A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang

Synopsis

Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn't at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and sexy-as-sin incubus searching for his sister, convinced Abby has the key to the succubus's whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shaper-shifter literally invade her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish, as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As she is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, Abby realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart- and there's no one she can trust to save her. 

Review:

I have seen this book in the book store numerous times, and the book cover has always grabbed my attention. I love the cover art on this book, and I'm not really sure why, so when I received this book for review I was super excited. 

To start off the book takes a little while to jump into. It's one of those books that has a really complex world, and jumps right into it from the very beginning. I think I could have done with a little more explanation, because the beginning was a tad bit hard for me grab on to. 

That being said the world is delightfully complex. I like a world that is complex, because even though it is hard to write the first book, where the world building all essentially takes place, it leaves so much available for future books. I also like that once I thought I had everything all figured out about the world a new element or two would be introduced. 

I really like Abby, the main character. She is way over her head in what is going on with all the OtherWorld politics. But the thing I think that I enjoy the most about Abby, is that she is not one of those girls who just sits around a mopes at all of the bad things that have come her way, she fights for herself. I have to also say the other thing that I like about Abby is she has some "supernatural" power, but it's not something that she can really use to fight, but she's smart. 

I love all of the other side characters as well. They are all pretty well thought out. They are mysterious when they need to be, deceiving when they need to be, and all around just enhance the story. I appreciate all of their interactions with Abby. As well as the authors ability to make the reader really believe the words that are on the page. 

I also found some of the cultural references really amusing along the way. I love the enchanted iPod that plays anything you could want to listen to. And I particularly liked that in the middle of a fight scene a conversation took place about World of Warcraft, which made me giggle (maybe because I used to be a WoW player). Either way the cultural references were a good touch. 

I think if you like intricate worlds in your urban fantasy books, with tons of different types of "supernatural" characters, then this is definitely your book. I think in general most people who enjoy urban fantasy would enjoy this book, as well as the character Abby. And besides who can resist a miniature unicorn?