This review comes to us from horror author and freelance writer Jena Brown. She's provided a quick synopsis of Lightfall below for those who have not read it; you'll find her full review after the block.
For centuries, vampires, werewolves, and sorcerers have roamed the land freely. Then came the Grays: mysterious beings who killed half the vampire population overnight, and forced the rest to flee to the last vampire city. In First Light, the rules are simple: nobility gets the best blood, the poor get the worst, and no one can leave.
Tucked inside the palace, a maid named Sam dreams of freedom. When the city ruler’s son is murdered and Sam discovers a clue, she realizes she can blackmail her way to a better life… but she has to solve the murder first.
Working with an intuitive sorcerer, a group of rebel maids, a werewolf assassin, and a countess who knows everyone’s secrets, Sam stumbles on a terrible conspiracy that has kept the ruling elites in power. If she can unravel the truth and avoid getting herself killed in the process, Sam might just live forever.
I’ll start off this review by admitting that I am absolute trash for vampires. If a book whispers the word in a blurb, I will dive face-first into the pages without asking a single question. I would have read Lightfall for the vampires alone, but the incredibly imaginative world I discovered along the way has launched this book into the ranks of my all-time favorites.
Let’s start with arguably the most interesting part: in this world, there are no humans. That’s a pretty bold approach for a vampire novel. After all, vampires subsist on blood, and they normally turn to humans for the finest dining experiences.
Not here. In Lightfall, vampires drink animal blood… but that’s not all. In this book, every meal comes with different attributes — enhancing a vampire’s abilities according to the animal’s traits. Drink hawk blood and you might become more alert. A fox: better eyesight. A bear: greater strength. And to gain the best abilities as a vampire, you’ll need to drink a werewolf’s blood. Adding richness and complexity to the world is the fact that sorcerers can also magick the blood to give it more potency.
I won’t ruin the experience, but these details were so clever and well-thought-out, I found myself desperate for someone else to talk to about the book — no easy task when you’ve received an ARC, as I did. To my husband’s dismay, he now knows far more about this world and vampire lore than he probably ever cared to. (In my opinion, he’s the better for it.)
Like most epic fantasy adventures, Lightfall comes with a rich cast of characters and is told from a variety of POVs. There’s Sam, a palace maid who is so much more than her station will allow. She’s smart and brave, intrepid and inquisitive; she drives the heart of this story, forcing the other characters into action. Then there’s Sage, a sorcerer with no actual magic other than deductive skills that dazzle in their own right. We also hear from the First Lord Azzuri, ruler of First Light, who wants nothing more than to understand who killed his estranged son and why.
The POV of werewolf assassin Raven was probably the most fun to read. She is bold, fearless, and so unapologetically herself that her chapters simply oozed an unequivocal feminine power. There’s a smattering of other perspectives as well — and no matter how briefly or indirectly a character was on the page, they were vivid and unforgettable.
While this novel is dressed in the trappings of fantasy, it is a murder mystery at its core. We open with a killing, and one clue leads to the next: a series of unfolding questions that expand the world in a way that is utterly compelling. But to classify it solely as a mystery wouldn’t do justice to the world or the other fantasy elements. This is a book that deftly straddles the line: it’s not one or the other, but a wonderful mix of both. The mystery drives the plot, but the fantasy world and characters bring it to life.
One clever way that Crocker infuses this story with depth is by using every clue as a way to offer insight into the world. For example, through the characters’ investigation, we learn about the vampire blood market — think stock exchange, but with blood. We see the various neighborhoods of First Light and how they’re stratified by class. Sage and Raven teach us about how sorcerers and werewolves interact within this city and outside its walls. And woven through it all are the complex politics of vampire life.
Another fun deviation from your traditional detective story is that instead of a single investigator, we have a team working together. Each member of this team is important, their strengths offsetting the others’ weaknesses — as any good ensemble cast should. Here is where the novel really shines, as Crocker has created a cast to die for (no pun intended). Their personalities are so distinct and nuanced, their identities thoughtfully diverse. If it weren’t for the subtle reminders that these are immortal creatures, it would be easy to picture them as people you may know in life.
This works wonderfully in Lightfall, because after all, a murder mystery is about more than just solving a murder: it’s about peeling back the layers to understand the psychology. What drives someone to commit the most violent of acts against another?
Here, that question is obviously at play, but in a more philosophical way than your typical murder mystery. Vampire stories take human stories and intensify them; they’re about our collective fear of death, our obsession with power, our desire for control. What does power look like when you have millennia to play with? How devastating would murder become when life is ripped from creatures who shouldn’t die at all?
When we start in a world so unlike our own, the questions are more pressing, the answers more elusive. The heroes can be bigger and bolder; the enemies far more depraved. It creates a distance that allows for even the most gruesome scenes to feel a bit less tragic — yet the tender moments of “human” connection still hit us in the soft spots of our hearts.
From start to finish, Lightfall is an adventure that doesn’t just play with tropes; it turns them on their heads. It takes everything you think you know about immortal creatures, fantasy worlds, and murder mysteries and flips them inside out and upside down.
Even better: this is merely an introduction to a series that promises to get better with each subsequent story. Because while Crocker gave us answers and solved the initial mystery, he also opened the door. I can’t wait to see what’s next for these rebels, find out how they overcome the tyranny of the elites, and discover how much more there is to explore. And if I’ve learned anything from this book, it’s that I have no idea what will come next.
About the author
Jena Brown grew up playing make-believe in the Nevada desert, where her love for skeletons and harsh landscapes solidified. In addition to freelance writing, Jena blogs at www.jenabrownwrites.com. When she isn’t imagining deadly worlds, she and her husband keep busy being bossed around the Las Vegas desert by their two chihuahuas.
