Life changed quickly for Arn Singer, he was on a field trip at the fermilab in Illinois and while holding a crystal was accidentally transported through time. He is still on Earth but in the future and everything has changed. He was taken in by a group of wolf like creatures called the Valkeryn. They were at war with the other creatures on earth called the Lygon and Panterran. Arn was just a bored teenager with a crush on a girl who thought he was a geek. Now he is seen by the Valkeryn as the one that can save them. This is the story behind Return Of The Ancients: The Valkeryn Chronicles 1.

In Valkeryn 2: The Dark Lands by Greig Beck the wolfen empire has fallen and Arn is on the run in a harsh jungle with the young Valkeryn prince in his care. There are other wolfen survivors including the princess and some scattered warriors, but things look bleak. Back in present day earth the marines are planning on entering future earth to retrieve Arn and the Crystal that sent him there. Without the crystal present day earth is lost and so is the future. To make things more complicated the girl who Arn is in love with is on her way to save Arn. Arn needs all the help he can get to survive against the blood thirsty creatures in the future.

The Dark Lands is a multi-layerd action adventure that has a lot going on. This book has a love story, battle scenes, strange creatures, time travel and several heroes and villains. This is an epic fantasy full of twists and turns. The characters are all well-developed and go through a lot of changes and come out different in the end. In the beginning there is a line about a good wolf andbad wolf fighting for control. The one that wins is the one that you feed. Unlike some fantasy novels there are no shades of grey here, its good versus evil and all of the good characters get put to the test and sometimes evil wins out.

My favorite part of this book was the love triangle between Arn, the girl he loves named Becky and the Wolfen Princess Eilif. I liked how Becky is not really interested in Arn until she looses him and then she is willing to risk her life to save him. Elif is like a normal teen girl and is more in love with a fantasy version of Arn rather than the real person. Then we have Arn himself who changes throughout the book. He isn’t interested in either girl, what he really cares about is surviving in the harsh jungle environment and keeping Prince Grimson alive. In one of my favorite scenes Elif and Becky are in a jail cell together and they kind of instinctively know they are in competition with each other, they exchange insults even though they’re not sure if Arn is really alive.

Along with the love story there are epic fight scenes in Valkeryn 2. It’s hard to pick a favorite action sequence in this book but I think my favorite was when three marines are forced to fight in an arena surrounded by hostile creatures. The ending of the battle shocked me and I had to reread it again because I couldn’t believe it. Lets just say things get gruesome. I think the main point of this book was that you always have to have hope. All the main characters suffer and battle impossible odds for survival, they don’t loose hope and come out stronger literally and figuratively, if you read the book you’ll understand. The Dark Lands Valkeryn 2 creates its own mythology and is one exciting adventure that you don’t want to miss. ( )