There Will Come a Darkness (Age of Darkness, #1) by Katy Rose Pool

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ARC was given by Henry Holt and Company via Macmillion in exchange for an honest review

This review is being published before the release date (September 3rd, 2019)

Content/Trigger Warnings: Death/mass murder, talk of decapitation, talk of burning people alive, war themes, violence, starvation, trauma/PTSD, grief, loss of a loved one, abuse, torture

“In a moonlight room overlooking the City of Faith, a priest knelt before Ephyra and begged for his life.”

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 from GoodReads

The Four Bodily Graces

🌻 Grace of Heart: Enhances strength, agility, speed, and senses; Wielded by: Elite fighters
🌻 Grace of Blood: Give and takes energy to heal or harm; Wielded by: Healers
🌻 Grace of Mind: Creates objects imbued with unique properties; Wielded by: Alchemists & artificers
🌻 Grace of Sight: Senses and locates living beings; Wielded by: Scryers

Main Characters

🌻 Ephyra – The Assassin, Sister to Beru
🌻 Beru – The Innocent, Sister of Ephyra, dying
🌻 Jude – The Protector, The Keeper of the Word
🌻 Anton – The Gambler
🌻 Hassan – The Prince, trying to reclaim his kingdom

Alright, first off, I completely and utterly recommend this book if you’re a lover of Wicked Saints or Shadow of the Fox. I say this because both of these books have made my top books for 2019 and so has There Will Come A Darkness. There’s also a very similar theme that all three of these books have in common and I’m living for it! I’m going to do my best to make this as reader friendly and spoiler free as possible, but I’m so in love with this book and I want everyone to go pre-order this book immediately. So if you’re not a fan of reviewers who gush about the things they love, this review might not be for you and that’s okay! I still hope you look into this beautiful debut for this trilogy! And if you’re still here then let’s get started!

“She sucked in a breath, shaking herself slightly. Her amber eyes, always disarming to Hassan, held something in them he hadn’t seen there before.”

If you were expecting a book from one or two perspectives, then you thought wrong! Pool uses the five perspectives of the five main characters and delivers an outstanding job of it. Normally, I’m the type of reader who doesn’t like more than three point of views, but Katy made each perspective interesting and shows how some of the characters over lap with one another. It worked really well with this story and I think if the author hadn’t wrote this book in the five perspectives then this book wouldn’t be as captivating and interesting as it is. And with there being so many different point of views, it’ll be easy for readers to learn their favorite and see who they’re truly rooting for while reading.

Now, I said this in Wicked Saints, but I’m back to do it again with There Will Come A Darkness because this little nerd needs to gush a little. I mentioned it before, but let me expose myself again, I love a book that has characters with special characteristics. As I mentioned in previous reviews, I do a lot of D&D and various other RPGs, I do cosplaying, and I do LARPing in my spare time. So, whenever there is a book with characters of certain character classes with special abilities or powers; sign me up, put that book in my hands, and don’t disturb me for the next week or so! I will be in a hole binge reading those books. That’s absolutely what happened with this book. I was so invested in all the characters, in the plot, it felt like I was watching this divided world fall to it’s knees. I was extremely partial to Ephyra and Beru. Immensely for Ephyra because her grace is used for healing and helping others. You know I’m a bit bias when it comes to my clerics and healers. Watching her walk that thin line with her grace, it was heartbreaking and it made me really reevaluate the characters I play. I don’t think a character has imprinted on me in such a way in a long time and to truly become an all time favorite character. I loved these characters with all my heart. Each character will remind the reader of something familiar and every time something would happen or they’d show a little bit of their personality, it was like a blanket of familiarity wrapped itself around me.

And speaking of these characters, I have such an immense love for each of them. None of these characters are good or bad, they’re morally grey and I loved every ounce of humanity they showed in this book. Watching them tread water between light and dark, watching some walk a thin line between doing just enough and doing something terrible, and reading them go through the emotions of things being too much to the moments of hope. I love when characters can display their humanity because it represents reality so much more than characters who are just good or just evil. Even though this book has an obvious villain or threat, all of our main characters tip their own scales of right and wrong. They are neither good nor bad, sometimes they do something they shouldn’t, or they find themselves fighting with the ones they care about most, or even find themselves doubting everything they are, what they represent, and if they really are the answer to making a difference. I truly believe that any reader will find themselves attached to one of these characters based off their personality, their actions, their inner thoughts, and doing what they believe is right even if it may be wrong at times. For me, Ephyra is the one character I’m attached to more than all the others. The bond she has with her sister and everything she does for her sister, how could I not get attached to her. But all the characters are just as good and I catch glimpses of familiarity in them as well. I think any reader will.

“Our Graces aren’t just our power – they’re our connection to the world. Without them we’re just…ash.”

Honestly, I couldn’t put this book down. There are so many good elements infused in this book that made it nearly impossible to put it down. Even when I found myself putting this book down, I was still vibrating from the adrenaline and the need to know what was about to happen next. The pace is fast and I had to take moments to remind myself to breathe. Each page is another piece, another clue, another bit to fill a much bigger picture. I also think the few twists that were added into this book really stirred the pot and it left me wanting more. Wanting more romance, wanting more of the two sisters, wanting more gut wrenching moments – just in a state of wanting because what was given was so beautiful, so heartstopping, so delicious and I need to have the second book now! Please and thank you!

Overall, I’m still trying to catch my breath from this book. This book blew me out of the water, took me by storm, and I don’t know how I can read anything else until I have the next book, in this trilogy, in my hands. This book truly felt like it was made for me and each moment I felt like I was sinking deeper into this world. Pool is going to be an author to watch because her writing is so beautiful in the way she paints her worlds, her characters, and how she can weave everything into a book that will steal your heart and soul. This is the book that reminded me why I love fantasy so much and I think anyone who may be in a reading slump, in need of a fast paced fantasy, in need of a reminder of why fantasy is your genre… you need to pick this book up when it comes out. I think many readers will regret it if they miss out on this book. And I don’t know when the second book is coming out, but you better believe I’m buying myself time until it comes out. I can’t wait!

“But it wasn’t Jude who’d failed to live up to his destiny. It was Anton. By trying so hard, for so long, to escape it, he had nearly doomed the both of them.”