Review of “All I See Are Dark Clouds” by M.C. Ryder

Score: 89/100 (8.9 out of 10)

All I See Are Dark Clouds is the exciting, emotionally-charged third installment in the The Dark series by M.C. Ryder. The book reintroduces us to Camille, one of the major characters in the first book (The Darkest Side of the Moon). In fact, an argument could be made that Camille was the tritagonist of the first novel until she unfortunately got overshadowed by Marc in the second half and relegated to—ironically—a pseudo-antagonistic role.

Camille was the once-loyal and trusted friend of Nadine/Nadia, the main protagonist of book one and someone who is idolized and venerated by numerous characters in the series including by Camille herself. Camille was basically the Samwise Gamgee of the first half of The Darkest Side of the Moon until she came to fill the role of the traitor/backstabber through a complicated set of circumstances. This was especially tragic and unfortunate for those of us who fell in love with Camille. It almost felt like we were betrayed or backstabbed. It was like a character assassination.

We are very thankful to rejoin this amazing character and to know that her arc didn't end in that dim and dreadful way.

Camille lives with the sorrow and regret of what she did every day. She seems mournful and depressed throughout much of this book, perhaps more so than any other character in the series. There's a real sense of humanity and vulnerability to her, which is good. Furthermore, unlike with Melia in book two, there's also a strong sense of connection and familiarity with the character.

Camille is the old friend that we moved apart from, the one who burned a bridge with us—the one we desperately hope to reconcile with one day.

She thinks she can never find peace and that she doesn't deserve it. There's a deep sense of self-hatred and regret there.

Ok, well, the literal passage in the book erroneously reads “I can't image ever finding peace” when it should really be “I can't imagine ever finding peace.” However, you get what we're saying.

It's easy to blame Camille, but what this book makes clear is that she was a victim as much as anyone in the series. She was placed in a cell and essentially tortured and abused in various ways. Because of that, combined with her betrayal of Camille, has given her PTSD.

While this book mostly focuses on Camille and her redemption arc, it also concerns the mysterious disappearances and deaths of several individuals including Caden, one of the werewolves from the previous books, and seemingly targeted attacks by large, ravenous dogs against the protagonist and her allies.

This eventually circles back to another villain in this book named Troy, an evil vampire who also seems to have a creepy obsession with Cecily, the therapist from book two.

As creepy and hateable as Troy is, he is certainly not on the level of villainy as Maximilian, Vladimir, or even Jomar were. At the same time, he is definitely unlikable, and we couldn't wait for him to get his comeuppance.

Similar to the villains, the conflict in general doesn't seem nearly as big or as grand as the last two books. In fact, a lot of this book really does seem absent of conflict. Yes, Camille struggles with her regrets and stuff, and things are happening behind the scenes, but it certainly doesn't seem to be this big, awesome, world-ending, cosmic changing, epic struggle like in the previous books. No, this books plot seems surprisingly... mild, tame, and—dare we say—a bit less eventful. This is kinda like the Breaking Dawn Part I of the series. It even includes Melia's marriage, after which she seems to become sidelined along with Vinsent. So, there goes two more characters we cared about. First, we lost Nadine, Marc, and (for a while) Camille, then we lost Melia and Vince. That might be one of the most frustrating things about this series. It just seems like every time we form a connection with a character, they get abruptly ripped away from us and either sidelined or suppressed in their roles. It's one of the weaknesses of changing the lead-protagonist in every book.

Think about it like this: remember when Ian (Jeff Goldblum's character) became the lead-protagonist of Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, thus replacing Alan Grant in the lead role? Or what about when gamers were shocked, surprised, and angered to see the character they fell in love with in Metal Gear Solid be replaced by Raiden in Metal Gear Solid II? People love continuity and familiarity. It's challenging for readers to keep being introduced (or reintroduced) to characters all the time.

Speaking of which, there are just too many characters in this book. Let's list a few: there's Camille, Melia, Vince, Cecilia, Troy, Niles, Terrence, Darius, Lamont, Jenson, Oliver, Zoe, Athena, Caden, Cameron, Milo, Ezekiel, Helene, Paul, Jerry, Ashley, Lily, Daisy, Leo, Richard and Phoebe. Yeah, that's a lot of people to keep track of, especially since some of them are humans, vampires, wolves, dogs, or cats!

Then there are several characters that eat up a exorbitant amount of page/screen-time: Michael and Beckett, who are pretty much the love interests of the book. Now, these two just aren't as captivating or compelling as Vince and Marc were as love interests, not even close. In fact, it almost seems like Michael is relegated to the background for 2/3rds of the book. And all of a sudden we're supposed to cheer for Beckett? It almost felt like how in book one, Vince got sidelined and all of a sudden we were supposed to 100% buy into Marc, then vice-versa (bizarrely enough).

Oh, and there's Iris too. Oh, Iris. Yes, her story on its own is sad and eventually uplifting, but we're not sure if it meshes well with the forty other things happening in this book. Maybe we'll revisit Iris later in this review because she gave us some decent moments.

Another thing that continues to hold books in this series back is the editing. Now, the author continues to improve as a writer with each subsequent book, but the errors are still evident. We mentioned how, earlier, there's a passage that reads “I can't image ever finding peace.” Well, there are a few more like that:

“...with fiery in her eyes” should be “with fire in her eyes”

“He asked with sincere” should be “he asked, sincerely” or “he asked with sincerity”

One more thing that annoyed us was that one character who we really wanted to see have a brutal, gory, and highly-detailed death essentially got killed-off off screen. Oh, come on! That character needed to go through a meat grinder feet-first or something.

Now, there is a part of this book that was clearly written around the time of the pandemic as COVID-19 actually serves a plot device in part of it. It's actually quite a compelling section of the book, believe it or not, mostly because it kinda seems... real. Well, the character's vampirism allows them to smell the metal in patients' blood and stuff, but besides that... there's a real sense of tension there.

This book also has some great quotes and themes. In terms of quotes, we have:

“When you turn to the dark, you get swallowed by it. Even if you manage to reach the surface, where the light calls down to you, you will never be able to reach out and feel that warmth again. Will never be thawed. Forever encased in ice.”

“Without the dark clouds, we wouldn’t be able to see it. If there was no darkness, something good wouldn’t be able to reveal itself... 'My mother told me to never stop looking for rainbows. To always relish in the sight of them while they last. That they have the power to fill your woes with hope.'”

And, yes, this passage and quote is attributed to Iris, perhaps qualifying her presence in this book as she serves to uplift the other protagonists in the light of her own personal tragedy and loss.

“Do not let the whispers of fear limit you from progression.”

The quote above is attributed to Nadine. Gosh, we miss you, Nadine! None of these other protagonists hold a candle to you.

Speaking of which, Nadine is amazingly venerated and idolized throughout this book by various characters, even random people who think they know the whole story or the truth about her. This is interesting for readers of the series because we ultimately know more about Nadine than some of these characters do. We know how vulnerable, mistake-prone, and human she was, especially in her early life.

Anyway, this series has been quite an adventure and a journey! It hasn't always been smooth. There have been a lot of shaky moments, particularly with some of the characters and the grammar. However, we definitely felt that it was worthwhile.

Check it out on Amazon!