Review: Running Through A Dark Place by Michael Bowler- Book 2 of 5

Summary: 
King Arthur and his extraordinary young Knights used ‘might’ for ‘right’ to create a new Camelot in the City of Angels. They rallied the populace around their cause, while simultaneously putting the detached politicians in check. But now they must move forward to even greater heights, despite what appears to be an insurmountable tragedy. 
Their new goal is lofty: give equality to kids fourteen and older who are presently considered adults only when they break the law. Arthur’s crusade seeks to give them real rights such as voting, driving, trading high school for work, and sitting as jurors for their peers charged with criminal behavior. 
Understanding that the adults of California will likely be against them, Arthur and his Knights must determine how best to win them over. 
However, before the king can even contemplate these matters, he finds himself face to face with an ally from the past, one who proves that everything isn’t always what it seems – even life and death. 
The Knight Cycle Continues…

My review:
Not long ago I reviewed the book Children of the Knight which was Michael Bowler's first book. Little did I know that this was only the first book in a series of five. I loved his first book and thought when I got the chance to read this second book, that it would be great.

The book picked up where the last had ended with Sir Lance's death. Or is he? We find out soon enough that he is not and that pushes Lance into an unintentional celebrity status. The book throughout deals with his celebrity status and how he becomes accustomed to it. Even the appearance of a ancient wizard does not trump his status. This first few chapters was certainly author privilege but I thought it was an interesting twist right off the bat.

The book also deals with very dark and horrible issues of molestation and child rape. These topics, although I know they happen, were hard for me to take. If anything, I wanted so desperately to just hug the characters and let them know someone truly cared. It was sickening to me and I think unless this is an older teen to young adult reading (which this book is targeted for), this book would need a conversation prior to reading.

Also among the pages was adoption issues,  the usual teenage angst, sexual identity, (Ricky and Lance"s relationship-drove me nuts!) teen drinking and bullying. These were not so hard to take but the repetitive issues of them was a bit much for me.

In fact, I found the whole book to be quite repetitive and the chapters long. I thought this book could have been much shorter than it was especially since this was just book two of an entire series. However, I was just really getting into the book when...WHAM...the book ends abruptly in a cliffhanger!
I have mentioned before in other reviews how much I hate that!

So, where does that leave me overall? Well, I think Michael Bowler's series is interesting and understand where he is coming from as he most likely has run into children much like the characters. I was able to get into the characters for the most part and understood them but in the long run, the book I simply did not like as much as the first.

Still, an overall ok book and for that I give 3 stars. I hope to see a better book in the next round.
~Naila Moon

Disclosure: I was given a PDF copy of this book for review with my open and honest opinion. The review is part of a book tour but I was not required to give a positive review. The views expressed here are 100% my own.

Where to find the author:
Amazon
Facebook
Goodreads