Roxanne Crouse's Reviews> The Dark Path by Luke Romyn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Dark Path written by Luke Romyn reminds me of dark super heroes such as Spawn, The Crow, and The Punisher. If you like that type of fiction, then you will love, The Dark Path. Here is the description from Amazon:
New York's underworld quivers at the mention of his name. Evil courses through his veins like blood and his conscience has lain dormant for over a decade while he has slashed and burned his way to the top of the food chain.
Vain.
The Dark Man, born of torment into an existence of death. In the underworld of killers he reigns supreme. And yet he is chosen for a task of supreme benevolence. Why would he be selected to save a young boy, the Avun-Riah, and then protect him against a horde of enemies, both mortal and demonic?
Because he is the only one with any hope of success.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have risen from the pits of Hell and, along with a fanatical army of cultists, are ranged against Vain. If the boy is slain then Sordarrah will be raised to destroy the Earth, a feat even Lucifer never managed.
Evil is being used to fight evil in the ultimate battle for the outcome of all existence. Armageddon sits upon the horizon and all that stands in its way is a man whose path has always been dark….
Most of the story is set in New York where Vain, the best underworld assassin, reins as a terror even the most harden criminal fears. Vain's beginning is typical of most comic book anti hero characters, something terrible happens to his family, and he is powerless to stop it. The experience changes him and he forgets his old life and transforms into a killing machine. This is why I gave the story four stars instead of five. Something more unique could have been developed instead of the overused murdered family. I do like how Romyn uses the memory of Vain's family throughout the novel in later parts.
The character, Vain, is supposed to be a scary figure in the novel, but I didn't find him scary because of the amount of joking around he does and all the one liners he uses. It makes the character more likable, but takes away from the fear factor. There are also scenes where the dialog could have been more mature, such as the scene between Priest and Vain when they first meet. Something about the dialog rang immature to me, despite the few scenes like this, I still enjoyed the novel, just not as a horror. I enjoyed it more like a comic book character.
Another reason I gave the story a four instead of a five is because parts of the plot reminded me too much of the golden child. I even said to my husband that this novel was like the Spawn meets the Golden Child. If you're familiar with the two story lines, I think you'll see the similarities. I also thought the author could have done more research on the Buddhist religion. If he had, he'd know that Buddhist don't believe in a hell.
Overall, I enjoyed the novel and recommend it. It is well written and blessedly free of errors and typos that other self-published books contain. I just didn't enjoy the book as a horror novel. It didn't scare me, but then very few horror movies and novels do, so I may be desensitized to the genre. It is a fast paced book with almost no scene that bored me. I never found myself skipping paragraphs to get to the good parts. The good parts keep coming on a regular basis.
