Tethered to Darkness

by Matt Falcon

In Eoden City, where relentless sands devour the land outside, Shen Auger is the reluctant heir to a dark legacy. His father Eoden, revered as the immortal Vessel of the Gods, holds sway over a dying world. But when Shen's mother reveals whispers of hidden secrets that lie in the blistering wasteland, Shen’s sheltered life unravels.

Fuelled by a burning need for answers, Shen embarks on a perilous journey beyond the city’s walls, into the unforgiving Desolation. Alongside his fierce friend Griss, he encounters a Darkness that will not be sated until it consumes all. As rebellion ignites and the Darkness looms, Shen must confront his father’s tyranny and master a power born of love and rage to save his world—or watch it burn.

Tethered to Darkness is an epic tale of betrayal, shocking revelations, and the fight for truth in a land where even hope casts a shadow.

Genres: Fantasy

408 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 1, 2025

Reviews

[Jan Miklaszewicz · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this YA fantasy book and really enjoyed it. The main character is suitably rounded and, at times, infuriating, though it is his foil, the brilliant Griss, whom I liked most of all. The world the author has built is credible, and the story itself is chock full of all the tropes and intrigue you’d want in a fantasy. There’s also some very good stuff of a psychological/personal-growth nature that I feel will hit the mark with younger readers. All in all an assured debut with a remarkably solid and poignant denouement. Hopefully I’ll get a sneak peek at the next in the series when it comes along.

[Sarah New · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me will know that I hate to say that this is actually a pretty damn good book. While I don’t always read YA (joke) or fantasy, this book definitely wanted to be read, and I found myself unable to put it down. It’s very immersive and emotional, and I’m annoyed that I now really want to know what happens next for the characters. Could not stop reading, already miss the dragons.

[Amina Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh, that book took me way longer to finish than I ever thought it would! And it wasn't anything to do with my enjoyment of it, because I definitely did enjoy it.

My reading has just not been up to my usual level since last year.

Anyway, as I said, I enjoyed the book! I liked that like Shen and Griss, we pretty much learned more about their world with them. So, when they were asking questions, you were like 'Yes, that's what I'd like to know too!'

I enjoyed how Shen changed the further we went in the book from someone who was thrust into his role rather unexpectedly, to someone who learned and grew into it rather well.

I also liked Griss, and especially how supportive of a friend she was to Shen.

Thank you so much to Matt Falcon for the eARC of Tethered To Darkness, and apologies once again for how long it took me read it!

[Brent Matley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first read of 2026 and what a read it was! Matt has placed such care and craft into this book that you can feel it leaping from the pages. Tethered to Darkness is a thoroughly enjoyable read that I recommend for all ages! Now to my reasons why.

Matt has crafted this story in a refreshing way - Shen is a likeable main protagonist who alongside the reader, has to unfurl much of the unknown of these lands. He is young and great responsibility is thrust upon him early on. The way Shen learns and reacts to the choices available to him is organic. In many fantasy tales the heroes are well established and most times, instantly know the best course of action. This is where Tethered to Darkness stands out - it feels believable and human - I found myself placing myself in Shen's shoes as he is faced with life or death decisions. This is what makes a great character! Alongside Shen are a great band of supporting characters - I especially liked Griss and Hilm. Each character feels distinct and relatable, just like Shen, in their motivations and emotions.

I especially liked the setting of a desert fantasy - an arid world full of unknowns. Matt also does something unique in how the worldbuilding evolves, but as to avoid spoilers, you will have to discover this yourself. Again, this was refreshing to experience something different from the Tolkien-esque style worlds (even though this is my personal favourite).

I was deciding between four and five stars due to a few small, personal caveats. However, I do think this book deserves five stars due to how well crafted the book is! I will go through some of these caveats below:

(minor spoilers)

Without going too much into spoiler territory - I wish Shen's father was featured just a little bit more. I understand it's a fine balance between mystery and revealing too much but I wish I knew more of his background and backstory throughout. I want to dislike or hate the antagonist and that is hard to do when you don't know much about them. Maybe a few scenes from his father's perspective showing any past events or what he is doing behind the scenes. Obviously, like I stated, I understand this is fine balance before it goes more into exposition territory but I just wanted a bit more. But Matt may already have this planned out in book two and it's just a minor grievance.

Another small niggle I have is just how the tempo ramps up in the final section. It gave me a bit of whiplash when a certain group of antagonists were revealed and I wish we had a little more attrition as we reached the crescendo of the book.

Despite these minor personal gripes - Tethered to Darkness is a superb debut and I am excited to continue the journey into book two when it releases.

I highly recommend it to all ages who love fantasy!

[The Reading Ruru (Kerry)]

read as a judge for SPFBOXI- rtc

[Carina_inkdrinker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The moment's belief turns into truth.

What I love about reading is the small details that you haven't discovered in books yet. Like here you won't get a map at the first page. But in 3 places in the book you will get the same map, and some parts will be blurred out. Until you progress in the story and where they are travelling to, before you get the map up again, and you get rewarded by it showing a new destination. Great touch to the story and it's enjoyment, and probably my favorite thing about the book. Because it also gave me something else to be excited about along the rest of the story. 

The characters are great, especially the side one. You follow Shen as a main pov, until he meets more people and you start to see more of what they are thinking about and doing. Shen could sometimes be a bit annoying, not in a nessesery bad way. But could be a bit childish at times, with him being a high born and feeling his path set for him before being born, and never had anything to say about what he was supposed to do in life. During the travel and all the struggle he has a great characters develoment, where he stops being whiny, and starts to take control of his own next steps and shows real leader skills. 

For the lore itself, the book is dripping with it. From everything about the world, it's people, it's magic and the creatures. I loved every fact and myth, that Matt has shown us. The magic system is very nice and well created, with emotional magic that is created by different kinds of emotions. That gives different types of powers. 

By the end of the book, you will see how much Matt has passionately poured into this book. With found family, new bound friendship with other cultures and creatures. I'm very excited to see what and where book 2 will bring us. 

[Jasper Renwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit, I never had Matt Falcon pegged as a Platonist. 😂

There’s something about Shen’s journey in Tethered to Darkness that immediately made me think of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave—the idea of spending your life accepting one version of reality because it’s the only one you’ve ever been shown, only to step outside and discover just how incomplete that reality was.

That’s a hell of a foundation for a fantasy story, especially when you throw in an immortal father with some very ugly secrets, dragons, rebellion, and a literal Darkness threatening the world.

Matt has built something ambitious here, with a world that challenges both Shen and the reader to question what is true, what we simply accept as true, and what happens when that comfortable version of reality begins to fall apart.

Five stars from me. If dark fantasy, big worldbuilding, and a little philosophy hiding beneath the surface sound like your thing, Tethered to Darkness is absolutely worth your time.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The emotion based magic system was such an interesting concept. You can feel the care that went into writing the book while reading the book, meeting the characters and exploring the world. The characters feel distinct and relatable. You can put yourself into their shoes and ponder about their desicions.
And there are dragons.
I struggled a little with getting into the book and had to start it twice. The pacing increases by a lot towards the end and trows you into a breakneck adventure.
I wish we would have seen just a smidge more of Shen's father and have that side of the story explored more.
I had a great time reading it and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

I got provided with a review copy of the book trough BookSirens (Thank you!) and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

[IR Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding debut novel from an accomplished author. He has crafted a hero’s journey that will appeal to fantasy fans. The world building is subtle and realistic, while the writing is fluent and entertaining. Put this on the To Read list!

[Vesta Tobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow..good vs evil

So well done, spoiled manchild growing into a man of power.
Killing the darkness with love,
And the darkness of self hatred grows in him. I can hardly wait to read book two. Really great reading

[The Reading Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Love is not just a feeling. It’s a power.” ❤️‍🔥

What a great YA dark fantasy novel. Thank you Matt for the opportunity to read and review your ARC.

I can't remember the last time I read a YA novel, but that didn't sway me from giving this a go.

I lost myself in the world of Yrgasia easily with the descriptive visuals, strong characters and with all my emotions charged.

I loved the 'magic system' of this world (emotions), and how my knowledge, and the character's knowledge, grew as the story progressed. Plus, dragons! Who can go past a good dragon story 😁🐲

Matt's storytelling really ramped up after the half way point, which I was excited to see. The tempo increased as the story developed. Love it!

Fantastic world building, great story, and an all round great YA dark fantasy 🖤

4/5 ⭐️

[TA Fehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've seen this book lurking around the twittersphere and figured I would give it a go. While we all judge books by their cover and say we don't this one passed the "Patterson Pick-up" test, and the title was intriguing.

The book itself is boiler-plate high-fantasy that touches on a lot of major tropes, but in a way that doesn't seem directly pulled from any one source which creates it's own sort of uniqueness. The orphan of unknown noble blood that has unknown abilities revealed in a coming-of-age manner where he finds he must learn to control his power, collecting valuable friends along the way in order to source an army and fight off an enemy with betrayal and sacrifice, is unfortunately the tested and true framework that does not enable the unique aspects in this book to stand out.

We have an emotionally-based magic system that I thought reasonably well established and not overdone or cheesy. We have dragons that play a large part, but don't take the main stage as to lose the plot, and we have genuine foes to overcome and secrets that are revealed during the process.

I don't believe what restrains this book is inherently what is contained between the covers so much as the genre and audience has come to expect a certain product that naturally hamstrings authors from breaking barriers and trying something new and exciting. We have all the makings for an epic story that everyone wants to read, but to naturally breathe requires more than 3-400 pages to do well. But a large epic would be left on the shelf as many readers become intimidated by the investment. What happens is that we are thrust into a story where every interaction becomes something used later, and every friend is the exact one needed to keep the story progressing. This works as a mechanism to get to the end, but looses the depth and development of the characters apart from the standard tributaries that establish the reluctant-hero-to-leader arc.

So for a review of the book itself, it is quite serviceable. For those who like a small variation on a popular theme it is perfectly fine, much akin to how one can always order fettuccini alfredo in any restaurant and know they won't be disappointed.

[Jocelyn Beard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome epic fantasy complete with meticulous world-building and a huge cast of characters to fall in love with.

In Tethered to Darkness, author Matt Falcon delivers on every level for those who love their fantasy reads to be big, generous journeys into a fascinating new world where all is threatened by encroaching evil.

The hero is reluctant, but in a way that actually makes sense. You'll find yourself contemplating which path you'd choose if you stood in his boots. So many contemporary fantasy authors turn their main characters into simple cyphers - checking boxes as they go, and a large part of the delight I experienced reading this book was derived from the organic character development. Rather than, "This bad thing has happened so now I do this," the characters in Tethered to Darkness actually check themselves and consider the possible ramifications of their choices. A refreshing and natural way to progress a story without slowing the pace.

The story is filled with very unique magic, beautiful creatures, different races (some recognizable, some not), a never-ending tapestry of wildly different locations, all combing to create a powerful world to immerse yourself within.

The encroaching evil is Evil with a capital E. The Big Bad is terrifying, as is the horde of monsters he wields with apocalyptic fervor. When you find yourself entering the Darkness with the main character, you'll be nervously checking for the exit. The battles are bloody, the stakes are sky high and the finale of the first book in this series is a gut punch that will leave you demanding Book 2 immediately.

If you love epic fantasy, and are fatigued with generic offerings, Tethered to Darkness will take you exactly where you want to go.

[Julio Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover is very cool, Joe Requeza made a great job on this one and it gets curiosity points because t's set in some kind of arabic desert style place, which might give us a much needed rest from the european based settings. So, off to a great start with this book by Matt Falcon.

The first lines hit you and grip you in curiosity and set the tone to the atmosphere of the book. Words about love being a privilege and the duty of a mother and survival, and by the first chapter, (That is filled with blood and rituals) you will realize that either something went terribly wrong, or terribly right but accourding to someone else's plan, and that will create a LOT of problems in the future.

So, we have an immortal semi-god hungry for power, a woman that knows a lot but no-one believes her, and their son that is probably another semi-god but is addicted to the closest thing one can describe as pure cocaine while a dark plot is brewing in the background, a way darker plot that you can imagine.

This book and the plot is about emotion, think about the concept of airbender but activated with what you feel, and the stronger the emotions that more power you have, if you can still keep your sanity, of course.

If you are fan of a highly emotional set of characters, then this book will suit you, as the main character, the royal boy with his easy life, is thrown head first into a fight for his survival as his own father wants to kill him, and in the midst of all of this running he finds he is the child of an ancient profecy, that dragons exist and a war among magical being and humans is impending to which he has to grow fast enough to stop, as it cannot be avoided.

[Andrés da Silveira Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received an ebook from the author, unbiased review, etc, etc. You know the drill.

Tethered to Darkness is an ambitious debut book. One where Matt Falcon [our dear author] takes upon himself the task of merging many tropes and themes; coming of age, chosen one, dragon rider, among many others.

Having so many things going on at the same time made the pace, and by extension the flow of the book to be tremendously uneven. In a sense, it's understandable, for a debut work, and I have no doubts future books will be much stronger in these aspects.

I did enjoy the friendship aspect between Shen [our main character] and Griss [gis bestest friend]. It's a nice representation of imperfect/perfect friendship dynamics.

The magic system, emotion based, was really novel and fairly well executed.

I did have plenty of issues with the pace of the story, where Shen goes through so many different things in so little time, that we cannot quite process and get acclimated to the story before the next thing happens. The story needed more spaces to breathe and for us to enjoy a very well crafted world whose internal logic is solid and clear.

Tethered to Darkness needed at same time more space to breathe and less things happening. It could have used some scissor to pare down some of the excess tropes and reinforce others.

All in all it is a solid book for lovers of the classic epic with traditional stories.

3.4⭐️

[Marike van Nimwegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful fantasy book Matt Falcon has written! I enjoyed every page. The main character is a hero, but one who clearly still has a lot to learn, and he does so through trial and error. And of course, he learns the most from women 😉. I found it particularly captivating and original how he had to learn to become aware of his feelings and how he could use them as a superpower. The book grabs you from the very first page and builds slowly with fantasy elements, so you don't immediately get lost in all sorts of strange developments. Partly because of this, it might have taken a while for the dragons to make an appearance. But then they were prominently present. I grabbed this book every spare moment, so I was so eager to know what happened next. It's a shame we now have to wait for part 2!! Last but not least: for Dutch people like me, the English in this book is very easy to read, because the sentences are generally not very long.

[Niels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tethered to Darkness was a surprisingly enjoyable read for me, even though fantasy is not usually my go-to genre. The story follows a spoiled young man who is forced to flee after discovering the horrifying truth about his father’s centuries-long rule and connection to the Darkness. Along the way, he encounters different peoples, creatures, and dragons who help him grow into someone capable of facing a much larger destiny. While the overall arc feels familiar in a comforting way, the book keeps offering enough unexpected turns to stay engaging throughout. I especially liked how the Darkness can also be read as a reflection of our own world, where power-hungry leaders spread fear, control, and destruction to remain in power. It is an accessible, well-paced fantasy story with heart, adventure, and a clear sense of moral struggle.

[Lei Lani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this author on social media, and the little bit of marketing he did had me finding this book on Amazon. The 'blurb' convinced me to buy it in December, and it sat on my Kindle until this weekend. I started reading yesterday morning, and was a little put-off in the first chapter - the sentence structure was a bit simplistic, but by the second chapter, I was hooked. The fantasy elements in this story just seemed to keep getting intertwined in the most logical way, and the characters are relatable. I finished the book today, and immediately came here to find if there was book 2 yet. Not yet, but, I am invested in the world that Matt has created.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the sound of the premise, but the execution fell short somewhere along the way for me. Our main character, Shen, starts out immature and spoiled, but I never really saw a character change that would make me actually like him. Griss didn't have much personality beyond her accent. When a certain something happened to a certain character at the end, I should have felt something, and I really didn't. Just no real connections were made. I did like the dragons. Not a series I plan on continuing.

Content:
Brief PG-13 level language

[Susan Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and thought provoking. The main character - Shen-raised in comfort without understanding the world around him=kept in a bubble and unable to recognize the drugged haze where he exists is unprepared for the changes ahead. The author moves you through Shen’s exposure to a reality he alone has the poser to change. Each character has their own flaws and must come to grips with how they also must change. Steady pace and an even read, Will buy the next in the series when it is published.

[Milan Danai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed every minute with this book and I’m already looking forward to the sequel, and whatever else Matt Falcon decides to write. As a fantasy book this has everything that I like to see; strong character development, rich and immersive world building, all in a show don’t tell kind of fast paced way that leaves enough to the reader’s imagination. In my eyes that makes it suitable for any type of reader, even if fantasy is not their main genre.

[Tim McKay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very fun YA (definitely YA) dark fantasy.

Packed with creativity and unexpected twists, and I'm a sucker for Eragon-style dragon bonds (again, with a twist).

Plus, here there be darkness. So much darkness.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not too familiar with the fantasy theme, but was very positively surprised by this immersive journey Matt takes us on. Continuous character development and exploration of hidden powers throughout the story. Very much looking forward to the sequel!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. It’s an easy read and kept me glued to the pages. Can’t wait for the sequels!