Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers Narrator: Angela Goethals
Series: His Fair Assassin #2
Published by Recorded Books on April 19, 2013
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 13 hours, 36 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
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Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble
When Sybella arrived at the doorstep of St Mortain half mad with grief and despair the convent were only too happy to offer her refuge - but at a price. The sisters of this convent serve Death, and with Sybella naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, she could become one of their most dangerous weapons.
But her assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to the life that nearly drove her mad. Her father's rage and brutality are terrifying, and her brother's love is equally monstrous. But when Sybella discovers an unexpected ally she discovers that a daughter of Death may find something other than vengeance to live for...
Read It, Rate It and Record
A short review to update challenges
Robin recommended this His Fair Assassin series to me for assassins and she also just reviewed Courting Darkness, which is the first in the related series. I loved Grave Mercy and couldn’t resist going right on in the series. Luckily, my library has RBDigital which means we have almost everything from Recorded Books. Oddly, Dark Triumph, is the only one in the Audible Romance package. (I don’t have it)
So simply to recap without spoiling, this is historical set in the 1400s. women have few choices, primarily marriage or the convent. Brittany and France are on the brink of war, with France wanting to take over Brittany. Like Ismae, Sybella is poorly treated and “escapes” to the convent to serve the god of death. She is trained as an assassin.
Unfortunately. Sybella is sent back to her father’s home where all the horrors began. She walks a fine line serving her god and working around the dangers. She is perhaps even more skilled than Ismae and faces the worst things imaginable, often at a great personal cost. Worse yet, she believes herself to be a despicable person and because she did not help some, even believes at times she should not be allowed to live.
The timeframe picks up immediately following Grave Mercy with the political and actual battles ongoing. Now we are in Sybella’s point of view rather than Ismae. Sybella fights for the vulnerable and does her tasks with care and skill. She is so, so brave. I love her compassion for others and the fact she finally has people who care about her, and eventually finds some peace.
Narration:
This narrator was new to me but very enjoyable and she felt well-suited to the primary character, Sybella. Most of the story is from her point-of-view so the consciousness is her thoughts. The other voices, both male and female, felt right and each was distinct. I settled in to 1.5x speed comfortably. I am excited to see she also narrates the new Courting Darkness, which also features Sybella.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Robin LaFevers
Robin LaFevers was raised on a steady diet of fairy tales, Bulfinch’s mythology, and 19th century poetry. It is not surprising she grew up to be a hopeless romantic.
Though she has never trained as an assassin or joined a convent, she did attend Catholic school for three years, which instilled in her a deep fascination with sacred rituals and the concept of the Divine. She has been on a search for answers to life’s mysteries ever since.
While many of those answers still elude her, she was lucky enough to find her one true love, and is living happily ever after with him in the foothills of southern California.
In addition to writing about teen assassin nuns in medieval Brittany, she writes books for middle grade readers, including the Theodosia books and the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Library-Love
- BTB 2019
This sounds like a really interesting series. Excellent review, Anne?
Thank you! Robin suggested these when I did SoS Assassins and I am loving them! My MN library has OneClick Digital which is all the Recorded books stuff. (Also Cork O’Connor is in there. )
So glad to see you enjoyed this one! This series has been on my TBR for a while now.
Great review.
They are amazing and I love them. I have the next one from the library but no time to listen to it just now. Soon.
I love the idea of a brave and heroic female assassin that fights for the vulnerable! I’m glad that the narrator did the book justice with her execution of the main character Sybella, as well as the other characters voices! Great Review Anne!
Thank you! I love, love this series. The first is Grave Mercy, also awesome. You may discover my genre is men without shirts and women with weapons. After all, the first blog I ever read and also became a reviewer for was Yummy Men & Kickass Chicks.
I missed your review of the first book. This does sound like an interesting series!
I love it so much! It’s set in the 1400s. It’s fantasy. It sounds an odd but it’s really good. The women are such incredible characters. The author grabs your emotions and never lets go.
YES. I loved this book. Glad to see the audiobooks are doing the story justice.
I am loving them so much. Each audiobook has a different female narrator because different female MC. But I have loved them.
So glad you liked this one too. It was my favorite of the trilogy 🙂
Robin I loved it so much and I really appreciate you bringing them to my attention. I have Mortal Heart burning a hole in my iphone from the library waiting for me but I have a few review audios to finish first. Sigh.