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Morpheus Road: The Black, by D.J. MacHale. Aladdin, 2011
This is the second volume in the Morpheus Road trilogy. The first one, The Light, is told from the POV of Marshall Seaver. In this one, the POV is that of his best friend, Cooper Foley, who is dead but still quite active.
In fact, The Black covers the same time span and rough events as The Light. When I first discovered this, I was a bit disappointed- why go over the same stuff twice? Turns out that Cooper’s story- which was behind the scenes in The Light- was very different from Marshall’s.
The Light is the world of the living. The Black is the world of the dead, a kind of holding area where spirits work out their issues so they can move on to either a good place or a bad- The Blood. The worlds are not supposed to interact. But one spirit- Damon, who in life was a general of Alexander the Great - is breaking that rule. With over 2000 years to practice, Damon has skills that no other spirits in the Black have, skills that allow him to affect the Light. And he’s using those skills to do some horrific things, and plans for even worse. Can Cooper stop him?
Marshall’s side of the story is personal; trying to find Cooper, and then saving his own life. Cooper’s is larger; he’s trying to not only save Marshall and himself, but in the end, to save everything. And Coop is a smart ass; his story has more humor- albeit dark humor. While The Light had the flaw of a long, slow start, The Dark hits the ground running. It has some slow passages, but they have a purpose- the Black is a place where people get to reflect and work on things. Even though he’s dead, Cooper does some growing up in the Black.
While you don’t have to have read The Light to enjoy The Black, the two books fit together seamlessly. And at the end of The Black, things are at a fever pitch. It’s going to be a long wait for the third volume.
This is the second volume in the Morpheus Road trilogy. The first one, The Light, is told from the POV of Marshall Seaver. In this one, the POV is that of his best friend, Cooper Foley, who is dead but still quite active.
In fact, The Black covers the same time span and rough events as The Light. When I first discovered this, I was a bit disappointed- why go over the same stuff twice? Turns out that Cooper’s story- which was behind the scenes in The Light- was very different from Marshall’s.
The Light is the world of the living. The Black is the world of the dead, a kind of holding area where spirits work out their issues so they can move on to either a good place or a bad- The Blood. The worlds are not supposed to interact. But one spirit- Damon, who in life was a general of Alexander the Great - is breaking that rule. With over 2000 years to practice, Damon has skills that no other spirits in the Black have, skills that allow him to affect the Light. And he’s using those skills to do some horrific things, and plans for even worse. Can Cooper stop him?
Marshall’s side of the story is personal; trying to find Cooper, and then saving his own life. Cooper’s is larger; he’s trying to not only save Marshall and himself, but in the end, to save everything. And Coop is a smart ass; his story has more humor- albeit dark humor. While The Light had the flaw of a long, slow start, The Dark hits the ground running. It has some slow passages, but they have a purpose- the Black is a place where people get to reflect and work on things. Even though he’s dead, Cooper does some growing up in the Black.
While you don’t have to have read The Light to enjoy The Black, the two books fit together seamlessly. And at the end of The Black, things are at a fever pitch. It’s going to be a long wait for the third volume.