Synopsis:
Last summer, sixteen-year-old Will Burgess lost many of the people he loved most. Now he’s imprisoned in the Sunny Woods Rehabilitation Center, a facility for troubled youths. Separated from his surviving loved ones and terrified of a change inside him, Will is tormented by a new group of bullies and a sadistic government doctor. When his only ally, an orderly named Pierre, tells him there have been sightings of winged creatures with glowing red eyes, Will believes him.
Because Will has seen the Night Flyers too.
Even worse, he learns the monstrous Children are still lurking underground. They want revenge on Will and will stop at nothing to destroy everyone he cares about. Will and his friends, new and old, must band together to fight the forces of darkness—both human and supernatural. But as Will learned last summer, evil is relentless. And it won’t rest until its hunger is sated.
Review:
As the second in a series, it should go without saying, do not proceed without treating yourself to reading at least “Children of The Dark.” As I hope to make you cave and indulge in book #2 as well, you could just forgo this whole review, take my word for it, and read “Children of The Dark,” and “Children of The Dark 2: The Night Flyers,” as one massive, glorious book. Anyway, if not, you’ve been warned.
“Children of The Dark 2: The Night Flyers,” is a creature-feature coming-of-age story that lives up to the relentless action, break-neck pacing and merciless plot of its predecessor. We pick up right where Janz left (some would say, cruelly abandoned) us. Readers may recall, it isn’t an ideal place for our teenage protagonist… somewhere between bad and catastrophic. Yup, far from a warm welcome back, if “Children of The Dark,” was the frying pan, its sequel is a raging inferno. Janz is a writer who has proven himself to be not only wickedly talented and consistently brilliant, but also absolutely bloody ruthless, and whilst this review is an unwaveringly positive one, just know Jonathan Janz, I am mad at you. That being said, it’s truly lovely in places, and even a bit of a tear-jerker. As endearing as it is action-packed, high-stakes and frankly stressful, this series is one that I am eager to continue devouring, and I need the next one immediately. Book #1 was a battle, book #2 is all out warfare, if this trajectory holds, book #3 will likely be a full-scale apocalypse, and I have no idea what to do with myself until I have my mitts on it.
Having lost almost everything during his last encounter with “The Children,” you’d think there is no downhill for Will’s life to even go down. You’d be right… it’s actually more of a cliff-edge. What he does have left, quickly falls out from under his feet. Demonised as an accessory to Carl Padgett’s brutal murders the summer before, and deemed either a liar or plain crazy in regard to the existence of “the children,” Will’s life is actually worse in many respects- locked away from his girlfriend Mia, friend Barley and little sister Peach, and locked in with some rather unsavoury characters- doctors and inmates alike. Well, to be fair…. I wouldn’t worry too much about them, because something far bigger and far, far badder is on the horizon… I mean that literally- they have wings.
Janz’s character work rivals that of King, I haven’t felt so strongly about a cast since The Loser’s Club, and I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you just how lethal that emotional investment is in conjunction with the kill count of these books.
If “Children of The Dark,” was stressful (yes, yes it was), let me tell you, I think this one visibly aged me. Added at least a decade. Whilst it does lack a serial killer, this time we have the dodgiest branch of the government to deal with, and the stakes are far far higher. Displaced, and with her brother incarcerated, Peach, now 7, has nobody, and finds herself being fostered by some pretty nasty folk. Mia and Barley miss Will almost as much as his little sister, and try as they might they are unable to reach him. We can’t forget the man himself, who after fighting so selflessly last time, finds himself completely wronged. So whilst book 2 is more of the same blood-soaked brilliance as its predecessor, it’s narrated with a new desperation, urgency, and level of distrust that Will could only have forged throughout the course of the “Children of The Dark.”
One thing that I can’t quite stress enough however is that whilst arguably a harder read than the first, this is not a novel that is devoid of hope. Even in the most grim of circumstances, Will has old and new friends that he can rely upon. Whilst chased by horrific and blood-thirsty monsters, often a look is exchanged… a joke cracked. I suppose ultimately it’s a reminder that even when the odds are stacked, way, way against you, there are little moments, small victories, and incredible people that are worth persevering for- although it was significantly less cringy when Janz said it. It’s that camaraderie that tends to be a feature of a truly great coming of age story- and a truly great coming of age story this is.
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