REVIEW: Blacklight Born by Alexander Darwin
Last Updated on December 2, 2024
Blacklight Born is the third and final volume in Alexander Darwin’s Combat Codes trilogy, following up on his debut novel, The Combat Codes, and its sequel, Grievar’s Blood. The Combat Codes series is set in a post-apocalyptic universe where standard warfare has been superseded by one-on-one combat between trained martial arts fighters known as Grievar Knights who fight as representatives of their respective countries. Owing to the magnitude of their responsibilities, Griever Knights receive the highest levels of specialized schooling in martial arts.
The lead protagonist of the Combat Codes trilogy is Cego, a diamond-in-the-rough boy who is discovered by a retired Grievar Knight, Murray Pearson. Recognizing Cego’s tremendous potential, Murray takes on personal mentorship of the boy, training him to become the next champion fighter for their country of Ezo.
Murray himself becomes the focus in much of Blacklight Born, especially during the first half of the book where the narration is from Murray’s perspective. As much as I enjoyed getting to know Murray better, Cego’s absence from most of the first part of Blacklight Born did interrupt the flow of the overarching story of the trilogy. Cego returns to center stage in the latter part of the book, a more mature presence but still having plenty of secrets.
It’s a joy to see how much Alexander Darwin has grown as a writer over the course of his Combat Codes series. Blacklight Born has a restrained nuance missing from the earlier volumes of the series, especially The Combat Codes. Unfortunately, the pacing of Blacklight Born suffers as a result, along with its exclusive focus on Murray during the first part of the book. Compounding this problem, once the story finally takes off, I felt that it finishes too abruptly.
Alexander Darwin continues to excel in his action scenes, which have a cinematic feel on par with Fonda Lee’s Jade City. Both Alexander Darwin and Fonda Lee are accomplished martial artists who draw on that experience to write very realistic, well-choreographed fight scenes. Darwin and Lee also have a shared passion for rocs, the enormous birds that are the focus of Fonda Lee’s Untethered Sky and play an important role in Blacklight Born.
Altogether, the Combat Codes trilogy is a must-read for fans of martial arts fantasy. Grimdark readers will especially enjoy the darker second volume of the series, Grievar’s Blood, but may be left wanting more consistently paced action in this concluding volume of the trilogy.
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