The Dark River

Book Two of the Fourth Realm Trilogy

By: John Twelve Hawks

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

The Dark River opens in New York City with a stunning piece of news. Gabriel's father, who has been missing for nearly 20 years, may still be alive and trapped somewhere in Europe. Gabriel and his Harlequin protector, Maya, immediately mobilize to escape New York and find the long-lost Traveler.

Simultaneously, Michael orders the Brethren, the ruthless group that has been hunting Gabriel, into a full-scale search. Gabriel yearns to find his father to protect him; Michael aims to destroy the man whose existence threatens his newfound power.

The race moves from the underground tunnels of New York and London to ruins hidden beneath Rome and Berlin, to a remote region of Africa that is rumored to harbor one of history's greatest treasures. And as the story moves toward its chilling conclusion, Maya must decide if she will trade everything to rescue Gabriel.

Listen to the first book in this series: The Traveler.

©2007 John Twelve Hawks (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Engrossing....Part A Wrinkle in Time, part The Matrix and part Kurosawa epic." ( Publishers Weekly)
"John Twelve Hawks has drawn upon both pop-cultural and literary touchstones and modified them to create a cyber-1984." ( The New York Times)
"The stuff that first-rate high-tech paranoid-schizophrenic thrillers are made of." ( Time)

WOW!!!!

Science fiction with a believable plot, characters and well written. I have listened to both books and can only hope that there is another sequel. I think that this view of today's Orwellian concept is as close to pure truth as it gets. Mind you now, I know that Travelers are fictitious but the way that some prominent figures are presented as possible travelers is plausible.
Overall I liked the sequel as much as the first. I only hope that Myia can be saved in the next book.

Please don't kill this character, she is the reason I read this book series.

Dark River: A Little Tiring

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this book to a friend. I know that I have titled this review, "Dark River: A Little Tiring," because it is a little tiring.

Dark River is book 2 of the Fourth Realm Series by John Twelve Hawks which tells the story of the world of "The Travelers" who stand against the forces that monitor and control society.

I have a fondness for books that thwart the established Big Brother, and on this "The Fourth Realm Series" is entertaining. I found myself being conformed to its conspiracy.

The Traveler (Book 1) is good fun and so I purchased the rest of the series, Dark River (Book 2), Golden City (Book 3).

But alas and alack "The Dark River" gets tiring, John Twelve Hawks seems to repeat endlessly the monitoring structure and control of his Traveler world that eventually I shouted out (audibly) to him, "Hey! your preaching to the choir - here."

Yes use your credits to get this series but I recommend that you not listen to them one after another, but leap frog them over other choices.

Enthralling

Has me glued to my chair. Thoroughly enjoying this series. Can’t wait to start the third book.

Good Sequel

"The Traveller" was so strong that any sequel naturally has less detail and build up - but "The Dark River" does grab you and question what will happen next. Its a great sequel, and it sets the reader up for what I expect to be an amazing finale in book three.

Superb Followup

As before, John Twelve Hawks totally captures the attention. I listened to this audio as I traveled and was looking forward to hitting the road again to continue with the story. His characters are so fully developed I found myself believing it could really happen. The only bad point is that I now have to wait until his next book!

Exciting!

A well written, exciting story! I could not wait to hear what heppened next! Looking forward to the continuation of the story! Well worth the credits!

2nd and 3rd book disappoint

I really liked John Twelve Hawks first book. It was original and pretty exciting. The second and third book fell flat for me.

The Good Guys fight back

I really enjoyed this novel. The additional "good guy" characters (freerunners, Mother Blessing, Linden) were very engaging, and the carryover characters from "The Traveler" also developed nicely. The story is good, and the lead characters are more proactive this time.

Anonther reviewer referenced this novel was dark, and it certainly started out that way, but I actually think there is quite a bit more hope and good in this one -- although you never know who is going to survive!

The only reason I did not give 5 stars is that the "bad guys" are very thin. Michael's surprising betrayal in the earlier novel is never explained in a believable way, and the author's promise to explore the depths of Nathan Boone is not evident to me.

The first realm (where the Dark River is), is more interesting than the second, but the only really interesting characters there are the ones who travel there.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Traveler, and I cannot wait for the next novel...

Reaching apogee

This didn't have quite the ride or the revolutionary new ideas presented in the first book. I had a hard time finishing this one, and there's definitely a cliffhanger setup for a sequel. I guess I have to finish it, but there's very little seeming hope for the hero's to come out on top in this one.

Great read!

This book has so much action and great characters that I didn't want it to end. I've been waiting for more from John Twelve Hawks, and it was worth the wait. Be sure to read The Traveler first though--or you will spend some time wondering what's going on.