What do you think?
Rate this book
Blackened
There was never a God to save Daniel Cross, so he took it upon himself.
England, 1592: Love or hate; sanity or madness; banish or invoke the tendencies veining through the roots and leaves of your mother’s family tree. These are the overwhelming decisions thrusted upon Daniel Cross after the sudden and brutal death of his parents. Fortunately for him, though, there is one living member remaining in his family.
Esmeray Sharpe, Daniel’s maternal aunt, is offering her wealth and care at least until he can recover from the tragedy which burned everything he knew to the ground. But trust not the bliss, for Daniel’s suspicions lead him to pick the locks of forbidden chambers, strike deals with chapel pests, and unearth graves in Esmeray’s rose garden. With nothing but the temper of a lion, and a brain on the brink of insanity, Daniel finds the very woman he thought he had escaped. The woman who shrieked the impending dangers of his his mother.
Daniel is determined to solve a cycle of murders within his maternal family, all while constantly battling his destiny and desire. This Lions’ Den inspired tale cautions generational illness and rage, and features the ruinous effect of a terrible mother through the perspective of her even more terrible son.
England, 1592: Love or hate; sanity or madness; banish or invoke the tendencies veining through the roots and leaves of your mother’s family tree. These are the overwhelming decisions thrusted upon Daniel Cross after the sudden and brutal death of his parents. Fortunately for him, though, there is one living member remaining in his family.
Esmeray Sharpe, Daniel’s maternal aunt, is offering her wealth and care at least until he can recover from the tragedy which burned everything he knew to the ground. But trust not the bliss, for Daniel’s suspicions lead him to pick the locks of forbidden chambers, strike deals with chapel pests, and unearth graves in Esmeray’s rose garden. With nothing but the temper of a lion, and a brain on the brink of insanity, Daniel finds the very woman he thought he had escaped. The woman who shrieked the impending dangers of his his mother.
Daniel is determined to solve a cycle of murders within his maternal family, all while constantly battling his destiny and desire. This Lions’ Den inspired tale cautions generational illness and rage, and features the ruinous effect of a terrible mother through the perspective of her even more terrible son.
412 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 27, 2025
ALRIGHT. Finally getting around to writing this after my last account/review got deleted.
I read this book back in March (I think) and have since hunted down the author and deviously convinced him to let me be an early reader for the next book, purely because of how much I enjoyed the first one. So, let me explain why exactly I'm so obsessed.
HELL this book was a trip. Daniel is terrible. I hate him but I want to hug him, and I want to enroll him in therapy. The prose is absolutely beautiful, from the dialogue to the description to the internal monologue, it is all PERFECT. I have roughly three authors I'll read anything by. One is Tyler Briggs.
Like, look at this;
~~
"You'd call this love?" He clarifies.
I think out loud. "Yes. It is love because it is hate."
"Then I love you."
I almost say it back.
~~
I SOBBED reading this book. The characters frequent my mind daily, and I don't put that lightly. If you like niche history, beautiful prose, (literally) insane characters, or just a read that's going to haunt you for eternity, read BLACKENED.
DO IT!!!
I read this book back in March (I think) and have since hunted down the author and deviously convinced him to let me be an early reader for the next book, purely because of how much I enjoyed the first one. So, let me explain why exactly I'm so obsessed.
HELL this book was a trip. Daniel is terrible. I hate him but I want to hug him, and I want to enroll him in therapy. The prose is absolutely beautiful, from the dialogue to the description to the internal monologue, it is all PERFECT. I have roughly three authors I'll read anything by. One is Tyler Briggs.
Like, look at this;
~~
"You'd call this love?" He clarifies.
I think out loud. "Yes. It is love because it is hate."
"Then I love you."
I almost say it back.
~~
I SOBBED reading this book. The characters frequent my mind daily, and I don't put that lightly. If you like niche history, beautiful prose, (literally) insane characters, or just a read that's going to haunt you for eternity, read BLACKENED.
DO IT!!!
Displaying 1 of 1 review