Dark Matter book series by Teri Terry
The Dark Matter series by Teri Terry is one of my favourites. I’ve already reviewed the first book on the blog, and as I said there, I had to read the rest. And now here we are. I’ve finished it. I have all my answers, especially to questions I had no idea I had. The best way to describe this series is to imagine an iceberg. Contagion is just the tip, and the story is so much bigger. So much, incredibly bigger.
To recap where I left the story – you can read the full review here. A little girl, Callie, has gone missing. Her brother, Kai, is desperately trying to find her. Shay has possibly seen her abduction. While Kai and Shay unite forces to try and find answers for the disappearing, a highly contagious disease breaks out close to home. From here, they go on an unplanned dangerous adventure searching for Callie and a cure.
Title: Deception Series: Dark Matter #2 Publication year: 2018 Length: 9 hours and 30 minutes Genre: YA, Sci-fi Pace: Medium Story focus: Character
Deception is a fitting title for this book because everything you know, or think you know, will be taken away. Everything I learned from Contagion is shredded to pieces in this book. The plot mutates and becomes so much more complicated that it’s mind-blowing. This book made my jaw drop for real. There were plot twists that I was not expecting. Questions I didn’t know I had. And answers that don’t seem to matter anymore.
The story feels more like a journey you’re taking with the characters. It focuses on them and keeps the major development of the plot to the end of the book, leaving you wanting more. It develops slower than Contagion, which is completely focused on the plot. It allows you to fall in love even more with the characters, and since they are lovable, it’s not hard to do.
I have to say I felt the story broke at times. The characters kept describing their surroundings since they were in constant movement. And so every time it changed perspectives, I felt the story development had to stop to present the location. This made the story feel even slower. Although my level of entertainment didn’t budge. I was already in love with the characters, and spending more time with them only made me care even more. And so every little thing that could happen to them just made my heart skip a beat.
This also means I had very strong feelings regarding a certain bit… *cough* certain new character being introduced that I would gladly enjoy watching have a slow and agonising death (just to be clear, I’m talking about a FICTIONAL character, I’m not this murder-y in real life… most times!). My feelings were running high when I closed the book. It was the plot twists, the miscommunication – I know, I hate it too – the path the story was taking… everything was bottled up to an explosive ending. And it grabbed me in a way I couldn’t refuse to start the next book straight away.
Title: Evolution Series: Dark Matter #3 Publication year: 2018 Length: 10 hours and 30 minutes Genre: YA, Sci-fi Pace: Medium Story focus: Character & Plot
In the final book, the story settles for a bit instead of being a continuous run since the first one. And that change of scenario and pace was refreshing. I enjoyed a lot the story development. I felt this book was set in a totally different world. It made me forget for a moment a lot of the craziness that came before and enjoy this story for what it is.
The journey ends with a bittersweet conclusion. The ending didn’t rise to my expectations. Both Contagion and Deception had explosive endings, and I was hoping Evolution would have one as well, if not even bigger. Although, I was satisfied in the end. It wasn’t a bad book or a bad ending, just wasn’t the jaw-drop moment I was hoping for. And in a way, I think I didn’t fully understand it to enjoy it. The ending is something quite complex, and I guess I got lost somewhere, so it didn’t have a bigger impact.
When I closed the book, I knew I had to revisit this story again. It’s a series to consume all at once, and a second read should enhance the experience even more. Now, I can see everything that I might have missed because I had no idea what I was looking at. I still can’t fathom some of the crazy revelations I’ve read. This is, without a doubt, the most surprising book I’ve ever read. None surprised me quite as this series had.
I started this journey worried it was a light fantasy series. That it would take a path that I wasn’t a big fan of. At the last moment, everything changed for the best possible scenario. And from that moment on, it just kept getting better and better. I seriously had no idea about the journey I started and would love to have the opportunity to be surprised all over again, just like the first time.
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