Review: The Dark Days Pact

The Dark Days Pact
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

June 1812. Just weeks after her catastrophic coming-out ball, Lady Helen Wrexhall—now disowned by her uncle—is a full member of the demon-hunting Dark Days Club. Her mentor, Lord Carlston, has arranged for Helen and her maid, Darby, to spend the summer season in Bristol, where Helen can sharpen her Reclaimer powers. Then the long-term effects of Carlston’s Reclaimer work take hold, and his sanity begins to slip. At the same time, Carlston’s Dark Days Club colleague and nemesis will stop at nothing to bring Helen over to his side—and the Duke of Selburn is determined to marry her. The stakes are ever higher for Helen, and her decision will truly change the world…

Okay, you guys know that The Dark Days Pact is one of my favourite books ever right?! So you can imagine how I've been anticipating this book, I made time to re-read DDP and everything. This book was everything I was hoping for in a sequel. Genuinely. Fair warning there's going to be a good chunk of reacting in this review because there's so much I need to discuss! 

As we embark upon The Dark Days Pact, four weeks have passed since the end of the last book and Helen is dealing with the fallout from the events of her ball and is in the midst of training to become a Reclaimer. Now, I need to talk about the characters a little bit. 

There's plenty of familiar faces from the first book! Margaret....sorry but she annoyed the living hell out of me in this book. I kinda wanted to just be like "my love, have you heard the saying 'if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all?'" she's so critical and just...rargh. I know why. But still. Interestingly enough, I really warmed up to Hammond in this book. There's an interesting reveal about him, and considering the time period I was surprised but also intrigued. He's not got it easy. I really enjoyed getting to know him more and see more of him in this book. He and Helen actually make quite a good team, and towards the end of the book he comes in to his own as he makes his own stand. 

Helen is still my favourite. I love her. She's a badass. She's really comes in to her own in this book, she's working out what it means to be a part of the Dark Days Club, what she needs to do and how her power works and what she can do with it. She's determined to protect those she cares about and she goes through the wringer in this book, and has so much thrown at her...but she still manages to retain her charming personality and mostly keep a level head. I love how she's a badass one minute...and then shows some vulnerability the next, it keeps her very realistic and you root for her. In my opinion, she spends a lot of this book with men trying to control her. I would have decked someone, but she manages to remain ladylike. Pike, Selburn etc...I felt frustrated for her and it must be stifling, yet she comes through it all. Mostly.

Selburn...oh Selburn. How I wanted to punch you. He was really getting on my wick in this one, I'm not going to lie. Like go away. Things happen and then some more things and how things end up with him and Helen...I may or may not have screeched in anger. This is the book that made me really dislike him as a character. He refuses to listen to what Helen has to say, won't do as she says when that's essentially his job, and just ignores whatever she says or tells him to do because he thinks he knows better. I know that's just how things where but sweet lord it was frustrating. Helen won't stand for it, so I'm anticipating a lot of head butting between the two in the next book. 

Carlston is still my favourite. I ship he and Helen. I always have and I always will. There's a love triangle, and there's some more romance in this book and it was cute and had me squealing, but things aren't going to be easy after the revelations of this book. I'm Team Carlston all the way. Some of the questions we have about him get answered in this book...but then we have more and he's in an interesting situation, as is Helen by the end of the book. Poor old Carlston doesn't have an easy time this book and I just need for everything to work out *sobs*. 

There's some interesting new characters introduced in this book. Pike....well it was hate at first sight. Sorry not sorry. I spent half the book wanting to punch him and the other half wanting to punch Selburn. I totally wouldn't have survived in Regency England. Stokes was amusing and I quite liked him, it was nice to meet another Reclaimer! Plus through him we learned about another one who's on Helens side! We finally meet Delia too! I got where she was coming from, and I could sympathise with her but I still wanted to give her a shake in the beginning. I ended up really coming to like her, she does the unexpected and it was nice to see Helen have another friend to lean on. Im' wondering if she might have a bigger role to play in the next book as she seems determined to stick with Helen and do the job she's been given. Sprat...we see her briefly, but she made quite the impression. I'm counting on Helen to give her a job! 

Once again, Goodman brings in so much historical fact effortlessly woven with the fiction. It really transports you to the time, and I've been to Brighton multiple times for the beach, or the shopping or for gigs, it's actually not too far away from me and so I could picture everything so very clearly. The descriptions from the books superimposed themselves over the Brighton I know and I even googled some pictures! The thing I love about these books is all of the historical detail, it makes it such an authentic read. Goodman's researching blows me away because it must be so intense, I'm kind of jealous of all the resources she must have gotten to look at! I actually got to meet her at an event not too long ago and it was fascinating to hear about the research process that goes in to these books. It's mind blowing. 

The plot thickens, there's intricate plot threads woven throughout the book that all come together to make the main plot of this book and add to the over-arcing plot involving the Grand Deceiver. There's even some that continue on fro the last books, to go with the new ones. The plot is just so intricate, there's never a dull moment, your brain is always working to put the pieces together and see how everything fits. It's just so rich. There's so many epic revelations in this book, and plot twists that you find yourself reaching a point where you're holding your breath and reading as fast as you can. Things never go the way I expect, so I'm always kept on my toes and the ending...fair warning...it's kind of cruel, but in a good way. It'll kill you but you'll be happy about it because of all the implications for how awesome the next book is going to be and all the drama and such. The wait will be horrendous though but it's always worth it when it comes to this series. 

Like I previously mentioned regarding Carlston we get some answers about him and his past, and there's some other answers we get too, but Goodman isn't revealing all of the cards up her sleeve as we still have a couple of mysteries waiting to be solved. Helen's parents for one, and how the answers we did get will play out and come in to the story. I won't go in to too much detail because I don't want to spoil the surprise, but things have definitely taken an interesting turn for our group, shall we say? 

The Dark Days Pact moves at a nice pace, embellishing the world with historical tidbits, and bringing it to rich life. There's a rich plot to match a rich setting, and we get to see some more of Regency England, as well as learning more about the Dark Days Club and the characters, both supporting and main. We get to see some of the characters interact with each other more too and build up new friendships and alliances. The plot goes deeper and deeper, and more elements are brought in to go with the plot twists and revelations. We also get out next destination....Bath! Finally! I've been waiting to head to Bath! 

Fantasy and the supernatural blend with history and fiction with a smidge of romance. This is genuinely one of the best YA historical reads out there, every page is rich, and intricate and just pulls you straight in and Helen is a character you can empathise with and root for. She's even pretty relatable at points too!