I recently finished The Dark Side quartet by Kristy Cunning (yes I binged all 4 in the middle of finals week. yes I finished them in 24 hours. yes it was an emotional journey) and while I can’t say I was the biggest fan of the series itself, I want to get into! Ramble ahead ~
Also, spoilers for all four books of The Dark Side by Kristy Cunning!! No holds barred!! You have been warned!!!!!! I think there were elements of the dynamics and relationships between the five that were particularly interesting - I like that, ultimately, the ghost-state was something Paca had done to herself in order to save the world, a cause much bigger than herself and one that she ultimately gave up almost everything to complete! I loved our boy Lamar and how he actually ended up sticking around for a little while (even if it was largely to fulfill the stereotypical gay best friend role), and there were glimpses of the broader relationships between our non-romantic grouping that I really enjoyed, such as the interplay between Paca and her family or even just the family amongst themselves sans-Paca. I also loved certain scenes with her partners and her, specifically the ones where they realized that despite their antagonistic tendencies, they were at least becoming very fond of her. The partners learning to decenter their established dynamic to strive for a new balance between the five of them was fun, and I really loved getting their POVs later in the final book!! I also liked the vibe of the world - it was very contemporary hellish fantasy, and tbh I have never read a four horseman retelling before and I know I would definitely read one again because a lot of the vibes here were fun BUT I had gripes with most of the other elements of the series. Sure, I can deal with and enjoy a bully romance (or at least a dynamic similar to one), but I wish Paca had been given the opportunity to develop as a character outside of her boys a little more. There are glimpses of her that I very much enjoyed - her predilection for ridiculous outfits, her brash confidence, her ability to take life broadly in stride, and her later commitment to “leveling up” all had me rooting for her! I tend to read romance novels largely for the lady leads and Paca is the main reason I finished the series at all - I was just so fond of her by the end there! I’m a sucker for an OP FL and she really hit the nail on the head there - it was so much fun to see her grow into herself and truly take up the mantle she left for herself, I just wish we had been given more time with her The second we began to see her blossom in Hell (when I feel she is, characterization-wise, at her strongest) she (again spoilers) dies!! like, full stop!! some of you might argue that she just loses her memory, that some form of her dies but she’s not really dead but like. okay. the Paca we see in the epilogue of the series is not the one I came to enjoy over the series, much like how our Paca was different from the Paca who came before her. Especially since her partners all remember her as she was, it just felt so upsetting. I finished the series and felt cheated a bit lmao
And I would like to clarify, I have been known to enjoy dark and dark-adjacent romances! I am a horror + romance fan and I have read some intense stuff in my time not only on KU but in fan spaces as well. I mention this because I have seen people rank this as a relatively darker romance, and while I don’t know how technically accurate that label is, I don’t want it to be assumed that I just didn’t like this novel because I don’t “get” darker romances or even just romances with darker themes. I wouldn’t be writing this and I certainly wouldn’t have read all four books if I wasn’t having some sort of fun or if I was genuinely hating reading them, and this is no hate to any Dark Side stans, this just wasn’t for me I don’t think If anyone has any recs that are similar vibe-wise, with maybe some elements of fated romance, OP FLs, or even just funky four horseman retellings (is that an established subgenre??) please throw them my way! even if this series wasn’t my cup of tea precisely, I am interested in taking a look at other similar books because I really did have a good time even if my ultimate opinion wasn’t overwhelmingly positive.
