Book Review – The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist

Title:  The Dark Volume
Author:  Gordon Dahlquist
Publisher:  Bantam Dell
Publish Date:  April 2009
Binding:  Hardcover

Gordon Dahlquist’s sequel to The Glass Books of the Dreameaters is called The Dark Volume.  This title evokes several thoughts from a prospective reader.  First, as the story is a tale of Glass Books of evil purpose – it could be a straightforward reference to them.  Second, it could reference a specific Glass Book, one that in this book is of high importance, and gets stolen, lost and found several times and each time in a seeming path to a certain goal.  That could be very dark indeed.  However, I choose to believe that the title is mostly in reference to our main heroes who undergo some rather radical changes brought on by this terrible conspiracy they have unwittingly found themselves involved with.

This book directly follows the first, opening with our coincidental heroes washing up upon the shores of an out of the way backwater little village.  Wait – if you have not read the first book you may not want to read further.  There may be spoilers.  You have been warned.  So, back to our poor hapless heroes.  They have survived the treacherous dirigible ride that ended in a watery crash landing.  They have dispatched the evil heads of the monstrous conspiracy.  Haven’t they?  While they get precious little time to confer and recuperate, a murderer is discovered to have despoiled the sleepy little fishing village.  Could one of their number be the killer?  But how, and why?  And who seems to be leaving behind destruction and the unmistakable scent of indigo clay?  Yes, the very clay used to create the Glass Books.  But, what to do?  Who is the killer?  And how to go about finding him?  The group, Doctor Svenson, Cardinal Chang, Eloise Dujong and Miss Celeste Temple, all end up setting off on their own.  Each with their trials of navigating this foreign backwater with its strange citizenry, they make their way back to the city to try and track down the remaining conspirators and destroy the Glass Books and halt the progress of The Process in order to assist the government in getting back to its normal activities and not directed by a cabal of money and power hungry vultures.

This is a melodrama with a Victorian feel.  With a steampunk atmosphere and a frenetic pace of violence and betrayal with much running and hiding and backstabbing – the story never truly takes a breather.  Covering only a few days, the 508 pages are chock full of action.  The reader will not be bored.  While the first book mainly focused on Miss Temple, with some asides of Cardinal Chang and Dr. Svenson; this book takes each character through their own travels.  Each telling in turn their parts in a sequence of events leading up to a grand and explosive, finale.  While I found some points that seemed to not sit the timeline quite right, I have assumed that it was my error and moved on.  In addition, since we get much more insight into each of the three main characters, we are also on hand to see their personal demons and the betrayals and tragedies that led to their involvement in this frightful conspiracy.  While I quite enjoyed the book, I am also sure that many readers will be disappointed.  The ending is not as conclusive as we may wish.  It hits a point that may prove the end, or may not.  The cabal has not been completely eradicated, and thus there is an opening for more.  And, I suspect I will not be alone in saying that I would like to find out how our heroes move forward after their lives have been so disrupted.  If you read the first book, it is quite as good as the first if a little more disturbing and dark.  If you have not read the first book, what are you doing reading this far?  Did I not say there may be spoilers?  Well, if you have come this far then you might as well pick up The Glass Books of the Dreameaters before reading this one – you’ll be quite confused otherwise. 

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