I like the story and characters but parts are very far-fetched. It's a good read! ( )

well done on most points but I am not connecting at all with the main character. Attempts to build off Sumerian mythos - main character is supposedly on a redemption quest but it all feels a bit less than half hearted to me.
probably wont read more by author ( )

Please read my review at: http://www.myshelf.com/scifi_fantasy/09/darktime.htm
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What started out as a fairly nifty idea was then ruined by cliché after cliché. As the book developed, so did the plot holes. I'm being generous giving it 2 stars because younger readers might enjoy it. There is a lot of action. Unfortunately, most of it seems to have been cribbed out of other bad action novels.

I didn't mind the time jumps, which I noticed some others complained about. Because of how they are done (our heroine is supposed to be remembering as she meditates or sleep) they are far too serendipitous, but I could forgive that. Otherwise, the mechanics of the writing weren't bad. The dialog was pretty good.

The plot just got worse & worse, though. By the 2/3 mark, I was gritting my teeth. About 3/4 of the way through the book, I just put it down. Hopefully the next book will be better for those who choose to subject themselves to it. I won't.

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In 17th century Massachusetts, pregnant Susannah Leyhem is unjustly accused of witchcraft by a woman who covets her husband. She is convicted, gives birth to a stillborn daughter alone and despairing in prison, and is sentenced to burn at the stake.

Just as the fire is lit under her feet, Susannah is transported to another realm where a monstrous demon offers immortality in return for her promise to be his slave and personal assassin. Susannah is filled with such deep anger and bitterness that she agrees, and her first task is to kill the scheming woman who labeled her as a witch.

These opening scenes of DARK TIME are wrenching and draw the reader in; unfortunately, the author can't keep up the momentum. She skips over Susannah's centuries as a cold-hearted killer, picking up the narrative in the mid-twentieth century when Susannah begins to have a crisis of conscience about all the evil she has done in the name of her demon lord, Rubishu. The author presents several incidents that break the ice surrounding Susannah's heart, quickly arriving at the present when Susannah finally decides that she must break her contract with the demon.

She makes a new deal: she will lose the supernatural abilities that went along with being an immortal assassin and resume her mortality, and she must attempt to save the lives of as many people as she has killed. If she succeeds, she will ascend to heaven; if she fails, she will face a lengthy torment at the hands of her demon lord.

Because we meet Susannah as a naïve, 20-year old healer in the past and, in the present, as a devoted do-gooder, her years as an assassin never quite seem real. In DARK TIME, the primary remnants of those years are her "killing outfit" - a typical ninja suit, with martial art skills to match - and her astronomical wealth. Similarly, we learn that in the bad old days Susannah was quite the heartless seductress, always taking and discarding nameless lovers, but in the present Susannah is pretty sentimental about love. The hook that draws us in, the anger of a woman wronged, and the bulk of her experiences as an assassin seem very separate from the person we get to know in DARK TIME.

There's a lot of Mary Sueing in THE MORTAL PATH - every man who sets eyes on Susannah is in love with her - and a plot involving the execution-style murder of two hackers; Susannah must find out who is responsible before more people die. While the Sumerian mythology in the novel is intriguing, the bad-girl-must-make-good story is nothing new, and DARK TIME simply doesn't stand out. ( )