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Dark of Winter #1
Dark of Winter
This edition was previously published under the ASIN B073GXWN5P
The people of Sumner are odd. Their village, far to the north where the weather is worst, is lost to a world of snow and ice and freezing death. No one trusts Sumner. No one goes there.
Until now.
King Fialsun’s soldiers are battle weary. They have spent years carving an empire that starts from the south and rises up like an inexorable branch, twisting east and west and now to new territories in the north.
Despite growing dissent, Fialsun’s power remains absolute and his might infinite. But one village remains outside from his sovereignty: Sumner.
Fialsun sends one hundred of his soldier veterans to find and to decimate the village. To bring an end to its stigma and to quash the dreaded infamy of its most lethal warrior: Threecuts.
But strange events have been unfolding in Sumner. A girl has gone missing and warriors deem they have captured a creature from mythology. All the evidence leads to the conclusion that an ancient evil is coming.
In one night the fate of Sumner will be decided. If the King’s soldiers do not reach them first, then the creatures of the Dark of Winter will
The people of Sumner are odd. Their village, far to the north where the weather is worst, is lost to a world of snow and ice and freezing death. No one trusts Sumner. No one goes there.
Until now.
King Fialsun’s soldiers are battle weary. They have spent years carving an empire that starts from the south and rises up like an inexorable branch, twisting east and west and now to new territories in the north.
Despite growing dissent, Fialsun’s power remains absolute and his might infinite. But one village remains outside from his sovereignty: Sumner.
Fialsun sends one hundred of his soldier veterans to find and to decimate the village. To bring an end to its stigma and to quash the dreaded infamy of its most lethal warrior: Threecuts.
But strange events have been unfolding in Sumner. A girl has gone missing and warriors deem they have captured a creature from mythology. All the evidence leads to the conclusion that an ancient evil is coming.
In one night the fate of Sumner will be decided. If the King’s soldiers do not reach them first, then the creatures of the Dark of Winter will
- GenresFantasy
207 pages, ebook
First published June 29, 2017
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 6, 2020
Where to start...
Character names: Hidden, Bug, White, Twotimes, Hag, Redface, Straightback...
And they all speak in the same voice, same words, same pauses, and long, long winded sentences.
And so many times when they finish talking, the author clarifies their mess by writing “ In short, it was easy to believe...” or “ N summary, they chose...”
The book is tedious, the plot inane. Disappointing.
Character names: Hidden, Bug, White, Twotimes, Hag, Redface, Straightback...
And they all speak in the same voice, same words, same pauses, and long, long winded sentences.
And so many times when they finish talking, the author clarifies their mess by writing “ In short, it was easy to believe...” or “ N summary, they chose...”
The book is tedious, the plot inane. Disappointing.
December 20, 2018
Dark of winter was better than i thought it was going to be.
Full of action, blood and death. Mythical creatures never heard of before (nice touch). Little side stories was also a bonus to the main story. Couldnt put it down when i had a chance to pick it up.
Book given free by author via voraciousreadersonly.
Full of action, blood and death. Mythical creatures never heard of before (nice touch). Little side stories was also a bonus to the main story. Couldnt put it down when i had a chance to pick it up.
Book given free by author via voraciousreadersonly.
October 7, 2017
Vaconius has changed. The slaughter of the Northern warriors did not quicken his pulse with the thrill of battle. Instead, it sickened him. Vaconius’ lack of enthusiasm hasn’t escaped King Fialsun’s notice. Greedy, insane, King Fialsun cannot have his best Captain struggling with his morals when only one village remains outside of his dominion. Sumner is home to a strange people, mutated by inbreeding and isolation, guarded by warriors possessing infamous ferocity and skill. Fialsun orders Vaconius further north to destroy Sumner and all its inhabitants. With only a hundred men at his back, Vaconius may well be marching to his death. Sumner has its own problems. A child has gone missing among the dead trees and deep snow, and a demon of legend appears as a harbinger of worse things to come. The dark of winter is coming to Sumner and even the dead don’t want to be there when it arrives.
There is so much to love about Dark of Winter. Christopher Percy’s descriptions feed into the imagination to paint a world that’s stark and dangerous, filled with strange creatures—some of them human. The characters in Dark of Winter are fascinating and realistic. Vaconius and Hidden’s characters reflect each other in certain aspects, introducing plenty of occasions for the reader to contemplate the themes woven through the plot. Conflict builds on two levels as the humans are pitted against each other, yet must unite to fight an even greater adversary. The demons of the dark are frightening and their strangeness lends them a chilling sense of authenticity. Gory battles, a tense plot with a thrilling conclusion, and a ribbon of weirdness running throughout make Dark of Winter a highly satisfying read.
(Reviewed for Reader's Favorite)
There is so much to love about Dark of Winter. Christopher Percy’s descriptions feed into the imagination to paint a world that’s stark and dangerous, filled with strange creatures—some of them human. The characters in Dark of Winter are fascinating and realistic. Vaconius and Hidden’s characters reflect each other in certain aspects, introducing plenty of occasions for the reader to contemplate the themes woven through the plot. Conflict builds on two levels as the humans are pitted against each other, yet must unite to fight an even greater adversary. The demons of the dark are frightening and their strangeness lends them a chilling sense of authenticity. Gory battles, a tense plot with a thrilling conclusion, and a ribbon of weirdness running throughout make Dark of Winter a highly satisfying read.
(Reviewed for Reader's Favorite)
April 5, 2020
This indie horror writer weaves a tale that's gruesome, bloody, and relentless. Written in a time of fantasy, a balance between Game of Thrones and the Clash of the Titans. Characters who show bravery and heart in the face of horrible odds against thousands of demons. This was a satisfying page turner.
May 28, 2018
This was absolutely fantastic! This is the kind of dark, epic, gritty fantasy, where the winds have names, and you really get a sense of cold, horrible, dread. This book has one of the most emotional deaths I've read in ages, and I was literally sitting there whispering 'no no no!'
I loved the originality of it, there are lots of weird creatures and people, yet there are no elves, dwarves, trolls, ogres, orcs, centaurs, or anything I've ever read about before. The universe, the world, the people, the thing they do, say, and think, was so beautifully written. And it's so clever! There's a variety of little subplots, some of which I'd really forgotten about, and didn't really care about, but it all came together in the end, ALL of it.
I loved the originality of it, there are lots of weird creatures and people, yet there are no elves, dwarves, trolls, ogres, orcs, centaurs, or anything I've ever read about before. The universe, the world, the people, the thing they do, say, and think, was so beautifully written. And it's so clever! There's a variety of little subplots, some of which I'd really forgotten about, and didn't really care about, but it all came together in the end, ALL of it.
June 23, 2020
If I could give negative (or no) stars, I absolutely would. This miserable excuse for a novel was one of the toughest slogs of a read I've ever committed to. The writing style is so short and choppy that I at times wondered if it had been run through Google Translate a few times between writing and publication. I did not even want to finish the book, but I'm stubborn, and kept hoping it would get better.
It did not.
If you value your sanity or value your money, DO NOT buy this book.
It did not.
If you value your sanity or value your money, DO NOT buy this book.
March 26, 2018
“Dark of Winter” opens with a barbarian victory parade, complete with the destruction of 40 rival chieftains all set ablaze in an act of ultimate revenge, and the story only gets bloodier from there—think the Mads Mikkelson’s Valhalla Rising.
Percy’s tale briefly touches on a conflict between his protagonist, Vaconius, and his King. A war-weary Vaconius is ordered to prove his loyalty and conquer the isolated far-northern hamlet of Sumner—a place where bizarre humanoid beings live together in harmony and defend themselves from the outer world. Vaconius agrees and starts his journey to the faraway village. In the meantime, an all-out assault is underway in Sumner when a myriad of stomach-churning, hellish entities beset the denizens of this strange hovel. Sumner’s warriors, who are grotesque enough in their own right, fight to defend their homes as Vaconius arrives late in the battle and decides to aid the villagers against an inevitable invasion. From there, all hell breaks loose and the plotline loses much clarity as the battle goes back and forth between a mishmash of tribal mayhem and deadly attacks by the beasts.
“Dark of Winter” is a difficult and confusing read, with character names that describe their owners, but sound too much alike… monikers like Two-Times, Threecuts, Deathbreath, and Deadeye. It’s hard enough to keep the character’s names straight as Percy injects an enemy line of terrifying creatures into the plotline... creatures that are referred to with such mind-bending titles as groogs, stickpicklers, and jamabalabans. In this story’s case, I could not help but feel that a glossary might be helpful to the reader in keeping the characters’ and creatures’ names and descriptions straight.
As the body-count grows, and the fight to survive the assault at Sumner grows more urgent, Percy presents a jumble of events that have the potential to cause readers motion sickness as the villagers aimlessly run back and forth between the village, the wilderness, underground tunnels, and local townships only to be picked off one-by-one by the invading creatures. As all this takes place, it’s not at all clear what crucial part Vaconius—the protagonist this story starts with—plays in this battle between Sumner’s population and the monsters, for he only appears to have come to the besotted town as an accessory to add some historical interest to the story. The main plotline may, in fact, have done better without the Roman’s presence since it is the Sumnerites who are the main protagonists in this novel. The author may have tailored the entire story had he stuck to the Sumner storyline and ignored Vaconius’ character.
Now, I must state that I personally love a great horror story as much as the next reader, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed some outstanding sanguineous barbarian sagas, but in the end, “Dark of Winter” simply breeds violence for the sake of violence—and the bloodier the better. There seemed to be no purpose to the story other than mere survival and it certainly lacks a greater goal. Readers who prefer such graphic and senseless killing—and who savor their meat while it is still twitching and writhing—will appreciate this lethal and gory fantasy bloodbath.
Percy’s tale briefly touches on a conflict between his protagonist, Vaconius, and his King. A war-weary Vaconius is ordered to prove his loyalty and conquer the isolated far-northern hamlet of Sumner—a place where bizarre humanoid beings live together in harmony and defend themselves from the outer world. Vaconius agrees and starts his journey to the faraway village. In the meantime, an all-out assault is underway in Sumner when a myriad of stomach-churning, hellish entities beset the denizens of this strange hovel. Sumner’s warriors, who are grotesque enough in their own right, fight to defend their homes as Vaconius arrives late in the battle and decides to aid the villagers against an inevitable invasion. From there, all hell breaks loose and the plotline loses much clarity as the battle goes back and forth between a mishmash of tribal mayhem and deadly attacks by the beasts.
“Dark of Winter” is a difficult and confusing read, with character names that describe their owners, but sound too much alike… monikers like Two-Times, Threecuts, Deathbreath, and Deadeye. It’s hard enough to keep the character’s names straight as Percy injects an enemy line of terrifying creatures into the plotline... creatures that are referred to with such mind-bending titles as groogs, stickpicklers, and jamabalabans. In this story’s case, I could not help but feel that a glossary might be helpful to the reader in keeping the characters’ and creatures’ names and descriptions straight.
As the body-count grows, and the fight to survive the assault at Sumner grows more urgent, Percy presents a jumble of events that have the potential to cause readers motion sickness as the villagers aimlessly run back and forth between the village, the wilderness, underground tunnels, and local townships only to be picked off one-by-one by the invading creatures. As all this takes place, it’s not at all clear what crucial part Vaconius—the protagonist this story starts with—plays in this battle between Sumner’s population and the monsters, for he only appears to have come to the besotted town as an accessory to add some historical interest to the story. The main plotline may, in fact, have done better without the Roman’s presence since it is the Sumnerites who are the main protagonists in this novel. The author may have tailored the entire story had he stuck to the Sumner storyline and ignored Vaconius’ character.
Now, I must state that I personally love a great horror story as much as the next reader, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed some outstanding sanguineous barbarian sagas, but in the end, “Dark of Winter” simply breeds violence for the sake of violence—and the bloodier the better. There seemed to be no purpose to the story other than mere survival and it certainly lacks a greater goal. Readers who prefer such graphic and senseless killing—and who savor their meat while it is still twitching and writhing—will appreciate this lethal and gory fantasy bloodbath.
February 2, 2019
This book is close to being a classic, it hurts.
The author has done a stunning job of world- and character-building. The fictional world is not overly politically complex, but the various creatures are not only unique to one another, but are also not based on any mythology I'm familiar with - a possible exception being the Wild Hunt (on acid).
The Sumnerites are all stand-out characters, each lovingly crafted and a lot of fun to read. Not only that, but their village culture is also carefully drawn. I loved the way these characters were named! I absolutely fell in love with them and their way of life. Still, I wanted more about their day-to-day rivalries, alliances, and backgrounds than we were given.
There are several areas where this book came up short for me:
- There are altogether too many mistakes for me to unreservedly fan-girl over it: homonymns (to/too, bear/bare, conscience/conscious, eek/eke, etc), missing commas, and at least one occasion where it seemed two sentences collided, resulting in something I couldn't make sense of.
- The plot - as presented - is chaotic and misleading. It feels disorganised, with some (admittedly amazing) dross that never really moves the story forward. We are initially introduced to Vaconius, but this section isn't especially critical to the thrust of the story. (It would have worked better as a prologue, but really, it could have been cut completely without sacrificing anything as much of the information is conveyed later on anyway).
- There is a lot of action. It's generally well-described. The problem is that sometimes, the action prevents the reader from viscerally experiencing the emotional moment, and takes away from enjoyment of the book. I also found that certain conflicts (which had been building throughout the book) were rushed and not satisfactorily resolved - it's implied, but never stated.
- I think that the story would have been better served with fewer central characters having more detailed backstories and present cares. This would make the impact of the stories events resonate more strongly from an emotional perspective. (I know - I wouldn't want to cut any of them either - they're all wonderful).
This is definitely an author I will continue to follow as there is an awful lot of promise in this book and I imagine great things are to come!
I received a copy of this book through Voracious Readers Only.
The author has done a stunning job of world- and character-building. The fictional world is not overly politically complex, but the various creatures are not only unique to one another, but are also not based on any mythology I'm familiar with - a possible exception being the Wild Hunt (on acid).
The Sumnerites are all stand-out characters, each lovingly crafted and a lot of fun to read. Not only that, but their village culture is also carefully drawn. I loved the way these characters were named! I absolutely fell in love with them and their way of life. Still, I wanted more about their day-to-day rivalries, alliances, and backgrounds than we were given.
There are several areas where this book came up short for me:
- There are altogether too many mistakes for me to unreservedly fan-girl over it: homonymns (to/too, bear/bare, conscience/conscious, eek/eke, etc), missing commas, and at least one occasion where it seemed two sentences collided, resulting in something I couldn't make sense of.
- The plot - as presented - is chaotic and misleading. It feels disorganised, with some (admittedly amazing) dross that never really moves the story forward. We are initially introduced to Vaconius, but this section isn't especially critical to the thrust of the story. (It would have worked better as a prologue, but really, it could have been cut completely without sacrificing anything as much of the information is conveyed later on anyway).
- There is a lot of action. It's generally well-described. The problem is that sometimes, the action prevents the reader from viscerally experiencing the emotional moment, and takes away from enjoyment of the book. I also found that certain conflicts (which had been building throughout the book) were rushed and not satisfactorily resolved - it's implied, but never stated.
- I think that the story would have been better served with fewer central characters having more detailed backstories and present cares. This would make the impact of the stories events resonate more strongly from an emotional perspective. (I know - I wouldn't want to cut any of them either - they're all wonderful).
This is definitely an author I will continue to follow as there is an awful lot of promise in this book and I imagine great things are to come!
I received a copy of this book through Voracious Readers Only.
September 30, 2025
Just finished Dark of Winter and it honestly left me chilled. The village of Sumner feels so alive, almost like a character itself, wrapped in mistrust and legend. The tension never lets up, and Threecuts in particular has this weight that lingers. It’s not just a fantasy read, it felt like stepping into a cold nightmare that stayed with me even after I put it down.
December 17, 2019
I was very impressed with this book. I did not find it too violent, in fact it seemed just about right. If you lived and fought in these conditions I couldn't imagine it better written, In fact the author often downplays the violence skipping ahead to the end. The complaint I have is this should have been a 100 to 200 pages longer. More detail. I want to know what happened to the 100 in the forest before they ran for it. I want to know what happened to the hag/witch. Details that seem to have been a little bit rushed. I grew up with Conan, I love details that flesh out a book. Now this is a minor criticism. the book absolutely rocks and is one of the better books I have read in a long, long time. I highly recommend it for sword and sorcery fans.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews