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Into the Dark Lands (Books of the Sundered #1)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 513 ratings · 52 reviews

War has its cost, and the Servants of the Bright Heart and the Servants of the Dark Heart have been locked in a struggle that has defined life—and death—for millennia. But the end is coming, and only the Lady who has served the Bright Heart for the whole of her immortal life has seen it, in a vision that spans time and demands the highest of prices.

Erin is a healer, and ag...more

Paperback, 315 pages

Published August 11th 2005 by BenBella Books (first published 1991)

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Dec 20, 2012 Dan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: signal, didnt-finish

Angels and half-angels fighting a desperate war, and wandering through the lot is the Lady, who mourns and angsts because she knows everyone she loves is going to die, but if she tries to save them she'll doom her entire nation. Mourn, angst; ominous foreshadowing; angst, mourn, angst.

There are four books of this, and Michelle West is normally a good author. It's possible that partway through this first book the prophesied doom finally happens, and everyone gets to stop angsting and start fixing...more

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Sep 11, 2009 Mykle Law rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

It probably only deserves 3 stars... but I guess I liked it. It does feel a little slow moving for quite a while-- and I always wanted better description of the action scenes.
Chosen champion of the light, Erin of Elliath, Sarillorn the descendants of Lernan, God of Light-- encounters one of the most powerful servants of the God of Darkness, Malathorn (or whatever his name is...) Said servant does not destroy Erin-- as had been his initial intent, and Erin becomes much more intimately aware of th...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Purse Monkey rated it 5 of 5 stars

The story is set in land where there is Light and Dark. Each has their own God, each has their own purpose: to spread Light/Dark throughout the world. Each Light and each Dark has Servants to fill out that purpose. Servants are immortals that can communicate directly with their God. There are also a race of people that are descendants of these Servants. These descendants are half-mortals and they, too, can communicate with their God but only if they reach their Adult test.

The hero is the First...more The story is set in land where there is Light and Dark. Each has their own God, each has their own purpose: to spread Light/Dark throughout the world. Each Light and each Dark has Servants to fill out that purpose. Servants are immortals that can communicate directly with their God. There are also a race of people that are descendants of these Servants. These descendants are half-mortals and they, too, can communicate with their God but only if they reach their Adult test.

The hero is the First Servant of the Dark. His mission is to take over the world, create an Empire where only Darkness rules. He's a monster. In his campaign to take over the world, he's killed countless of people and because of his nature, he would feed off the blood of these people for himself and make blood offers for his God. He enslaves people that he conquors except for nobilities. Slaves under his reign doesn't have names or their own language. Failure to observe these rules will be a death sentence and he is not lenient. Since he's First, he's the number one evil person, under only the Dark God himself. The heroine, on the other hand, is a descendant of the Light. She is the descendant of the First Servant of the Light. She's half mortal, meaning that she ages slower but will still die because of time. The First Servant of the Light, her grandmother, predicted her to be the only hope that Light and humanity has. Only she will have the ability to change the hero.

The book starts off with the heroine still a child. We see the struggles and heartaches she suffers thoughout their life. Since she's part of the line, it's her mission to go to the battlefield to fight the Dark. She's lost both her parents to them and vows to never be afraid of death. Her greatest power is the power to heal. Once she reaches her adulthood and proves herself to be powerful, she has appointed Sicuelle (?), a powerful title. As a Siceulle, she has helped out many people through the battlefield, even the enemies that fought against her.

It's because of her reputation that she finally meets the hero. He was intrigued and irrated with her so when she went to a village to save them, he was there to capture her. She bargained with me, her life for the people's freedom. He's never tasted the blood and life of a descendant of the line before so he humors her and accepts the bargain, though they both know that he didn't have to. However, the tasting is his downfall as when he did taste her, he sees a light in the core of her that he wants to capture for himself. Therefore, he spares her and tries to keep that light. He becomes very possessive and protective of her right from the beginning. He refuses to kill her and that made many people mad. He didn't care. He doesn't even know why he wants her but he doesn't stop to question it.

They had to journey together to his city so in this journey, he would slowly woo her. He first brought her meals and ask if he could keep her company. Always he asks and never take it for granted that she wanted his company. She was mystified. Why is the number one, most evil person in the world doing this? What does he want? Why is he acting so nice? Why didn't he just kill her as he did to all her people and get it over with? Every night he would come and ask for her company and she offered him food and he refused, though he kicked himself for refusing since it would mean he couldn't share it with her. So finally he say yes and she feed him her food, the first food he's tasted in his immortality life. She laughed at that, the first laugh that he got from her and from then on, a strange friendship was born.

Once at the city he opened a new wing in the castle for her and gave her all the riches of the world, yet she was unhappy which made him unhappy. Once at the city she finally sees how evil he was, blood rites and slaves and killings. Through their journey she forgot about that. So she tries to stop the blood sacrifies that the priests did every night. She was captured and brought to the hero. She was bound and slapped by one of the guards in front of the hero. The priest requested her death and hero denied him. Hero made it clear that she was not to be touched and how dare anyone question him. Oh, and use the guard that dared slap her as a blood sacrify.

Hero knows that heroine was unhappy so he made all blood sacrifices stop in his castle. This made many people uneasy and resentful. She was so confused as she's come to care for him and is even attracted to him. One night as he asked her if he could keep her company, he sensed her fear and it made him crazy. He feeds off on fear and she's never been afraid of him. He lost it and almost raped her, though he stopped as he remembers who she was. She became increasingly sick afterward and tried to kill herself. Hero was out of his mind and got doctors to see her and if she isn't better, the doctors would die. Heroine realized that she can't be selfish and realized that it was her destiny to remain at his side in order to save humanity as she can. Hero came to her after her decision and they made love.

He named her Sara cause he wanted her to forget that she was descendent of the Light. They loved each other and a couple of years later, he took her on tour around his Empire. He wanted all the noblility to see that he's picked her to be his Emperess and thus they married. At the wedding was when he realized that she would leave him one day because she was mortal. He was obsessed with it, in fear for the first time in his life because she would leave him, that time was a factor. It was there that was his downfall. (less)

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Jan 15, 2012 Marajean rated it 4 of 5 stars

So I love the theme of the good girl and the evil guy and the love between them. Every time someone asks for recommendations this book comes up, so I finally bought it and read it.

This book lacks details. That much is true. There's a fine line between too much detail and not enough. I felt like I was given a decent idea of the characters but I was also plugging things in from similar types of books. I really couldn't tell you what any of the characters looked like, including the main characters....more So I love the theme of the good girl and the evil guy and the love between them. Every time someone asks for recommendations this book comes up, so I finally bought it and read it.

This book lacks details. That much is true. There's a fine line between too much detail and not enough. I felt like I was given a decent idea of the characters but I was also plugging things in from similar types of books. I really couldn't tell you what any of the characters looked like, including the main characters. With the possible exception of Stefanos who in his servant form has a ghost like face with red claw-like hands burning red eyes and grey skin. Hmmm.

It also really seemed like there was a big difference in the servants of the Bright Heart and the servants of the Dark Heart. The Lady was very standoff-ish while Stefanos is set up rather like Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movie. Yes, he's the evilest of evil and can kill anyone but he's got people in positions of power that are just waiting to overthrow him. How can you even do that? Doesn't make sense.

I enjoyed, to a point, the story of Erin as she grew up. But I was pretty much just waiting for the real story to kick in. The real story being when Erin goes to the other side.

From there I enjoyed the story but really wished it could have been more adult. I don't really need gratuitous but it really felt more childish than adult.

But I really think what kept the book afloat for me was the fact that these two had to make choices for each other that weren't always the right choices.

And the massively horrible conclusion had me absolutely in love and ready for the next book.

I still see the problems, but I am curious.

The only problem is, I'm very worried that the next book will have the characters spending most of their time battling against each other. I really don't care about the world around so much as the relationship between the two. Yes, one affects the other but I'd rather focus on them together. That has stopped me from immediately attempting the second book in the series.(less)

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Dec 01, 2011 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-fantasy

Could have been a 4 star!
I agree with several of the other reviewers who gave this book a low score.
It jumped around way too much in the beginning, it took way too long to get interesting and to get to the real heart of the story (it was the author's first book I think).
I started this book, and by page 85, was ready to give up and give it a review of two stars.. Then I went and read some of the reviews, decided to give it another chance, and skipped ahead to where the heart of the story lay (rea...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Feliciamarie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal-romance, made-up-world

i loved it!
Ok it may seem stupid and childish but i cried when i read the part when Erin's father died and she went to the funeral i loved seeing Erin struggle through her difficulties and the determination she showed to achieve wad she aimed for, somehow in a really weird way i am proud of all that she has achieved....
I oso liked the fact that we were able to see her grow up throughout the book. Stefanos is a cool character whom i like as i am into the books where heroes are evil but always hav...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Madame X rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romance-ends-with-hea-or-hfn

I read this one because I it was described to me as high fantasy with a good, very dark romance. The first half of the book traces the heroine's childhood and early adulthood - growing up as a high-caste warrior and healer for the God of Light. The novel jumps from key moment to key moment so we get a sort of highlights reel of everything that happened during Erin's early years.

The meat of the novel - the Beauty and the Beast tale - gets started about halfway through, when Stefanos, the #1 guy...more I read this one because I it was described to me as high fantasy with a good, very dark romance. The first half of the book traces the heroine's childhood and early adulthood - growing up as a high-caste warrior and healer for the God of Light. The novel jumps from key moment to key moment so we get a sort of highlights reel of everything that happened during Erin's early years.

The meat of the novel - the Beauty and the Beast tale - gets started about halfway through, when Stefanos, the #1 guy on the dark side, captures Erin. He's a Darkwalker and he feeds on pain and suffering, but thus far the Darkwalkers haven't been able to feed on people like Erin, who's blood is linked so tightly to the God of Light as to be unpalatable and not very nourishing. Stefanos decides that he's going to figure out how to do the impossible and feed on Erin, so he takes her prisoner instead of killing her.

The romance itself is, indeed, a very dark one but fairly satisfying. Because of some tragic incidents in Erin's past, she's not afraid of dying - but she's very afraid of falling in love, so Stefanos, who thrives on pain and fear, finds himself drawn to emotions to which he's not generally exposed. Tenderness and consideration don't come naturally to him, but then, he's not one to fret or worry; he accepts his change of heart and keeps his talons sharp by punishing anyone who tries to question his soft spot for Erin, which is most everyone.

So I enjoyed the romance but two things about [[ASIN:193210058X Into the Dark Lands (The Sundered, Book 1)]] really frustrated me.

(1) Not enough description. There is so little description it's kind of like the high-fantasy equivalent of Lars Von Trier's Dogville set, or maybe someone waving a flashlight around in a dark room. I never had a very good sense of place, of the atmosphere, of characters taking up space or engaging in a fully fleshed out world. My senses were not engaged, even if my emotions were.

(2) During the first half of the novel, before Erin is taken prisoner, she's a tough, no-nonsense warrior type. She loses her father at a young age, trains as a soldier, her mother is scarred by the death of her father and becomes emotionally distant, then dies while Erin is young, sleeps with her sword and never wears pants. Basically, pre-Stefanos Erin is a driven, hard-nosed brute. Once Stefanos steps into the picture she turns into this dress-wearing, weepy, self-sacrificing girly-girl. To me, it felt like two different people - not the evolution of a single character through different circumstances. I felt like readers are supposed to remember Erin's past and think she's complex and let Sagara West off the hook as far as actually writing her as a complex person. That felt like cheating to me.

The book ends on a cliffhanger but, honestly, I doubt I'll be reading further in the series - more than anything else because I don't like the vague, dreamy feeling of reading a fantasy so short on description. (less)

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Oct 13, 2011 Illuminate rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The premise was wonderful, however the execution was meh. The book started out with Erin's background etc. but it really begins when she meets Stefanos.

Erin seems promising as a heroine, but I don't know why she fell flat. A healer and a killer, very ironic. I disliked how she was always trying to change Stefanos; she always asking for something, always ONE more thing. She loves him but it seems she can't accept all of him. She's a mercurial character, smiling one moment then the next gloomy an...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

The first half of the book sets up the overarching plot of this series, which is the war between the servants of the Light (like angels) and their descendants and the servants of the Dark (demons) and their descendants. This is told through the eyes of Erin, a mortal descendant of the Light who is largely shaped by the losses she suffers in the war. The second half then switches gears and focuses on the unlikely and doomed love affair between Erin and Stephanos, the immortal first servant of the...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Allison rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, epic, dark-depressing, military, ebook-deals, own-it-e-book

I'm really not sure what I think of this. It's dark. The endless war between good and evil has no end in sight, and there's death, despair, and betrayal everywhere. Important people die. There's really no relief from it at all, although there's a sliver of hope that things might work out sometime in the next 3 books. If you like your fantasy dark, it's interesting enough that I'd recommend it. I'm not sure if I have the heart to read any further myself.

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Apr 30, 2013 Mia rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this book on a recommendation and I have mixed feelings about this. Pacing was very hard to follow and the author tends to swap pov constantly, which is quite disconcerting to read. There were parts that were just so confusing I kind of skimmed over them which mean I lost important details that were hidden in there.

The intro added a few years ago by the author makes sense after reading the book. She says that the start of the book was originally told through flashbacks later, but she rev...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Lee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance-adult-fiction-non-erotica

I personally liked this book a lot. Having known Sagara from her works on the Chronicles of Elantra I really preferred The Sundered. The female lead in this book is less annoying and was admirable even in her weaknesses. The initial 40% of the book was mostly background story on Erin (the lead girl) and we see her grow into her character and get an idea of what's really happening around this fantasy land. I did not find it totally boring because of all the action scenes and character development...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I love Sagara's Chronicles of Elantra series and so was really looking forward to reading more by the author. But this one was a chore to get through. It's her first book, and I think it definitely shows. It started out well, but the heroine (who seemed promising at the beginning) spends almost the entire last half of the book weeping. Which was annoying, no matter how good her reasons for being upset were. Sagara's writing tends to be dense and isn't the type of writing you can skim through, wh...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Starfire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Hmmmmm... to be honest, I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as I was hoping to. I got into Michelle West's books with the Sun Sword set and absolutely LOVED it - and everything she's written since, whether under the Sagara or the West name, I've similarly loved.

Unfortunately, the two sets I've read that she wrote before then, I haven't enjoyed nearly so much.

This one felt... just too black and white. I'm not sure why, but light and dark as specific, tangible beings just - doesn't work for m...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Vamika rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book totally bored and confused me. The PoV was constantly changing, you would have the story told in Erin PoV then it would change completely half-way through a sentence to another person's PoV and then out of nowhere a narrator or Erin starts talking about the history of Light and Dark. I mean seriously! I have read books in different PoV but they at least tell you from the first sentence who it is but this book had none of it. There are so many characters to keep track of and new charact...more

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May 19, 2009 Sbuchler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy, read-in-2009

Genre: High Fantasy

This is set to an epic backdrop of the fight between good and evil (known as Light and Dark in the novel). The main characters are only part human, the other part is divine.

I'm guessing the arc of the series is love balancing pain, and accepting neither the Light or the Dark as ascendant. This novel (the first of 4) is a love story between the First Servant of the Dark and the avatar of the Light. A good half of the book is setting up how Erin (the avatar of Light, known as t...more

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May 12, 2012 Sylvia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, fantasy, digital

Like her other series, this is an extremely complex bit of writing, and it took me a while to get into the swing of it, becoming familiar with all the unique terminology. Because of this, I'm sure when I read it a second time, which I definitely will, I'll get even more out of the story. This is not a happy-go-lucky love story. The characters are tortured and dark, yet they still can't help but find love, which perhaps makes it more beautiful. Ms. Sagara-West is not afraid to make the tough cho...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Jordan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lovers of LotR, Silmarillion, Dragonriders of Pern, Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful read!!! The characters are simply gripping. I can't wait to read the next books in the series. The last third of the book was a bit difficult to get through for someone who loved the action of the first part and really getting to know the different peoples, their beliefs, and their way of life. But the final third is where the romance hits and some SERIOUS character development takes place. While I'm VERY upset at three of the deaths, I'm praying they will have pr...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: beauty-and-beast, lit-canada, fantasy-fairy-tales-influ

Okay, before other Michelle West lovers burn me in effigy, let me explain why I'm giving this two stars, and let me also say I love West's writing. The Sun Sword series is one of the best series ever. Go read it now!

This, you will notice, is not the Sun Sword series. It is West's first book, a fact that West tells you and will be obivous to any experienced reader. At times it is unclear who is thinking what and even what is happening. Some of the scenes feel like gothic gone bad, if you know wha...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Michelle rated it 1 of 5 stars

I love all the Kaylin and Esselieyan books, so I was pretty excited to get her out-of-print debut via ILL. Ouch.

In the later books I like her formal, lyrically descriptive style, and I love her detailed and original world-building. In this one the prose is just stilted, the world-building is cliche and incoherent, and to top it off the characters are pancake-flat with no believable motivations.

Oh well, everyone has to start somewhere. I'll keep on waiting eagerly for more Jewel and Kaylin.

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Jan 03, 2012 Fred Dickson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: easy-afternoon-fantasy

It is a little slow starting out, but I never really felt compelled to stop reading it, it was an interesting world set up, and I enjoyed reading about it. The romance was just like you'd imagine, but the whole book is really just the set up for the next three books, and it does feel that way. However, it was definitely worth a read, especially if you are in it for the whole series, and the prices for the kindle version of the series are well worth the read.

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Jan 26, 2009 Danielle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 17, 2011 Troy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, romantic

I am usually not one to read romance books, but this book really isn't a romance; it's a love story. It's also very well written. There is a lot more character-building than world-building in this book, making it a good change of pace from epic fantasy.

If you like love stories, this is a great book.

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Feb 08, 2012 Gaynell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: west-michelle-sagara

I really enjoyed the second half of this book. The first half was kind of slow going. Of course, we need the back story and world building to understand the series. It is a good vs evil (good girl, bad guy) kind of story, but as the Lady of Elliath says, "There's is some darkness in the light, and some light in the darkness."

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Aug 15, 2012 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantastic-fiction, series, vampire-werewolf

An epic war fantasy with undercurrent of romance between the forces of good and evil or rather dark and light as the story puts it. The premise is love conquers and changes those who have it the least. Well written and engaging and NOT paranormal romance.

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Aug 04, 2009 Lesleyw rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-fantasy

One of the best intros to a series I've read. With one of the few true anti-heroes. (The remainder of the series (for me) didn't live up to the introduction, but I think it was well worth it just to read this one).

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Jun 29, 2012 Beckycaret Wheeler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-books-owned

I really liked this book for the ending. It wrapped up very well. Some of the reviews say there needs to be more details, but I liked it for the elaborate plot, not the slash-combat descriptions.

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Jul 19, 2011 Jake Langthorn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review applies to the Sundered Series as a whole.

Clearly this is a beginning effort, but already, West shows the imagination that marks her later works. This is terrific stuff. Yes, it is dark, but even with the awkward writing style, it is very powerful.

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Aug 16, 2012 By rated it 4 of 5 stars

could have been five stars but like other reviewers said it took too long to get good. but the romance was outstanding, and the ending bittersweet and perfect for the story.

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Jul 17, 2012 Krita rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks

I will have to agree with some of the previous reviews of this book and say that I was a bit disappointed with the lack of details in the story and in the characters.

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About Michelle Sagara West

She lives in Toronto with her long-suffering husband and her two children, and to her regret has no dogs.

Reading is one of her life-long passions, and she is sometimes paid for her opinions about what she’s read by the venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. No matter how many bookshelves she buys, there is Never Enough Shelf space. Ever.

She has published as Michelle Sagara (her legal...more

More about Michelle Sagara West...

Books by Michelle Sagara West

Children of the Blood (The Sundered, #2)

Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light (The Sundered, #4)

Sword of Ice And Other Tales of Valdemar

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