’s Chosen picks up right where that book left off. Unfortunately for those of you who haven’t read the previous book, I’m including some slight and indirect-type spoilers from the last book to get you up to speed, so you might need to wait until you’ve had a chance to read if you’d like to stay spoiler-free. That being said, on we go.

Jonmarc Vahanian and Carina, two secondary characters that got to take more of the story’s focus in the last book, are in Dark Haven when a rebellion starts among a faction of vayash moru, or vampires, who think that they are godlike creatures and therefore should not be subject to human rule and human laws. Carina’s life is in great danger because the leader of the rebellion, a relatively young vayash moru, has tried to kill Carina to get at Jonmarc. Jonmarc knows that Carina’s life hangs in the balance, but if he doesn’t stop this uprising then the retaliation of the humans could completely wipe out not only all vayash moru, but also the vyrkin and human families who are still in contact with their vayash moru ancestors.

Meanwhile, Tris Drayke, the new King of Margolan is in the middle of a costly siege at Lochlanimar against Lord Curane, whose loyalty lies with the dead former king Jared whose rule brought Margolan to its present impoverished and war-torn state. The wild fluctuations in magic brought on as a consequence of Jared condoning the use of blood magic – especially in his own mage – is also disrupting the abilities of the light mages that are helping Tris in the siege while giving some advantage to the blood mages in Lord Curane’s employ.

At home in Shekeriset, the new Queen, Kiara is pregnant with the joint heir to the thrones of both Margolan and her homeland, but an assassin is determined to kill both her and the child before Tris returns from the siege. If the assassin succeeds, then Kiara’s father King Donelan will be forced to declare war on Isencroft while trying to quell the potential rebellion in his own homeland.

Each of these stories are still tied together. The eight-faceted goddess worshipped in the Winter Kingdoms has made it pretty clear that the fate of Tris, Kiara, Jonmarc, Carina, Cam, Carroway, Donelan and others are inextricably tied together. Without this group of people striving to set things right, the people they love and kingdoms they fight for will be swallowed up.

Dark Lady’s Chosen continues in the same dark vein as Dark Haven, but it comes with a tinge of hope that everything could turn out right in the end. The characters continue to develop and in many ways they are forced one by one into that moment of truth, which is the ultimate answer of the question: what do you do when you have not only nothing to lose, but possibly nothing at all to gain? Or, how can you possibly keep going when everything seems lost? These questions have come up in this series before, but never in such an extreme as they appear in this particular book. Relationships have been forged between many characters, and it is revealing to see just how far these people will go to protect not just each other, but all the people for whom they are responsible now that they are in positions which make them responsible for more than just themselves.

Martin is one of the best and most talented authors on the market. The characters continue to be “real” and believable, and the action is fast-paced. The progression of the story moves in such a way that a reader can’t help but be engrossed from start to finish. It is a wonderful addition to the series, a great showcase of the characters as they are faced with new challenges, and an absolutely fantastic read. I can’t wait to get my hand on the next book and see what happens next!

You can find more about the series here:

http://www.chroniclesofthenecromancer.com/

And more about Dark Lady’s Chosen here: http://www.chroniclesofthenecromancer.com/DarkLadysChosen.html

Tags: Dark Lady's Chosen, Gail Z Martin, review