Book Review: Darkfall Review and Q & A with Janice Hardy

Darkfall by Janice Hardy -Healing Wars #3

Published by HarperCollins Oct 4th 2011

Hardcover 336 Pages

Reviewed from ARC provided by the author

Summary

Nya’s the one who brought it. And the people love her for it.

With Baseer in shambles and Geveg now an impenetrable military stronghold, Nya and the Underground have fled to a safer location—without Tali. Nya is guilt-ridden over leaving her sister behind and vows to find her, but with the rebellion in full swing and refugees flooding the Three Territories, she fears she never will.

The Duke, desperate to reclaim the throne as his own, has rallied his powerful army. And they are on the move, destroying anyone who gets in the way.

To save her sister, her family, and her people, Nya needs to stay ahead of the Duke’s army and find a way to build one of her own. Past hurts must be healed, past wrongs must be righted, and Nya must decide: Is she merely a pawn in the rebellion, a symbol of hope—or is she ready to be a hero?

I can't say enough how much I love this series. Strong female protagonist, in junior fiction with definite cross over appeal for young adults.  Nya is a such a wonderful main character. I connected with her in Shifter (the first book in the series) and feel like I've watched her grow and develop through these past two books. 

  Still  on the run from the Duke, Nya is thrown into the role of being "hero" and "saviour" for everyone and all she wants to do is save her sister and her friends. She finds out quickly that playing the role of hero can come with unexpected responsibilities and consequences. The characters in this series are so well developed that I began to feel like we were old friends, and when I turned the final page of Darkfall, I was sad that it was over.          One aspect that I wish the author had developed more was the relationship between Daniello and Nya. Their friendship showed signs of becoming more...I could feel it as I read but "more" didn't happen. Maybe it's a good thing? Maybe every book has love develop too quickly and easily? I really wanted a relationship for these two though, they're perfect together.
 The Healing Wars trilogy hasn't garnered a whole lot attention in the Blogger world, but it definitely deserves attention. Compelling and well written. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to be able to talk Janice Hardy about her series:

1. When did the idea for the Healing Wars series come to you?

I was playing around with common fantasy ideas, trying to see how I could turn them on their heads and do something different. During that time, I went to see the first X-Men movie. One of the characters is named Rogue, who is my favourite superhero, and her power is that she accidentally absorbs other people’s powers when she touches them. I left the movie thinking, “wow, what if you did that with healing? Accidentally healed people when you touched them?”

2. What was your inspiration for writing about healing vs. Pain?

It was that “what if?” idea that really got me thinking about the world and how this magic would work. It was a long process, spread out over several years (my first idea was terrible and got stuck in a drawer for a long time). The thing that really intrigued me though, was that (at that time) healing is almost always portrayed as something positive. I’d never seen any real downsides to it. I wondered what the negatives might be, and could something as good as healing be used for evil. Once I figured out this society bought and sold pain like other goods, the whole thing started coming together.

3. Did you know it would be a trilogy when you began writing? Anyway I can convince you to write more about Nya and Danello?:)

The series idea came to me about halfway through THE SHIFTER. I hadn’t planned on doing a series, but I saw a larger story arc developing that could turn into a trilogy. It started out a one girl’s struggle to save her sister in a dangerous and difficult world, and ended up being a story about a girl who saves her world. The more Nya got drawn into the troubles of her society the more she had to act and do something about it. I had no choice but to go along for that ride.

Folks do ask me about more Nya stories, and while I have no plans right now to do them, if I thought of a new place for the story to go I’d write it. I might do some fun short stories though. Cover some history the books don’t really get into.

4. If there was one thing you hope readers will take away with them after reading your books, what would it be?

That was a great story. I wish I had more profound hopes, but for me it’s all about the storytelling. My favourite authors always whisk me away into their stories, and I love the feeling I get when I finish a fantastic book. I want to give that same feeling to my readers. If they take more away than that, it’s a bonus.

5. Can you tell us what your next project might be?

I’m nearly done with a YA fantasy about an undercover spy. It’s been fun because the protagonist is very different from Nya in how she solves her problems. Nya is all impulse, the new girl is all calculation. 

6. Anything else you’d like to share with your readers?

Let’s see… I just redesigned the website, and you can find some extras up there now. Maps and covers from the foreign editions of the books. Very shortly, I’ll also have some deleted scenes from the books. You’ll be able to read the original ending for THE SHIFTER, and one of my favourite scenes from BLUE FIRE that just didn’t work after revisions.

Thanks so much Janice for stopping by my blog! 

For more information about Janice and The Healing Wars Trilogy, please visit her website:

http://www.janicehardy.com/

You can read my thoughts on The Shifter and Blue Fire, by clicking on the title links.