As the second novel in the Fifty Shades trilogy, ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ had a fair share of recognition and fame. Though ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ received backlash for its romanticization of toxicity, the backlash from its sequel was on a smaller scale.

Story

The Fifty Shades Trilogy is a series that has garnered the praise of many. However, people do not love the trilogy for its impeccable stories. They love it for its intense sexual content. 

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ has a story that does not seem to have a lasting impact on its reader. The novel contains too much sex and irrelevant subplots that make it bland. 

The story starts just three days after Ana’s breakup with Christian. Then without any progressive conflict, she gets back together with him after a short conversation; this makes the purpose of the first novel useless as there is no room for exploring Ana’s time away from Christian.

After Ana gets back with Christian, he starts changing for the better and becomes a more loving person. The problem with this layout is that it is too sudden. The story does not give the characters enough time to explore their nature and faults, and it just brings the characters back together and inculcates love as the cure for the years of trauma and suffering Christian faced. 

Though the story tries to explain Christian’s character change by introducing Dr. Flynn, Christian’s therapist, into the scene, it does a terrible job when Dr. Flynn admits to Ana that her being in Christian’s life has done more change than him.

There are times when the story introduces useless subplots. An instance of an irrelevant subplot in the story is when Christian goes missing and returns just one day after having an accident with his helicopter; this made the novel unrealistic as it eluded the concept of the consequences of a helicopter crash and just made Christian miraculously unhurt.

Dialogues

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ used the first-person narrative to tell its story, making the dialogues rely on the primary character, Ana. Though the novel had a better plot than its predecessor, conversations lacked complexity and consequence. 

In the story, there were many times when Ana’s interactions lacked depth. For example, her relationship with Jack Hyde relied on her conversations with him. However, there was no prominent danger with Jack, as her conversations with him never included any element of intensity or fear. The story also removed all effort to make the scene of Ana’s assault realistic. Other instances of poor dialoguing exist between Ana and Leila.

Characters

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ introduced better characters into its story. It also gave its primary characters more depth as it explored what made them the way they were. The novel made other characters like Jack Hyde and Leila impact the story.

Though some characters got developed better, Ana had little character development. She was still the same person in the first novel, and even with the heartbreak from Christian, her character progressed rather blandly.

Writing Style and Conclusion

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ employs the same writing style as its predecessor. Tension drives its emotional output as its shows how Christian’s traumatic past haunts his relationship with Ana. Though the novel has a style similar to its predecessor, there is a drastic reduction in the sexual tension because the tension shifts to the antagonists, Leila and Jack Hyde.

The novel had a good ending. However, it failed to maintain a lasting impression on the reader because it removed elements of realism and provided a diluted happy-ending approach.

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