From Publishers WeeklyIn this flawed follow-up toDusk(2006), a genre-bending amalgam of horror and fantasy that saw the ascendance of the vengeful Mages, Angel and S'Hivez, the dark powers continue their rampage across the land of Noreela, which they condemned to eternal darkness after killing Rafe Baburn and devouring his seed of magic. The fellowship that helped Rafe on his flight across Noreela—Hope, Alishia, Kosar and Trey—is left with one small hope: Alishia's conviction that Rafe passed her a small bit of what he carried; Noreela can be saved if Alishia reaches the mystic city of Kang Kang.Duskwas a revelation as a shocking, vital tale of a dying land, but Lebbon overplays his hand in this sequel. No longer dying, Noreela is essentially dead and in need of resurrection, and all but the few main characters appear resigned to destruction at the hands of the two-dimensional Mages. Not even Lebbon's wild inventiveness—bio-metal-stone war machines and rolling sentient balls of bone and flesh—can compensate for the hopeless scenario and wooden villains.(Apr.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Product DescriptionAward-winning author Tim Lebbon takes fantasy to new heights in his thrilling new epic as unlikely allies struggle to keep the light of hope burning against a tide of unending darkness...Noreela teeters on the brink of destruction, but at its center pulses a magic grown stroner than ever before. Now the Mages have raised an army of terrifying warriorsand unstoppable war machins. Their goal: the annihilation of all Noreela through a reign of bloodhsed and death unlike any ever imagined.But Noreela's last survivors will not go quietyly into the never-ending darkness. One man will lead a desperate band of rebels, including a witch, a fledge miner, and a dreaming librarian. For an ancient prophecy predicts that the future of magic will emerge in a child still unborn—if only our heroes can stay alive until dawn.