jbronderbookreviews

Children of Darkness (Seekers – 1) by David Litwack

5 stars

(Excerpt from Goodreads) “But what are we without dreams?”

A thousand years ago the Darkness came-a terrible time of violence, fear, and social collapse when technology ran rampant. But the vicars of the Temple of Light brought peace, ushering in an era of blessed simplicity. For ten centuries they have kept the madness at bay with “temple magic,” and by eliminating forever the rush of progress that nearly caused the destruction of everything. ~ Childhood friends, Orah and Nathaniel, have always lived in the tiny village of Little Pond, longing for more from life but unwilling to challenge the rigid status quo. When their friend Thomas returns from the Temple after his “teaching”-the secret coming-of-age ritual that binds young men and women eternally to the Light-they barely recognize the broken and brooding young man the boy has become. Then when Orah is summoned as well, Nathaniel follows in a foolhardy attempt to save her. ~ In the prisons of Temple City, they discover a terrible secret that launches the three on a journey to find the forbidden keep, placing their lives in jeopardy, for a truth from the past awaits that threatens the foundation of the Temple. If they reveal that truth, they might once again release the potential of their people. ~ Yet they would also incur the Temple’s wrath as it is written: “If there comes among you a prophet saying, ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the Light.”

The story starts in the town of Little Pond and is about Nathan, Orah, and Thomas, They live simply in their little village under the oppression of the Temple of Light. The Temple tries to keep the people in the light and prevent the dark corruption that ended the world before to come back. They enforce this by forcing youth to go through enlightening. This basically is using technology from the past to brainwash the youth to not go looking for anything from the past.

Thomas is chosen for this enlightening and returns haunted. Thomas wants to know what is going on and decides that the three of them find the keep. The keep holds the secret to the time of darkness and the truth of the Temple of Light. The three youths then travel the world to different locations unlocking the secrets of the past. But the question is if they are going to make a difference. Especially since the main teaching of the Temple of Light is if a prophet says lets return to darkness you should stone them.

I love dystopian stories and I couldn’t wait to see how Children of Darkness played out. You start out in a small village that you can tell lives closer to tradition than the teachings of the Temple. When Thomas is selected for enlightening, you can see how everyone lives in terror of the Temple. It was sad when you see what Thomas goes through and so ironic the methods that the Temple uses in its enlightening process.

When Nathan, Orah, and Thomas set out to find the keep, I was really excited to find out what happened to the world. I was cheering for them on their adventure. There was not a lot of action and fighting, more of just a quest for the truth. But it leads to a great ending and now I can’t wait to see what happens in the second book.

For more information on The Children of Darkness or to purchase the book, make sure to check out Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, and David Litwack’s website.

I received this book for free from eBooks for Review in exchange for an honest review.