ARC Review: THERE WILL COME A DARKNESS by Katy Rose Pool

I received an eARC from the UK publisher through NetGalley ahead of the book’s UK release in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.

Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: YA/Adult
Star Rating:
Series: Yes - first book

Synopsis:

The Age of Darkness approaches. Five lives stand in its way. Who will stop it… or unleash it?

For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity. Using their visions of the future, they ended wars and united nations―until the day, one hundred years ago, when the Prophets disappeared.

All they left behind was one final, secret prophecy, foretelling an Age of Darkness and the birth of a new Prophet who could be the world’s salvation . . . or the cause of its destruction. As chaos takes hold, five souls are set on a collision course:

A prince exiled from his kingdom. A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand. A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart. A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone. And a dying girl on the verge of giving up.

One of them―or all of them―could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer?

Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.

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Review:

Excuse me a moment while I try to wrangle my thoughts into line for how to describe the amazingness that is this book.

I picked it up and devoured it over the next three hours. It was incredible, easily shooting into the list of tops books this year.

It’s everything I want from epic fantasy – prophecies and chosen ones. The stakes are world-ending as well as there being personal things at risk. The world is massive as is the cast.

I love struggles between good vs evil, and THERE WILL COME A DARKNESS felt like Katy Rose Pool had taken everything I loved with classic fantasy as a child and updated it for the modern era. It’s more nuanced, with much more grey among among the heroes. Religious fanatics are the villains, though the ending has me wondering whether there is a truth at the heart of their twisted ideals. Their methods and goals are obviously wrong, but what if there’s something in what sparked their movement?

The world is clearly based on the ancient Eastern Mediterranean, with its own “Wonders of the World”, but it’s more medieval in feel. The mythology is very different too, based around prophets rather than a pantheon of gods.

The plot is focused in two main places, starting in Pallas Athos and ending in Nazirah, with one story line heading elsewhere. However, it feels so expansive thanks to the stakes and the little world building gems dropped all around.

There are five POVs, and though a few may drop out for a bit while the action focuses elsewhere, it doesn’t feel like their being abandoned. It was a masterclass in balancing POVs as no POV dominates the other. They all have their own stories to tell, so interlinked that no POV could be removed without the story collapsing but while maintaining the character as the hero/anti-hero of their own tales. These POVs were woven together without losing track of what was happening elsewhere and overall.

This books is an incredible book, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next!

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Read my reviews of other books by Katy Rose Pool:

The Age of Darkness (this series):

• AS THE SHADOW RISES (#2)
• INTO THE DYING LIGHT (#3)