The Darkangel (Primers)

I reread this book in two days, having fond memories of it from my high school days. My high school self was right, it is a great book. The plot moves quickly, never dawdling on unnecessary detail, and yet the world and setting is laid out in a way that leaves you with enough information to understand and enjoy it. The characters read as fairy tale characters, simple archetypes at first glance, but they have enough personality to move the story forward and have you care about them. The whole book, honestly, has the feel of an old fairy tale. A Beauty and the Beast meets Rumpelstiltskin with a touch of Narnia.Reading it as an adult, the ending is fairly obvious, but I do not think that it takes away from the enjoyment of the book. Perhaps my nostalgia has warped my view of it, as I feel I am much pickier about my reading selections, but I would recommend this book to young readers and old alike.

Published in 1982 The Darkangel by Meredith Pierce is a book I enjoyed reading in my high school years in the late 1980s. I remember how I enjoyed the weird landscape, the shattered history, the strange creatures, the fantasy mixed with a hint of science.The main character, Aeriel, must save the Princess from the vampyre. Not just because they are friends, which I don't think they are, but because she may be blamed for what happened to the Princess or even sold into slavery. So she gets herself kidnapped by the vampyre who takes her to his castle. And the story begins.I don't want to give too much away, but I will say the story seems to remind me a lot of the semi-fantasy works of Gene Wolfe and Diana Wynne Jones.

Some of these reveiws are so imature it had me laughing.Well ''I'' Personally loved the book and read it 3 times! The first one is the best in my opinion and I wish to reread the entire trilogy when I get the chance.I loved how they made the Dark Angel's Personality, Conceited, Stuborn, Cold. and if you honestly couldnt SEE it, you shouldnt be reading in the first place.I Recommend this Book 100%!

One of my most favorite childhood books.

This book was recommended by a friend who loved this book as a teenager. So I purchased it for our school library.

Great book.

I first read this when I was twelve years old. At the time I liked it but since a friend's sister lost my copy of the final book of this series I couldn't re-read it. Thus it remained a kind of shadow memory of an enjoyable trilogy in my mind. At the time I junked it in with Garth Nix's "Sabriel" as dark and enjoyable complex young adult fantasy.But like "Sabriel" this book really wasn't written for young adults. This whole series is very dark and complex, perfect for older readers or mature young adults. It's also the only non-realistic fantasy book I ever read that I liked. In realistic fantasy, things happen for a reason, in non-realistic fantasy weird stuff happens that no one even tries to explain. This book is almost dreamy because of the style.This is the tale of an odd world, where days last two weeks and nights the same. The world is dying slowly, but people still cling to it. In her village Aerial has no idea of all this. She lives with her masters (she's a slave) and one day is with her mistress and friend Eoduin when a darkangel, a creature like a vampire out of a story, flies up and snatches Eoduin away so he can drink her blood and steal her soul.To avenge her friend Ariel heads on a quest to kill the darkangel, but is overcome by his beauty and power and the small spark of good in him, the soul he still has. With the help of strange and wondrous beasts, she alone must kill the vampire before he takes his fourteenth bride and gives the souls to his evil mother the Lorelei. Then he will become a true creature of pure evil and along with his six vampire brothers will destroy the world.This book is sparsely written with little characterization but it's still fascinating and haunting, just like the darkangel of the title. Reading it again was great fun, but I really think this only deserves four stars. It's very, very good, but so sparse that you get little true feeling for the characters, in spite of the descriptions of thoughts.Four stars and I am going to read the second books again (it's been years) called "A Gathering of Gargoyles."

I picked this book up the first time at my school library. I was still up at three in the morning trying to finish it; it was that captivating. It has all the components of a fairytale, and yet is worked into a fantasy novel that includes vampires, gargoyles and other strange and macabre creatures. Don't be put off by the word 'vampire' though, this book isn't yet another vampire book of that most over-used genre, but an incredible story with a huge scope and scale that stretches from a small village, to the vampire's forbidden castle, to a seemingly endless desert. It begins when a young Aerial's mistress is kidnapped upon the hills by a dark angel, or a vampire. Taking it upon herself to rescue her, she sets off on a wonderful journey that includes characters you've only ever seen in myths and legends. With her bravery, kindness and story-telling abilities Aerial gradually begins to lighten the darkangel's world and teach him of his own dark heritage.I read this book when I was thirteen, but when I went back to the library to get it out again, it was gone! But ... I've finally found it again, and I'm just about to go down to the public library to order it. I've never read the third book in this trilogy - 'The Pearl of the Soul of the World', but upon looking at reviews, I see there is a character called Ravenna in it! What a fluke, as my nickname was Ravenna long before I even remembered any of these books. I'll be reading that one as soon as I can, hopefully to find that the character who shares my name is a good one.

The Dark Angel was the first book I ever read that had me literally hanging on every word. I was 15 yrs old and I couldnt put the book down. I come from a very literary family and never understood why I didn't enjoy reading as much as they do until I read this book and discovered that this was my genre!! I've been addicted to the fantasy genre ever since. Meredith is a superb writer of fantasy fiction. Her ideas and character descriptions are unique and spell binding.I finally found this book online after all these years (am 37 yrs old now (yikes) and about to have my third child!) have just finished reading it again LOVED every moment just as before. Thank you Meredith for your work and for introducing me to the joy of reading! Xxx

I read this book in our school library as a 14 year old And have wanted to find it ever since.It is a beautiful yet unlikely love story, where hatred becomes redemption and I remember it vividly even now.I have just ordered it - and the two sequels I did not know existed - and I can't wait!