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The Immortal Coil #2
Shadows of Humanity
Two years have passed since Dorian began his training in Japan. Stronger and wiser than ever, he returns to New York where he is met with dire news. A dark storm is rolling in to blanket the Earth until all life is snuffed out.
Dorian had heard prophecies of an ancient evil bent on resetting the world from immortal beings that were present the last time it rose. He must now decide between using his newfound strength to save himself, or fight against the tide for the humans that would never accept him.
New and familiar faces join the fray as Dorian’s journey takes him across the globe, but not all of them are there for the same reasons. Dorian is quick to learn that the darkest corners do not compare to the bottomless depths of a corrupt mind as innocent lives begin to disappear, swallowed by the shadows themselves.
What manner of demon or deity awaits Dorian and his allies once the lights go out?
Dorian had heard prophecies of an ancient evil bent on resetting the world from immortal beings that were present the last time it rose. He must now decide between using his newfound strength to save himself, or fight against the tide for the humans that would never accept him.
New and familiar faces join the fray as Dorian’s journey takes him across the globe, but not all of them are there for the same reasons. Dorian is quick to learn that the darkest corners do not compare to the bottomless depths of a corrupt mind as innocent lives begin to disappear, swallowed by the shadows themselves.
What manner of demon or deity awaits Dorian and his allies once the lights go out?
- GenresFantasy
394 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 3, 2014
10 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
J. Armand
6 books23 followersJ. Armand is an American novelist of all things supernatural.
His personal writing style consists of movie-quality action scenes and memorable characters that each have their own unique story to tell. Through his works he aims to bring about a greater awareness for what it means to be human and encourage perseverance in the face of adversity. History will keep repeating itself until we stand up and fight back to break the cycle.
His personal writing style consists of movie-quality action scenes and memorable characters that each have their own unique story to tell. Through his works he aims to bring about a greater awareness for what it means to be human and encourage perseverance in the face of adversity. History will keep repeating itself until we stand up and fight back to break the cycle.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 25, 2020
4 Stars
Review:
*I received an ecopy of this book from the author. This has in no way influenced my review.*
Much like the first book in the series, this one gripped me and sucked me in, and I blew through it a lot faster than I had been getting through other books at the time.
Also like the first book, this one was action-packed and filled with supernaturals and crazy fight scenes galore, but it still had a great balance with the character development.
And speaking of the characters... Noah was pretty much a major asshole again, as cocky and rude as ever, but you just can't stay mad at anyone who has suffered (and who still suffers) as much as he has. And then he goes and does something like bring Dorian pizza and clothes and actually seem worried that Dorian might still be mad at him for something he did, and *sigh* Yeah, you just can't bring yourself to hate the guy. At least I couldn't. But I did think he deserved it when neither Dorian nor Vance was willing to help him while he was weak. Ok, fine, I still felt bad, but he needed to be taken down a peg, and that's what he got for treating them the way he did. Honestly though, these books wouldn't be the same without him. (And especially after reading later books in the series, I really do love his character.)
Then there was the new character, Gianluca. I’d been wondering who that character on the cover of Book 3 was because I can never resist black hair and green eyes ;-) But anyway, he was the complete opposite of Noah—whereas Noah was closed-off and secretive (as per usual), Gianluca was kind and open and genuine. Also, I feel like it can’t be easy to write a character whose second language is English and who still hasn’t perfectly mastered it, but his dialogue actually sounded genuine. And the slightly broken English somehow made it easier for me to imagine his Italian accent. (Ok it probably came out more Spanish than Italian in my head, but that’s not the author’s fault, haha.) Oh, and Gianluca’s powers involving shadows and darkness were kind of awesome.
There was also Dorian himself, of course. He once again made for a good protagonist. He was naive at times but compassionate, likeable, and growing as a person. And his shyness was realistic rather than exaggerated.
One thing this book did particularly well though, I think, was portray what it’s like to be judged for being in a same-sex relationship. It’s not like I didn’t know these problems existed, but there’s a difference between knowing and experiencing. And that’s one of the things I love about books, getting to vicariously experience things you otherwise wouldn’t. Being in Dorian’s head any time his love interest (technically there was no love, just feelings, but you get what I mean) tried to be affectionate in public, even just to hold his hand or put his arm around Dorian’s shoulder, seeing the way people stared and whispered, feeling Dorian’s anxiety… Dorian already had a lot of anxiety in general, so I think maybe it wasn’t quite as extreme or negative a reaction from everyone as he perceived it, but, well, 1) it’s good writing to take the POV character’s perception of things into account, and 2) that doesn’t even matter because that’s not the point. The point is that there are some people out there who react negatively, so I could understand why it made Dorian feel that way, and since worrying about being judged for holding someone’s hand is not something I’ve ever had to deal with, it was enlightening to better understand some of the prejudice other people experience for things I take for granted.
I only had a couple slight issues with the book. Well, I’m not even sure if it was a flaw or simply a personal preference thing, but I kind of wanted Dorian to not jump from place to place and character to character quite so much. Honestly I think I just liked some of the characters so much that I got anxious anytime Dorian left one to go do something else since I didn’t know when we’d see that character again. I also didn’t quite understand why Dorian went with William since that just seemed like a bad idea to me. But the plot still made sense and had a goal and all that though, so, again, these were small issues.
So overall this was another great, gripping book in the series with lots of actions and characters I cared about, and, well, at the time that I’m posting this, I’ve already finished the next two books (which got even better), so clearly I enjoyed it!
*I’ve read this book multiple times. This review was written after my 1st read.*
*If you’re interested in learning more about the series, you can find an interview with the author here!*
Reread Ratings:
4 Stars (1st Read – 2016)
4 Stars (2nd Read – 2019)
Recommended For:
Fans of Book 1 in J. Armand's The Immortal Coil series. Urban fantasy fans who like both character development and lots of action.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
---------------------
[First Read: 11/20/16]
[Second Read: 1/29/19]
Review:
*I received an ecopy of this book from the author. This has in no way influenced my review.*
Much like the first book in the series, this one gripped me and sucked me in, and I blew through it a lot faster than I had been getting through other books at the time.
Also like the first book, this one was action-packed and filled with supernaturals and crazy fight scenes galore, but it still had a great balance with the character development.
And speaking of the characters... Noah was pretty much a major asshole again, as cocky and rude as ever, but you just can't stay mad at anyone who has suffered (and who still suffers) as much as he has. And then he goes and does something like bring Dorian pizza and clothes and actually seem worried that Dorian might still be mad at him for something he did, and *sigh* Yeah, you just can't bring yourself to hate the guy. At least I couldn't. But I did think he deserved it when neither Dorian nor Vance was willing to help him while he was weak. Ok, fine, I still felt bad, but he needed to be taken down a peg, and that's what he got for treating them the way he did. Honestly though, these books wouldn't be the same without him. (And especially after reading later books in the series, I really do love his character.)
Then there was the new character, Gianluca. I’d been wondering who that character on the cover of Book 3 was because I can never resist black hair and green eyes ;-) But anyway, he was the complete opposite of Noah—whereas Noah was closed-off and secretive (as per usual), Gianluca was kind and open and genuine. Also, I feel like it can’t be easy to write a character whose second language is English and who still hasn’t perfectly mastered it, but his dialogue actually sounded genuine. And the slightly broken English somehow made it easier for me to imagine his Italian accent. (Ok it probably came out more Spanish than Italian in my head, but that’s not the author’s fault, haha.) Oh, and Gianluca’s powers involving shadows and darkness were kind of awesome.
There was also Dorian himself, of course. He once again made for a good protagonist. He was naive at times but compassionate, likeable, and growing as a person. And his shyness was realistic rather than exaggerated.
One thing this book did particularly well though, I think, was portray what it’s like to be judged for being in a same-sex relationship. It’s not like I didn’t know these problems existed, but there’s a difference between knowing and experiencing. And that’s one of the things I love about books, getting to vicariously experience things you otherwise wouldn’t. Being in Dorian’s head any time his love interest (technically there was no love, just feelings, but you get what I mean) tried to be affectionate in public, even just to hold his hand or put his arm around Dorian’s shoulder, seeing the way people stared and whispered, feeling Dorian’s anxiety… Dorian already had a lot of anxiety in general, so I think maybe it wasn’t quite as extreme or negative a reaction from everyone as he perceived it, but, well, 1) it’s good writing to take the POV character’s perception of things into account, and 2) that doesn’t even matter because that’s not the point. The point is that there are some people out there who react negatively, so I could understand why it made Dorian feel that way, and since worrying about being judged for holding someone’s hand is not something I’ve ever had to deal with, it was enlightening to better understand some of the prejudice other people experience for things I take for granted.
I only had a couple slight issues with the book. Well, I’m not even sure if it was a flaw or simply a personal preference thing, but I kind of wanted Dorian to not jump from place to place and character to character quite so much. Honestly I think I just liked some of the characters so much that I got anxious anytime Dorian left one to go do something else since I didn’t know when we’d see that character again. I also didn’t quite understand why Dorian went with William since that just seemed like a bad idea to me. But the plot still made sense and had a goal and all that though, so, again, these were small issues.
So overall this was another great, gripping book in the series with lots of actions and characters I cared about, and, well, at the time that I’m posting this, I’ve already finished the next two books (which got even better), so clearly I enjoyed it!
*I’ve read this book multiple times. This review was written after my 1st read.*
*If you’re interested in learning more about the series, you can find an interview with the author here!*
Reread Ratings:
4 Stars (1st Read – 2016)
4 Stars (2nd Read – 2019)
Recommended For:
Fans of Book 1 in J. Armand's The Immortal Coil series. Urban fantasy fans who like both character development and lots of action.
Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
---------------------
[First Read: 11/20/16]
[Second Read: 1/29/19]
October 10, 2015
After the events in the first book we continue to see Dorian grow, and we learn more about the world he has entered in to. Having trained with Noah he is a much stronger person both mentally and physically and the author makes it easy to understand the reasons why. The introductions of new characters and mystery keep the story moving forward and extremely interesting. The author does a fantastic job of making the imagery of the different "worlds" come alive. Once again, no fluff to the story and it makes it flow very well from beginning to end. I personally enjoy his take on the undead and how they came to be, it is a much more interesting story than others I have read. I also enjoy the martial arts that are discussed throughout. The religious aspects show a deep amount of understanding and research to each respective religion as well as history. Very good book and the plot only thickens as you move along.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews