Truth in the Dark

By: Amy Lane

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

"I am not beautiful...."

Knife's entire existence has been as twisted as his flesh and his face. The only thing beautiful in his life is his sister. When Gwennie is obliged to turn a suitor down because she fears to leave her brother to the brutality of their village, Knife is desperate for anything to ensure her happiness.

Her suitor's cousin offers him a way out, but it won't be easy. Aerie-Smith has been cursed to walk upright in the form of a beast, and his beloved village suffers from the same spell. Aerie-Smith offers Gwen a trousseau and some hope, if only Knife will keep him company on his island for the span of a year and perform one "regrettable task" at year's end.

Knife is unprepared for the form the island's curse takes on his own misshapen body. In one moment of magic, he's given the body of his dreams - and he discovers that where flesh meets spirit and appearance meet reality, sometimes the only place to find truth is in the darkness of a lover's arms.

©2010 Amy Lane (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

4.5 Stars!

Any additional comments?

This story is a such a fantastic twist on a fairy tale, but like the original fairy tales that were full of blood and horror and killing and hope and love and redemption.

This story is beautiful and special and wonderful and strange and fantastic.

The character of Naef (called "Knife" by almost all) is so hurt, closed off and untrusting at the beginning (with good reason) but by the end has blossomed into such a wonderful character who burrowed under my skin and into my heart.

Nick J. Russo knocks it out of the park with this one. I'll admit, I wasn't really sure about Naef's character voice in the beginning, but it grew on me, as much as the character did. I just LOVED the narration.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Beautiful!

This is a remarkable and beautifully written and perfectly narrated story!
I highly recommend it and the performance could not have been better.

Great!

A lovely, wonderful fairytale with some familiar elements but also unique and interesting. Not a lot of heat. More warmth than panting sexuality. You have to love both Naef and Aerie-Smith. Though Naef wasn't particularly lovable at the beginning, you can totally understand his bitterness and anger. I'm so glad he had such a loving mother and sister. This has been my favorite of the penny maker tales.

different, beautiful beauty and the beast tale

Truth in the Dark is about a man born with a twisted leg and features. the village tortures and beats him. He has become tough and hardens to others. He hs a bad disposition with people. Yet he can carve the most beautiful things. His sister is a beautiful woman and protects him. When a suitor come for her she turns him down but he has a cousin that comes back with a deal. Aerie-Smith has been cursed and walks as a man in a Lion's body. The two men have a great understanding of each other and form a friendship. Aerie-smith needs a companion for a year and that companion to do a deed to break the curse on his island.
Knife agrees as long as his sister gets a great trousseau and nice place to live.
I loved Knife and his family looked after each other and loved each other so much. I loved that he had such great skill. This story was so well written and gripping. Lots of angst but so much love, warmth and the worldbuilding is amazing.
Now add in Nick J Russo. He is an amazing narrator and brings stories to life. n this he outdone himself. These two men had two sides and Nick J Russo brought out each side and blended them so well when needed. There were times in the story i literally dropped my jaw and covered my face. Even a tear fell. I loved how each man had such a distinct voice and accent and Nick J Russo always adds in emotion with sighs, and groans
I will definetly listen to this again!

Good!

3.5

I really enjoyed this unique Beauty and the Beast retelling. It was kind of more, Beast and the Beast, and in a way, that made it even better than usual. Because it’s about how someone makes you feel and how you see yourself.

Fantastic version of Beauty and the Beast

This is a wonderfully creative version of Beauty and the Beast. I have to say I enjoyed the audiobook more than the ebook. This is completely due to the wonderful performance of Nick Russo; he really knocked this one out of the park. In this version of the classic, Knife was born with a deformity and had been tortured by the people in his village all his life. A brutal assault on him as a child has made him into a dark and bitter person with everyone except his family. He has a fiercely supportive and protective family but has resigned himself that he would be alone all his life. That is until he is given the chance to make life better for his family by doing an "unspeakable task". Aerie-Smith (what a great name) is a noble that has the face and body of a lion. In this AU, that is unusual, but not so unusual he doesn't walk through the village and though people take note, they don't seem to react to it. Knife travels to Aerie-Smith's island and there begins Knife's journey of transformation. It is truly a wonderful take on this story and as I said, Nick Russo's performance is fantastic.

Beauty and The Beast meets Island of Dr. Moreau

Interesting take but even with the wonderful Nick J Russo at the helm my interest ebbed and flowed - I just couldn't quite get engaged. As I said, interesting but forgettable.

3rd time listening in 6 years

Not sure why this works so well. It is a dark-ish fairy tale with a lot of swearing, bitterness, & sex. Give it a try.

Beautiful Story, Beautiful Narration.

Beautiful Story by Amy Lane and a Beautiful Narration by Nick J. Russo who brought Naef and Arie-Smith to life. Perfection.

If I could give it more than 5 stars I would

The story is a slightly warped “Beauty and The Beast”, with a strong theme of inner beauty and humility.

Naef/Knife is a deformed young man who suffers at the hands of cruel villagers but is indulged with love by his sister and mother. He’s a master craftsman with wood, and has trained himself in defense with knives, thus his nick-name, a play on his real name, Knife.

Aerie-Smith is a Prince whose pride got him cursed into lion form. (There’s more to it than this, but this is a rough interpretation to save the story from being “spoiled”.) Like the original fairy-tale he must do something to overcome his curse and save not only himself but his entire village from permanently turning into the animal forms they’ve been cursed with.

When Naef’s sister meets Aerie’s cousin, they fall in love but she won’t go with her beau and leave Naef. So, a bargain is struck wherein Naef can receive gold and peace and a new life in exchange for 18 months of his life as the “companion” to Aerie on his island after doing a “regrettable task”.

On the way to the island Aerie and Naef cement the budding friendship/love that started on the boat and continued on land. There is a lot of magic and story that I don’t want to share because it gives too much away. But it’s beautiful and oh… so creative.

Aerie tells Naef that at the end of his time, there will be a “regrettable task” he’ll have to undertake but the rest will be lovely. When it becomes clear just what the task is – well, of course the angst begins.

Fortunately, Amy is a brilliant writer and finds a way to give us our HEA and it is truly magical.

**

I have to say, I avoided this book because it looked so dark and angsty… and well, it is. But it’s not even the darkest in Amy’s repertoire. Naef is a tortured soul, but he’s funny. Aerie is too good to be true, but vulnerable and sweet. The magic is unique and compelling and the story reads so quickly it’s over before you know it.

It’s just that good. Amy shows us with stories like this that she is a true master craftsman, a true expert, a true wordsmith. She harnesses the words and forces them into submission giving us a fairy tale, a cautionary tale, a look at modern morality and a love story all wrapped together. It reminds me of both “Brute” by Kim Fielding (another masterful tale) and Alice In Wonderland. The story gives us a moral but without banging you on the head with it.

I’m always surprised by her breadth – from the light and fluffy, through timely and contemporary, to otherworldly and creative – Amy can write it all and do it well.

As for the audio.

Oh. My. God. Nick J Russo has done so many of Amy’s books and I was scratching my head at this… trying to figure out how that’d work. How would he voice this, it’s so different from his other narrations.

I should not have worried.

He was amazing. Truly. His Naef is spelendid. Grouchy, snooty, prickly and wonderful. Aerie is just the right amount of good with a dash of sensual to make their unlikely pairing work.

I was so glad I experienced this book as an audiobook for my first pass – it was a fantastic listening experience and I highly recommend this method of partaking this story.

I can’t give it more than 5 of 5 stars – but I would. 6, 7 maybe 8.