A Dark So Deep is the second book in the Madness Method series.
Plot Synopsis[]
Cavnal stands on the brink of war. With the threat of insurrection from within and the threat of a world war from without, peace seems a fragile, distant dream. At the heart of the chaos stand Tarik—beloved Prince, rebel, traitor—and Hayli, the captured mage who knows too many secrets.
With the world falling into chaos around them, Hayli must struggle to save her sanity and escape her captors, while Tarik must wrestle with his own inner prison before he forgets his reason for fighting. Some believe he is the key to defusing the hostilities before they begin. Some believe he is the only one who can save the mages from annihilation. Torn between the bonds of duty and blood, Tarik begins to understand that his choices are never as simple as he believes, and some questions have no clear answers.
With alliances threatened, Hayli in the grips of the Science Ministry, and the line between loyalty and betrayal blurred, there is only one question that matters: If the price for peace is too high, is war the only option?
New Characters[]
- Shiver — Shiver is a 17-year-old Rift, a mage who can move through solid matter. He is one of Rivano's best mages, but seems a bit skeptical of the Clan and its practices. He becomes a close friend and ally to Hayli.
- Luce — an 18-year-old Knack, or mind-reader, who comes to stay with the Hole rats after the Esobor incident at the end of The Madness Project. She has never lived on the streets before, and the transition to being uprooted and homeless is not easy for her.
- Bridnow — an ex-Lieutenant of the Cavnish Army, Bridnow is perhaps in his middling twenties. He is firmly dedicated to duty, honor, and service, but his mage power has made living a normal life next to impossible.
- Miss Farrady — a devious, brilliant, alway-calculating scientist, Miss Farrady is zealous for her scientific work in a way that few people can match. But her fascination with science blinds her to the fragility of humanity — both that of her subjects, and her own.
- Andon Vrey — an alarmingly young psychologist and scientist whose studies abroad — and questionable ethics — have given him a reputation of being something of a monster. He seems willing to perform any experiment to find the answers he wants, regardless of the cost, or the consequences.
Notable Places[]
- Kresnavi Smelter — an abandoned aluminium smelter outside the southern boundaries of Brinmark, along the Stad River, this sprawling facility becomes the home of the displaced Hole rats, the Clan mages, and many of the poor who left their homes to follow Shade after Esobor.
- Borokhev — a former prison town northeast of Brinmark. Convicts were once sent to live there and work in the nearby quarries, but Borokhev was more recently taken over by the Science Ministry as a place where it could conduct some of its more questionable experiments far away from the sensibilities of Cavnish high society.
- Avnaya Square — generally called just the "plaza" by the street rats, Avnaya Square is the largest plaza in the central district of Brinmark. Many state functions are held there, and it is edged on the eastern side by the Common Court, one of the oldest public courthouses in the city.