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May 30, 2009

new_user rated it:

I'm torn on this one. Wavering between three stars and four. On the one hand, Darkborn was elegantly written. My inner editor hardly made a peep. In fact, I have a little bit of a soft spot for fiction written with older, literate language.

Dialogue exactly suited the period, albeit in an alternate universe with magic, and the characters-- and I was so thankful for these characters, who, to the last, are all intelligent individuals moving in shades of gray. No one argues when they're More...

12 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 10, 2009

oriana rated it:

You know what? I really enjoyed this book. It's a cool fantasy novel where two kinds of people live side by side in the same city: those who can only exist in darkness, and those who can only exist in the light. They share the same streets, the same businesses, and in some cases the same apartment buildings, but can never meet because the merest sliver of light would kill the Darkborn, and the darkness would kill the Lightborn.

Anyway, I don't read hardly any fantasy, but this one was More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Sarah rated it:

This book had a lot going for it: a gorgeous cover, an awesome world-building concept, a 'society fantasy' with historical feel but magical twists. Alas, it fell somewhat short of the mark.

Even so, I give props for brainstorming. Imagine a vaguely-Victorian city that's shared between two populations -- a race that can't live in light & a race that can't live in darkness. Some of these people manage to share house complexes. For a Lightborn & Darkborn to split their building -- wi More...

10 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 18, 2011

E. rated it:

4 1/2 stars. A fascinating and creative world that has a division between those who must operate after sundown or risk being burned to death who are physically blind (and thus are the Darkborn) yet have a sense called sonn which allows them to see remarkable detail yet reject overt displays of magic and those who can function in daylight (Lightborn), are sighted and embrace magic. There is yet another more inimical population called the Shadowborn who are tangentially described as those to be More...

0 comments like

Oct 28, 2010

Chibineko rated it:

I bought this one solely for the cover. Well, sort of. The cover artwork was so exquisitely done that my eye couldn't help but be drawn to it. After that I was drawn into the idea of the series & the possibilities within. (Although it did take me a minute to figure out which book in the series was first- Lightborn or Darkborn. There's no indication on the covers.)

Ever since the land was rocked by a terrible curse there have been three different groups. The first is the Lightborn, peo More...

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Oct 16, 2010

Becky rated it:

I liked this book a lot more than I expected to. In fact, it wasn't a book I was planning to write about at all. I picked it up (a phrase that doesn't seem to work given I bought it as an e-book) back in August as plane reading for my trip to Copenhagen, but ended up mostly watching episodes of Dollhouse on my ipod instead.

I'm pretty sure the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" doesn't really apply to actual books. In this case, you have the beautiful lady in a lovely More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 24, 2010

Ryan rated it:

Library Journal reviews can prove to be unrealiable, and I thought this the case for Darkborn when I saw the cover and read the first couple of dozen pages. Here I wanted an intriguing fantasy and wound up with a melodramatic romance...but wait! In strolls Ishmael, the Shadowborn hunter and mage to start the the thriller aspect of the novel a-going!

Okay, if you don't read fantasy you can probably stop reading now, but for the rest of us, I'd recommend this. A powerful curse sundered More...

0 comments like

Apr 25, 2010

Jared rated it:

An incredibly powerful magician and her helpers cast a spell a few thousand years ago that resulted in the division of people into Lightborn, those able to see and bear the light, killed by darkness; Darkborn, those who lack the ability to see by light but can "see" by a variant of sonar, killed by light; and Shadowborn, monsters. This story follows intrigues among the Darkborn.

The world is beautifully and richly crafted. The author does a great job of describing a world More...

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Jun 02, 2009

Katie(babs) rated it:

Many years ago there was Imogene, a mage who cursed the entire land. Half of its inhabitants live in sunlight; the other half can't stand darkness. The Darkborn are born blind but have a sonar sense called sonn, which is described as unheard sound. The Lightborn and Darkborn live in the same city and the same land but in different societies. While the Lightborn accept magic, the Darkborn consider it a taboo and embrace technology.

Balthasar Hearne is a man worth his weight in gold. He More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2011

Hazel rated it:

This is fantasy ('cos there's magic) but it reads to me like enjoyably old-fashioned sci-fi. I particularly liked the premise. Imagine a world where two races live side by side. One is adapted to daylight and has sensory organs like ours. Another is adapted to darkness and uses something like sonar. Dark is lethal to the first and light to the second. They can communicate and cooperate, in a limited fashion. But they cannot really know each other, so, unsurprisingly, there's a history of conflic More...

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May 30, 2009

Marrionette rated it:

The premise of the story was initially nice. You have the pregnant lady coming at the break of dawn asking for help, you expect her to die, but she just goes ahead and gives birth to not just one, but twin abominations (so to speak). Then that one act of goodness turns into a curse when Bal's own daughter is kidnapped and he gets the living daylights beaten out of him and then his wife becomes the heroine of the story as a sad result. Of course, the story would have been nice if the rest had fol More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 12, 2010

Marc rated it:

Darkborn has a very unique premise. Because of a magical curse, there are two types of people: ones who live in the dark and others that live in a day. Since light kills one and darkness the other, there's a precarious balance between the two. Add magic and two different types of governments and cultures into the mix and it can be very volatile.

Darkborn isn't what I thought it'd be. The world is a Victorian world something which I don't particularly care for. In one way, it kind of More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Shawn rated it:

Overall, I enjoyed Darkborn. The characters and plot were typical for this type of genre. There is a woman living in a society that shuns magic and secretly hides her abilities from her loved ones and even herself until the evil bad guys force her to realize her potential and save the people important to her. What is interesting and what I had a hard time wrapping my head around was the setting of the book. It takes place in regency-like era post magical war, where the people are separated by a More...

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Oct 06, 2009

Alice rated it:

This was a fascinating world with some interesting characters. Sinclair set up quite a challenge for herself, outlining a world without relying on visual details. Instead, the characters "sonn," which is something like the use of sonar. The world was well-realized and interesting, and focused a lot on the politics, which many fantasy readers find intriguing. There's also a very interesting magic system to explore, and quite the adventurous plot to pull the reader along.

More...

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Dec 13, 2010

Gail rated it:

Once you get past the awkwardness of an entire race of people who can't see and instead use what amounts to sonar to visualize their world, this is a pretty damn fascinating book. It describes a world wherein light and dark coexist tenuously within minimal barriers that prevent death from exposure, one to light the other to dark.

Darkborn is an elegant novel that poses complex questions about society, the relationships between men and women, class, politics, and the fear of the other More...

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May 02, 2010

drey rated it:

I picked up Darkborn on a whim--the cover was cool, and the blurb on the back piqued my interest. In fact, it called so much that I started reading it right away, and finished it in a day. Which is no mean feat, considering how busy my weekend was! Anyway. Alison Sinclair's world is shared by the Darkborn and the Lightborn, made so by a great mages' war. The Darkborn are born sightless, and they burn in the sun. They "see" by blasting bursts of sonar, called sonn, much like a bat does. More...

0 comments like

Mar 05, 2011

Krista rated it:

I really, really enjoyed this book. The author's style drew me in immediately, and the plot moved quickly enough (with enough detail provided) to be highly engaging.

Due to some thematic material (relationships and divisions of spousal loyalty) and brief (graphic but not crass) sexual material, I wouldn't recommend it for teens, nor would I have been comfortable reading it as an unmarried young adult. Just my $.02 on that aspect of it.

With such a brilliant, unique premis More...

0 comments like

Jul 01, 2010

Julia rated it:

I read this book in a distracted state, I'll have to reread it before I can do it justice (and before I can go on to the next one in the series). I had issues with the mythology of the world the characters inhabited. The details about navigation and cultural differences were interesting, but it didn't gel enough to make me feel like I really believed in their curse. I was a bit annoyed with Telmaine’s attitudes, reasonable and believable thought they are, but I do look forward to seeing how s More...

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Aug 14, 2009

Normalene rated it:

I loved that this world was so different from anything I had read before. It reminded a little of Poison Study by Maria Snyder in atmosphere - a little dark in places but with great characters and settings that made you feel like you were there. I will definitely be recommending this to people who can't wait for the next Maria Snyder book to come out. It does take a little effort to get through the first 50 pages but after that it is great. There is no mention of color but lots of tactile clues More...

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Jan 14, 2010

Jo rated it:

I really liked this book. It has a unique premise,two kinds of people live side by side in the same city: those who can only exist in darkness, and those who can only exist in the light. They share the same streets, the same businesses, and in some cases the same apartment buildings, but can never meet because the merest sliver of light would kill the Darkborn, and the darkness would kill the Lightborn. Darkborn are born blind but have a sonar sense called sonn, which is described as unheard sou More...

0 comments like

Aug 22, 2010

Cris rated it:

I really liked the basic idea of two societies divided by the presence or absence of light. One cannot live without light and the other cannot live with light. But I didn't enjoy the story very much, mostly because of the characters. There were three main characters who provided pov. I adored Balthasar, found Ishmael interesting and a bit annoying, and detested Telmaine. And since Telmaine has the most action and a good chunk of the explanation scenes, I ended up skimming many sections that shou More...

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Sep 09, 2011

Lee Anne rated it:

I picked this up at a Borders' sale, was suckered in by the cover and concept, and pleasantly surprised by the story. I'd technically give it 3 1/2 stars: I want to read the rest, but the sporadic adult content means I can't recommend it to the people I would usually give it to, and the story is not so fantastic as to make my recommended list.

That said, kudos to Alison Sinclair for creating a fantasy world with just enough history, realism, and originality to make the story compellin More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Bücherfresser rated it:

Inhalt:
“Nachtgeboren” handelt von einem Land, indem Nacht- und Lichtgeborene gemeinsam in Frieden leben. Während die Lichtgeborenen tagsüber ihre Leben bestreiten und Dank des Lichts sehen können, leben die Nachtgeborenen, wenn die Dunkelheit die Sonne vertreibt und orientieren sich lediglich mit Hilfe ihres Ultraschalls und ihren anderen Sinnen. So unterschiedlich wie beide Rassen sind verbindet sie dieser immer gegenwärtige Fluch, wie ebenfalls die Magie. Doch wo die Lichtgeborenen forsch More...

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Feb 06, 2011

Rose added it

I'll be honest when I say I had hoped the novel would end further in the story than it did. It was well written, and had decent characters. I enjoyed the idea that two species of human coexisted, one that could not abide light, and one that could not abide dark.

That given, reading the last few pages I could not believe it was ending. Nothing really felt resolved, instead it felt like someone chopped a larger work into thirds, and this novel was the setup third of the book. Gran More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Shelley rated it:

Synopsis: For the Darkborn, sunlight kills. For the Lightborn, darkness is fatal. Living under a centuries-old curse, the Darkborn and the Lightborn share the city of Minhorne, coexisting in an uneasy equilibrium but never interacting. When Darkborn physician Balthasar Hearne finds a pregnant fugitive on his doorstep just before sunrise, he has no choice but to take her in.

Tercelle Amberley's betrothed is a powerful Darkborn nobleman named Ferdenzil, but her illicit lover came to her More...

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Oct 15, 2010

ambyr rated it:

Darkborn crept up on me. The beginning was slow, and overladen with awkward exposition. I think it was around page 60, halfway through an aristrocratic party, when all the little details about dress and art and social norms started to build in my head and I realized just how carefully the author had thought through her society of the blind.

The adventure story is fun, but it's that aspect of the book--its worldbuilding--that bumped it toward the top of my currently reading list. This is More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Robin rated it:

I am kicking myself for putting this on the back shelf for so long. Alison Sinclair drops you into a fantasy world that is complex, beautiful, and fortifying--much like a glass of vintage wine. Her writing is lyrical, her characters are distinct, and her world building is immaculate. I am VERY happy that this is going to be a series--I am definitely not ready to let these characters go.

The world she creates is genius--a world set in out past yet different. It's not quite steampunk, p More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2012

SilverRaindrops rated it:

The cover for "Darkborn" admittedly doesn't set it apart from any of the PNR and UF titles that are flooding the market.
Oddly enough, I found it fitting, even though I wouldn't count the book in either category.

Alison Sinclair developed a clever world with city split into people who can only exist in the light, and use their eyes to see, and people who can only exist in the dark and use their sonar to sound.

I was worried about a romantic triangles, but More...

0 comments like

Mar 11, 2011

Arlith rated it:

I couldn't finish this. I tried to read it, the idea sounded good, but I just couldn't do it. I made it about 50 pages in, but it was definately slogging through, hoping it would get better. I couldn't identify with any of the characters, the names of the lead character's wife and the lady who had the baby were similar enough that I had a hard time telling them apart. I felt like I was thrown into a completely different world without any explanation about how it worked. I was having trouble More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

Gosh this was probably one of the most boring books I've read all year. The story had so much promise too. This is a historical fantasy set in I want to say Scotland but the character really don't have an accent. The writing and wording is really boring and not once during this book was I actually entertained. While I did finish this book I believe that I wasted my time since I won't be reading another by this author. Also the names in this book are atrocious and hard to pronounce.

More...

1 comment like