There Will Come a Darkness, blurb
For generations, the Seven Prophets guided humanity – until they disappeared, one hundred years ago.
They left behind a 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 a dark new power rises, five souls are set on a collision course that will determine the fate of their world:
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 upOne of them – or all of them – could break the world. Will they be saviour or destroyer?
There Will Come a Darkness, review
There Will Come a Darkness is a fast-paced, multi-POV epic fantasy that dives right into the action from the opening page. It’s full of many familiar tropes: exiled princes, ancient prophecies, an incredibly young character cast, and a chosen one. It’s got a magic system with a bunch of different flavours, and some complicated sibling relationships.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t really my cup of tea.
It was just little things, really. A lot of minor pet peeves that added up to the point I couldn’t really enjoy the experience. Most of these were pretty personal though, so please don’t take my subjective opinion as some objective judgement of the book.
A lot of these problems stem from the feeling that this book felt a little “young” for me. There were a lot of plot points that were set up in one chapter only to be immediately resolved in the next. Characters would meet each other and fall in love or form a bond immediately. A lot of the dialogue seemed too melodramatic. A lot of situations seemed too convenient to be plausible. Basically, this was a book that always seemed to take the shortest possible route to its destination. In my opinion, it continually sacrificed long-term character development for short-term payoffs.
As a result, it was difficult to summon an emotional reaction for any of the major events. Those bigger, “emotional” moments wouldn’t feel earned. Something would happen, and it would immediately be full-steam ahead to the next thing. I didn’t feel there was much time to get to know the characters — they were all fuzzy collections of vague personality traits. Shallow.
But yet, I didn’t think this was a bad book. I just wish that there was a bit more of… well, everything. I wish the world was more than a fuzzy backdrop. I wish I’d spent a bit more downtime with the characters to get to know them a little better.
For instance, there is one character who continually has to kill in order to keep her dying sister alive. There’s another who suffers from the trauma of the abusive relationship he used to have with his brother… but now that brother seems to want to be a better person. There’s an inherent complexity to these ideas which leaves you dying to know more. That sends your imagination into overdrive trying to fill in the gaps. But then the exploration of these never goes beyond surface level. They were over just as I started to get interested.
But I don’t want to judge There Will Come a Darkness based on what it isn’t. There’s a lot of good ideas there, and if I hadn’t seen a lot of these tropes and plot points before, I bet I’d have enjoyed this read a hell of a lot more. And maybe that’s the issue. Maybe this is a book that a younger reader would love far more than I would. Maybe I’ve become the reading equivalent of the grouchy old man at the end of the street, yelling at kids for walking across my garden.
If you’re one of those younger readers, then maybe There Will Come a Darkness will land better for you. There’s a lot of action here, a lot of good ideas, and a lot of excitement. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t my speed.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thanks to Orbit UK for the review copy!
