A Brush of Darkness review

A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang is the first of the Abby Sinclair novels.  Published in 2011, this novel is a supernatural science fiction novel.  The novel was pretty good at keeping me entertained.

The main character and the point of view are from Abby Sinclair.  Abby works for Moira, a Faery princess and a highly influential political figure.  Abby is a TouchStone, which means she helps supernatural people, that she is contracted to, move from the Faery and human worlds.  She is bound by contract to serve Moira for seven years.  Abby later learns she is a KeyStone. This means she can take up many contracts as she wants to, until she takes too much and dies because she has no energy left.

Abby’s world is flipped upside down when she discovers Moira gone. Abby is required to take care of Moira’s business while she is gone. Abby is unfamiliar with her new world, this fact is extremely disappointing to Brystion. Brystion is a demon looking for help in discovering who has been taking and killing women of his species.

Abby was recently in a car accident with her mother. Abby’s mother died in the crash, and Abby now has seizures. I found this factor in the story somewhat new, because many authors, of science fiction, don’t want the main character to have a physical disability. Most of the novels I have read allow their characters to heal from all physical damage that has been done.  She is also plagued by nightmares. This plays a crucial role in how Brystion convinces her to help him discovering his sister, who has been kidnapped by the person responsible for the deaths.

In the end of the novel, we discover that Moira’s ex-boyfriend, Maurice, is responsible for the deaths and disappearances, including Moira’s.  We discover Brystion’s betrayal to Abby because he handed her to Maurice in exchange for his sister, Sonja.  Brystion realizes that not only will Maurice not give Sonja back but that he regrets his betrayal to Abby. Brystion, along with the majority of the minor characters, rescued Moira, Sonja, and Abby as well as defeat Maurice.

I enjoyed reading A Brush of Darkness. It is an interesting series that I’m hopefully going to continue to enjoy. I am confident the second will be even better than the first.