Evenfall

Shadowfire #1

by Gaja J. Kos, Boris Kos

A monster does not deserve the intimacy of a name

As if waking up in an unfamiliar world isn’t enough of a surprise, Ember gains a new title to her name. Savior.

Hunted by the Crescent Prince and his lethal shadows, she accepts a young Mage’s help to navigate the land of blood magic and its many illusions. But where Ada sees the good in her power, Ember discovers something else.

An icy darkness, designed to take lives, not save them.

The only thing worse than not being able to rely on her senses—or the reality she had once believed to be true—is knowing that she cannot trust her heart. Especially as it seems to draw her to the one person in whose hands she can never fall…

Will Ember escape the thrall of darkness or will she reign in it?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction, Magic, Paranormal

Unknown Binding

Published October 30, 2018

About the author

USA Today Bestselling Author Gaja J. Kos writes steamy urban fantasy and paranormal romance, rich with sizzling tension and soulmates who come in pairs, menage, or reverse harem constellations. Why choose, right?

As a Zodiac enthusiast and shameless summer babe, she thrives on finding magic in everyday life. She loves binge reading high-heat series, seeing her favorite rockstars live in concert, and spending time with her husband and two Chinese Crested dogs.

For more information on Gaja’s books, you can download your free guide and reading checklist at gajajkos.com!

Reviews

[destiny ♡ howling libraries]

DNF @ 29%

I am so appreciative of the author sending me an eARC of this for an honest review, but unfortunately, this book and I are just not clicking. It's not an issue of poor writing by any means, I think I'm just the wrong reader for this story. I tend to struggle with fantasy novels that drop you right into the action without much explanation beforehand of what's going on, and I'm not enjoying the narrator very much in the way she interacts with the other characters. That said, I actually think this is a really well-written story that is going to make a LOT of readers very happy! If the plot interests you, I think you should, by all means, give it a try. ♥

[♛ may]

i was so graciously provided with an ARC for this through netgalley. all opinions are my own

fricken LOVE the cover, the artist is so talented 😍😍

[Cindy ✩☽♔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating ~4.5 (REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

"The truth always had many faces."

An utterly romantic tale of darkness and light, of half-truths and deadly consequences. Evenfall is a book that captured my interest right from the start and had me holding on until the bitter end.

Ember
A girl thrust into an unknown world, convinced by those who surround her that she is their savior. Destined to help them reunite the worlds and thwart the wickedness of The Crescent Prince. Ember, however, is not nearly as convinced as her friends that she is the person they're looking for. And her doubts about her destiny are only furthered when she unintentionally kills a man intending to harm her. But she doesn't just kill him. She kills him with shadowfire, an ability thought only to belong to The Crescent Prince himself.

Mordecai
The Crescent Prince. Immortal. Powerful. And by all means deadly. He plays the role of the villain. And he plays it well. Believed by all to be an oppressive, controlling, monster Mordecai does all he can to uphold this image the people have thus upon him. Not because he relishes in it, but because if they fear him then they will obey him. And if he can keep them in check he can save their world from ruin.

Mordecai & Ember
Safe. Even if the world was not, with Mordecai. I was.



Filled with magic, intrigue, and mystery, this book was a fantastic start to what I’m sure will be an amazing series.

- - -

Ugh...that ending

It's not fair!


I received a free ARC via Netgalley in an exchange for an honest review. Huge thank you to Gaja J. Kos & Boris Kos for providing me with an ARC.

*Full review to come*

[✨faith✨trust✨pixiedust✨ Dead Account; Not Coming Back · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF'd at 45%

Who am I kidding? It's taken me over a month to finish this book and I'm not even halfway through. I'm just going to have to try another time or just drop it altogether.

Quoting myself on the day I started reading this (January 4th): This is basically A Darker Court of Shadow and Caraval

I did enjoy it, though, and was intrigued by the world and characters. It was basically what happens when you take the worldbuilding of A Darker Shade of Magic, the Darkling from Shadow and Bone, and Jesper from Six of Crows and merge them all into one book. It was fairly well-written -- a little wordy sometimes -- and had a cool slow-build up to the main conflict. I liked it. But when I'd read what felt like 10% at least, I'd look down and I'd have only read 2 or 3%. It was mind-numbing.

The cover is pretty though.

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Received an ARC via Netgalley for an honest review.

First of all, I want to thank Netgalley and the author and publisher for the opportunity to get to read Evenfall. I don't get many ARC opportunities, so I really am thankful for the times I do get to read a book in advance. I only wish that I could have managed to finish this sooner before it was published.
Now to try and form all these thoughts about the book in my head into a somewhat coherent reveiew!

This book... MY GOSH! It was quite the struggle to get through it. I considered quite a few times quitting, at the 25% mark, the 60% mark and even later in the book towards the end. It just was so difficult for me to get into for some reason and the struggle was so real! I am really stubborn when it comes to not finishing things though and for that reason I persevere onto the end and FINALLY finished, even though it was a bit later after the book was already published. But hey I did it! I am really glad that I did push through though because the last 30% really made this book into what I was hoping it would be the entire first 70%. I'm actually kind of interested in finding out what happens in the next book now!

Evenfall is about a girl named Ember who wakes up in a strange land very different from her own, with no recollection as to how she got there. She is immediately found by a girl named Ada who somehow knows who she is and tries to whisk her away to hide her from the Crescent Prince. The prince wants to use her for her magic that she didn't know she had, and the girl Ada wants to use her to save the world. Little does Ember know just what it will take to reunite these broken lands into the whole world the way it used to be before there were lands of infinite sun, and infinite night. Through discovering how important she actually is, Ember also discovers so much more about this new land and its ruler, and even her own destiny.

My struggle with this book mostly came from the overabundance of information. The whole first 40% is mainly the main character being told the history of the world and how it came to be how it is. But also on the same hand, you are thrown into this world and all its workings from the start with little understanding as to how it all is supposed to function. This weird balance of not enough and too much information had my head spinning from the beginning. It was like there was so much being told to me as a reader that my mind couldn't comprehend it all. But on the same hand, I wanted to see the action happen and find out that way rather than reading it like a history book of a world I don't know a thing about. Then again after the action finally starts, we are caught up in chapters of the main character rehashing everything shes learned. Why couldn't we get those cliffnotes from the beginning. That would be a much more effective and less cumbersome way to go about it! Not to mention we wouldn't have to hear the history lesson twice in a matter of chapters!

The second thing that sort of got to me was the way that the characters were very one dimensional. As soon as I got to know a certain group of characters, Ember would then be whisked away to another location where she would fall in love within a matter of hours and the timeline just seemed so rushed. If the whole first 70% of the book hadn't been a history lesson, maybe there would have been more time to learn about the characters and then they could build actual relationships not these superficial things that formed over the length of a couple days. It just all seemed so rushed and forced.

I did enjoy the ending however. Things began to slow down and take their time and progress at a normal speed FINALLY at the end. I also started to really feel for the characters at this point and felt like it all started to make sense. I am glad I pushed on to the end of this book if not for this very reason. I finally got to see what the book was all about. And the ending also left me wanting to know what happens next which if by the time the second book comes out I remember enough of this one I'd definitely give it a try. But there is no way I am reading this one over again. It put me in the biggest reading slump of the year and I dare not do that to myself again.

All in all, this was a pretty big struggle to get through, but in the end it worked itself out enough that I give it 3 stars for that. But my gosh is it difficult to get to that point. I think that if you are one that likes to know a lot about the history of the world in which you are reading, then this will definitely be your cup of tea. I just couldn't get through the endless lessons and facts in the beginning which ultimately led me to become disinterested. I would say that it was definitely a well written book, there's no doubt about that, just maybe not the style of writing that I usually enjoy.

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t ask to come here.
I never wanted to be anyone’s savior.
I had no desire to be responsible for their lives.
And I certainly did not want to take them.

This book has the trifecta - a beautiful cover, lovely writing, and a compelling story. Look at that cover, it’s just gorgeous. But I’m sure every reader can relate to an amazing cover and a lacking story. So I was happy to find an engaging plot, unique and developed characters, and detailed world building. Ember is a great main character. But my favorite part of this book was the writing itself. It was lyrical and effortless. This is a book to savor.

Ember wakes up in a strange land with no memory of how she got there. She comes from a land of constant sunshine to a land of eternal night and magic.

A trick. All of it was one grand trick.
But carried on the wings of that thought came another, far more terrifying one.
What was real in this world?

She is found by Ada, who sees her as their savior. Ada is determined to protect her from the evil Crescent Prince Mordecai, who wants to use her to advance his power.

Her belief that all she had told me was the truth.
In a world of illusions, this was her reality.
But I had seen too many people convinced in facts tailored to their liking to fall into those clutches quite so easily.

Ada and her friends are working on uniting the worlds by searching for relics from other worlds. They are being pursued by the Crescent Prince who intends on stopping them.

The truth alway had many faces. I had never accepted only one and discarded the rest simply because they didn’t fit into the way I viewed the world.

If you like fantasy with a hint of romance, if you like your heroines nuanced, try this book out. I think fans of Cruel Beauty, Caraval, and a Court of a Mist and Fury would enjoy this book as well. I highly recommend it and think it will be a breakaway hit of 2018.

My only complaint is the wait for book two. I need it now!

I received this ARC through Netgalley and the opinions are my own. The quotes come from an unfinished copy. Release date 10/30/18

[Rylee Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not gonna lie, it took a little too long for the plot to get off the ground. It felt weird, wishing the heroine would get abducted just to ramp up the action. But once it got past the stealth and into the meat of it, I was invested till the end.

Plot

This book wavered between a 3 and 4 star for about half the book. My investment began at around chapter 20, which is pretty late even for a series starter. But it ended at a solid 5, and I’ve gotta give it credit for such an incredible payoff. The bulk of it essentially sets up the world and supporting characters, and of course, acquaints us with our protag. Perhaps I'm reading into it, but the pacing reminds me a lot of the title. Slow and steady initially (even), but then once it begins to pick up, it's gripping until the end (like falling). (Too cheesy?)

To sum it up, there are three separate realms each with a different kind of magic. Ember only knew of the existence of her realm, and when she’s mysteriously transported to a new one, she must navigate it as a total stranger relying on help from those around her.

It helps in understanding the world that we’re getting to know it alongside Ember. She’s not from a world that we’re familiar with, but since she’s a stranger to the realm that she’s in, you don’t feel lost in the worldbuilding.

Warning, spoilers ahead!

Ember

In the world that she’s from, she’s an outsider. Her parents can’t reign in her curiosity, and she can’t behave like the gentle obedient lady she’s expected to be.

She’s an independent thinker, and in the new world she’s mysteriously transported to, her independence helps her to think objectively when she’s pulled between two opposing groups.

In this new world, she’s expected to be the Savior (cue chosen one trope), which depending on who you ask has different expectations. One group expects her to defeat the Crescent Prince and make it so that the people can legally use their powers again, because the Crescent Prince punishes those who use magic. The other party expects her to fix a broken world and overcome a bigger threat to everyone's existence that others deny exists.

Ember doesn’t understand why people expect anything of her, because as far as she knows, she doesn’t possess any special abilities. But on her journey, a power she didn’t know she had rescues her when she’s in trouble. The problem is that it’s a power only the Crescent Prince is known to have, and given that everyone tells her he’s a villain, she struggles to accept what she is.

Her objectivity makes her such a pleasant viewpoint to be behind. There’s no over-reliance on angst built on a series of misunderstandings, though there are some minor understandable frustrations as she tries to sort out the truth for herself.

I love that she’s able to maintain her individuality instead of being easily swayed when pushed to go into a certain direction. There are so many books where the heroine joins up with one group and maintains a prejudice against the other when it makes zero sense. Why stick to the prejudices of group #1 when you just recently joined them?!

If anything, she becomes the middle ground. Complicated situations aren’t in black and white, and she navigates the gray zones well. These traits combine to create a believable heroine that I could easily root for.

The Crescent Prince

Mordecai is immortal, and has been hunting for Ember since her birth. Ada is helping Ember to avoid him, since the Crescent Prince is the hated ruler of their world and wants to use her to solidify his power and rule over all three realms (supposedly). 

He takes on the mantle of the hated ruler because it helps to keep everyone following his laws. They don’t understand that it’s for their own good, and he doesn’t need them to understand. It’s easier to rule when everyone thinks he’s a monster. He’s sad and lonely, and you kinda wanna pet him. Being alone for so long has made him a bit prickly. He's clearly out of practice catering to the needs of others.

The romance

Ember does have an instant attraction to him, and after a bit of the hate-to-love trope, it can feel a bit insta-love-ish. I usually love the first and hate the second, but given that Ember fights against it while she sorts through whether or not he’s actually good, the insta-attraction doesn’t bother me. It also helps that they both have different paths that they’re on. There’s a bit of romance, but there’s a larger story going on, and there will be obstacles to overcome if they’re going to end up together. There’s also some hints that other love interests will get in the way in future novels, but there’s none of that this round––it’s just me speculating. There have been too many references to a past love interest of Ember’s to think that he won’t at some point pop up again. But Mordecai seems like the true ship.

It has a Beauty and the Beast vibe at times. Specifically, there’s one scene with an attack on the castle––you’ll see.

Supporting characters

They’ve got potential. Honestly, I wasn’t too into the book when they were the focus. Without Mordecai providing the tension, I found myself a bit bored. Even though there’s interpersonal drama among the other characters, it didn’t feel relevant enough to the main story for me to really care. Now that the characters are established though and the groundwork is done, I’m looking forward to their potential to provide contrast to our heroine in future novels. And I may even be more interested in their own stories by that point.

I will give it props though for incorporating diversity without using it as a ploy. There’s history of a same-sex relationship and references towards bisexuality, and it never feels like a hey-look-at-me-I’m-inclusive moment. It’s natural; it doesn’t pander.

Verdict

Now that the story is established, I expect to enjoy the sequel even more than the first. Establishing the necessary worldbuilding and introducing the characters took time, understandably, but I’m happy it’s out of the way. There’s still more left to learn, but I feel like it can be worked in without distracting from the plot. The ending leaves you wanting more, as it feels like the journey is just beginning. I wouldn’t say it tortures you with unanswered questions, but it leaves you with a smidgen of angst for what’s coming. The first novel is spent in one realm, and it looks like the second will be spent in another; I’m looking forward to the contrast. Mordecai’s fate is a question mark, but I’m optimistic.

Merged review:

Not gonna lie, it took a little too long for the plot to get off the ground. It felt weird, wishing the heroine would get abducted just to ramp up the action. But once it got past the stealth and into the meat of it, I was invested till the end.

Plot

This book wavered between a 3 and 4 star for about half the book. My investment began at around chapter 20, which is pretty late even for a series starter. But if I could rate just the ending it’d be a solid 5, and I’ve gotta give it credit for such an incredible payoff. The bulk of it essentially sets up the world and supporting characters, and of course, acquaints us with our protag. Perhaps I'm reading into it, but the pacing reminds me a lot of the title. Slow and steady initially (even), but then once it begins to pick up, it's gripping until the end (like falling). (Too cheesy?)

To sum it up, there are three separate realms each with a different kind of magic. Ember only knew of the existence of her realm, and when she’s mysteriously transported to a new one, she must navigate it as a total stranger relying on help from those around her.

It helps in understanding the world that we’re getting to know it alongside Ember. She’s not from a world that we’re familiar with, but since she’s a stranger to the realm that she’s in, you don’t feel lost in the worldbuilding.

Warning, spoilers ahead!

Ember

In the world that she’s from, she’s an outsider. Her parents can’t reign in her curiosity, and she can’t behave like the gentle obedient lady she’s expected to be.

She’s an independent thinker, and in the new world she’s mysteriously transported to, her independence helps her to think objectively when she’s pulled between two opposing groups.

In this new world, she’s expected to be the Savior (cue chosen one trope), which depending on who you ask has different expectations. One group expects her to defeat the Crescent Prince and make it so that the people can legally use their powers again, because the Crescent Prince punishes those who use magic. The other party expects her to fix a broken world and overcome a bigger threat to everyone's existence that others deny exists.

Ember doesn’t understand why people expect anything of her, because as far as she knows, she doesn’t possess any special abilities. But on her journey, a power she didn’t know she had rescues her when she’s in trouble. The problem is that it’s a power only the Crescent Prince is known to have, and given that everyone tells her he’s a villain, she struggles to accept what she is.

Her objectivity makes her such a pleasant viewpoint to be behind. There’s no over-reliance on angst built on a series of misunderstandings, though there are some minor understandable frustrations as she tries to sort out the truth for herself.

I love that she’s able to maintain her individuality instead of being easily swayed when pushed to go into a certain direction. There are so many books where the heroine joins up with one group and maintains a prejudice against the other when it makes zero sense. Why stick to the prejudices of group #1 when you just recently joined them?!

If anything, she becomes the middle ground. Complicated situations aren’t in black and white, and she navigates the gray zones well. These traits combine to create a believable heroine that I could easily root for.

The Crescent Prince

Mordecai is immortal, and has been hunting for Ember since her birth. Ada is helping Ember to avoid him, since the Crescent Prince is the hated ruler of their world and wants to use her to solidify his power and rule over all three realms (supposedly). 

He takes on the mantle of the hated ruler because it helps to keep everyone following his laws. They don’t understand that it’s for their own good, and he doesn’t need them to understand. It’s easier to rule when everyone thinks he’s a monster. He’s sad and lonely, and you kinda wanna pet him. Being alone for so long has made him a bit prickly. He's clearly out of practice catering to the needs of others.

The romance

Ember does have an instant attraction to him, and after a bit of the hate-to-love trope, it can feel a bit insta-love-ish. I usually love the first and hate the second, but given that Ember fights against it while she sorts through whether or not he’s actually good, the insta-attraction doesn’t bother me. It also helps that they both have different paths that they’re on. There’s a bit of romance, but there’s a larger story going on, and there will be obstacles to overcome if they’re going to end up together. There’s also some hints that other love interests will get in the way in future novels, but there’s none of that this round––it’s just me speculating. There have been too many references to a past love interest of Ember’s to think that he won’t at some point pop up again. But Mordecai seems like the true ship.

It has a Beauty and the Beast vibe at times. Specifically, there’s one scene with an attack on the castle––you’ll see.

Supporting characters

They’ve got potential. Honestly, I wasn’t too into the book when they were the focus. Without Mordecai providing the tension, I found myself a bit bored. Even though there’s interpersonal drama among the other characters, it didn’t feel relevant enough to the main story for me to really care. Now that the characters are established though and the groundwork is done, I’m looking forward to their potential to provide contrast to our heroine in future novels. And I may even be more interested in their own stories by that point.

I will give it props though for incorporating diversity without using it as a ploy. There’s history of a same-sex relationship and references towards bisexuality, and it never feels like a hey-look-at-me-I’m-inclusive moment. It’s natural; it doesn’t pander.

Verdict

Now that the story is established, I expect to enjoy the sequel even more than the first. Establishing the necessary worldbuilding and introducing the characters took time, understandably, but I’m happy it’s out of the way. There’s still more left to learn, but I feel like it can be worked in without distracting from the plot. The ending leaves you wanting more, as it feels like the journey is just beginning. I wouldn’t say it tortures you with unanswered questions, but it leaves you with a smidgen of angst for what’s coming. The first novel is spent in one realm, and it looks like the second will be spent in another; I’m looking forward to the contrast. Mordecai’s fate is a question mark, but I’m optimistic.

UPDATE ON REREAD

The details of this book was a wee bit fuzzy when I wanted to read the sequel, so I had to give it a reread.

Overall, opinion still pretty much stays the same. It drags in the beginning, picks up in the end, and could not be a standalone as the whole novel is basically a setup for the real story. Like a teaser. They do enter the I’m-in-love phase way too early, but given that there’s still some obstacles to overcome (i.e. ex boyfriend), it might not feel too unearned later on. The two are like magnets from the get-go, which is a bit of a ripoff on the romance building, but I still like them.

And I definitely got Beauty and the Beast vibes again without rereading my prior review, so that’ll probably always hold true.

Time for the sequel! (Finally)

[Khadidja · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why is this even a book.

[Diana]

This book would be another book with people traveling through worlds and using magic to defeat a foe if not for this points:
- I love how clueless the main character is when she finds herself in another world. She doesn't take things at face value and even rans from the person that wants to help!
- I also loved how real she was: she even menstruates! No, really... how many books have you found where the main character freely talks about it? Fantasy ones at it.
- the way the book talks about women and how they should be free to use magic and decide what to do with their lives, marry for love and not arranged marriages, etc, really makes a point.
- the world building is amazing. Not only on the world she currently finds herself in but the story of how the worlds where and how they come to be what they are.
- the characters all have their abilities, their fears, their strenghts and their perks

Aside from all this that truly separates this book from similar ones, we find an heroine who really knows how to endear the reader and has a very personal voice. No insta loves and very well built relationships.

[JenacideByBibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Genre: YA/Fantasy

Opinion:

“The thing I noticed above all else when unconsciousness released me from its talons of darkness, was that for the first time in my life, I found myself gazing at the night sky.

The second, just as enchanting, yet infinitely more unbelievable, was that the world around me was no longer mine.”

Ember wakes to find the various hues of black, blue and velvet of the night sky staring down at her. Where her world is flushed in light, this new world is flushed in darkness. With no recollection of how she must have traveled between worlds, Ember finds herself exploring a city called Nysa during their celebrated winter solstice. But the warning from a young girl named Ada brings caution to Ember. Their planes have been fractured, broken, and only a child born of the three worlds may have a chance at repairing them. The Crescent Prince seeks the savior, the one, to use in his quest for power and complete control. As a powerful mage, Ada feels that Ember is the one they have been waiting for. As Ada works to hide Ember from the cruel and ruthless prince, they formulate a plan to sneak into his palace to steal one of the three fragments that could keep the worlds from falling apart. But Ember soon finds that nothing is as it seems, especially when it comes to the past.

“But what truly drew my gaze was a fountain of starlight, pure and mesmerizing, a work of art that commanded the space with singular grace.

I was stunned by its simplicity, by the beauty of thousands of minuscule stars, cascading down the three levels before they were drawn up to the top again to repeat the cycle. I wanted to sit down before it, stare at this wonder until the flickering specks were imprinted on the backs of my lids…”

If I was to pick a set of authors to describe a fantastical world to me, it would be these two.
Somraque is a world of night, of starlight and dark shades of color. It is a world that I fell in love with instantly, as did the main character, Ember. Walking with Ember as she explores the city and witnesses the various types of illusions and magic, was exhilarating. The writing is exquisite and beautiful, and it crafts a detailed and pulsing world for the reader to easily visualize in their minds eye. But as bewitching as the writing is, the construction of the plot felt over-drawn and dragged out.

Truth be told..

…I was practically falling asleep during the first half of this book.



About HALF of Evenfall is story building and fillers. For nineteen chapters I was slipping in and out of consciousness. There was some speed-reading, some page scanning for dialogue, and the ever-true sign of a book you just CANNOT get into: I put it down about thirty times. I DID enjoy some aspects of the first half, such as the descriptions of the city and the explanation of the fate of the worlds, but I felt like I was drowning in words that were completely unnecessary. I NEVER thought I would say this in a book review, but the first half of this book was WAY TOO WORDY. It felt like I had lived through the stone age before the story started to pick up and pull me in.

But once I hit chapter twenty, something magical happened.



~*I woke up*~

My advice:

Stay and get to Chapter Twenty.

It will fulfill at least SOME of your dreams.

“A touch so gentle it barely existed, yet it enveloped every inch of me, radiating through my veins and crackling through the very shadows that reached towards the starlight sky beyond the illusion.”

THIS is what I was waiting for! The point when the authors would throw a rope around my ankles and drag me into the midst of turmoil and heartbreak. Chapter twenty is when you will get hooked, when you will swoon, and when you will finally be able to make sense of what is going on. Here we are finally blessed with the prolonged presence of the crescent prince, not just a snippet or two of him. He is dark and mysterious, stone-faced and stiff, but is he…cruel? I just wasn’t seeing it.

“And yet it wasn’t his face or elegant demeanor that stole away my breath. It was the shadows- tendrils of pure silver that seems to unfurl from his body and dance in his wake.
Horrifying. And beautiful.”

For the entire first half of Evenfall characters are telling Ember how horrible and cruel the crescent prince is. That he is a murderer and only craves power. That he wants to enslave her and bend her to his will. But when we finally “meet” him, he just seemed…blah. I was expecting the Beast that trapped the Beauty, the High Lord of the shadows and night, the Cruel Prince with sarcasm and charm. But he wasn’t any of those things. He may have been described in a beautiful way to make anyone swoon, but his character fell flat. For all the time it took to build the first nineteen chapters, I would have expected twice the time to build up his and Ember’s relationship.

But alas, the details and buildup of that relationship was just as quick as my eyes fluttering shut at the beginning of this book.

The relationship between Ember and the crescent prince had barely any beginning before it jumped right into the middle! This man has lived for years upon years in isolation, so how is he so quick to be familiar with Ember being around? A gradual relationship was what was needed for this story. One where the reader could REALLY connect with both characters on a different level. This would have been the opportune time to really sharpen and mold Ember and the crescent prince.

I am left feeling like I know the characters as if another reader had explained them to me, instead of me seeing them for myself. The authors touched the surface of them, but I feel no depth and no kinship to them. I think the only character I TRULY care for in this story, is the dog. And what a precious dog she is! Though I don’t feel a strong and heart-wrenching passion for these people, my interest is still peeked for what happens and the possibilities of what COULD happen. This story ends with a cliff-hanger that DOES leave me wanting more, if only to know what happens to the cruel-but-not-so-cruel prince.

Though my review comes off more negative than positive, I find that I am much more appreciative of this story than I sound. It was creative and beautifully crafted, I just wish there was an even and consistent flow throughout the read. I wanted to be engaged and hooked the entire time while reading, not just for the last half. I am hoping the characters will have a stronger presence in the next story, which I plan on reading. It was a beautifully woven tale of magic and adventure, so hopefully it is in book two where I will really fall in love.

[Runningrabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This piece of fantasy is the work of a craftmaster of words. The writing is erudite and descriptive, painting a vast world of magic and intrigue. The world created by words is complete with a complex plot surrounded by characters of true, three dimensional depth and personality. Another more simple plus, is the stellar editing. I will say that I would have appreciated the mention that I assume this book is a part of a trilogy, and this would have been an advantage to have known on both the cover and the introductory pages.

The predominant characters cover an array of personalities: the curious and feared, the fearless, the feminine strength and determination, the jolly and the brazen and sexy together with the broody and tormented. I felt the protagonist would have benefited from being a bit older than 18. I believe an 18 year old would lack the maturity and rounded character, and would have been more suited to someone in her early 20's, but this had zero impact on the quality of the novel and is merely my own opinion.

The plotline focuses around contrasting worlds and civil unrest with rumour, twists and intrigue roiling around the magic which defines those worlds. The innovation and creativity which centers around those worlds is stellar, and not a stereotypical mish mash which sometimes is the case with fantasy novels. Everything within the pages halos the worlds within taking the reader to faraway lands with seamless visions.

The romance works up from a spark to a conflagration but without the distraction of steamy interludes which would have distracted the reader from the focus of the storyline. The heroine is fair of complexion with silver hair and light blue eyes, in a nicely rounded juxtaposition to her love interest with his jet black hair and saphire eyes, offering a striking contrast.

I will say I'm not keen on the cover, feeling it doesn't reflect the mysticism and the fantastical and magical realm of the novel. I instead prefer the illustrations of works by artists such as Christian Bentulan and Lori Grundy.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Carolina Carriço · Rating 2 out of 5]

Received this from Netgalley for an honest review.

So I've started asking for books again on netgalley and this time I intend to read them all. Or try. That's what happened with this one. I swear I tried but ended up skimming through most of it. And my biggest problem was as usual with the characters. I love understanding them and to feel like I'm their head. Even if I don't like a character I don't mind reading about them and from their perspective as long as I understand where they come from. And from the moment that doesn't happen in a book...it's a no for me. These characters felt flat. and the worldbuilding lacking in some aspects. And it had a lot of potencial. Speacilly that dark Prince that reminded me of the Darkling at first.

The main reason I requested this book? The cover. I love the artist who drew it. So talented. I recognized it right away and had to try to read it.

[Katie Poertner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been racking my brain to figure out the best way to leave a review that would do this book justice, but unfortunately I believe my words will just come up short. But I’ll give it a shot anyway.

“Ancient. Savior. Oddity. A girl who had always been in love with the night, then became it.”

Once I started my ARC of Evenfall by Gaja and Boris Kos, I finished it in under 24 hours and I have no words. Even though this one isn’t being released until the end of October, I already want the next one.
This is well over ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’s and easily the best 5 Star book I have read all year. It completely stands apart from all other books I’ve read this past year, and if I could give this masterpiece more than 5 stars I would. I promise that this book, this series, will rival even Queen Maas’ books in popularity and cult like following. When this book comes out in October, I promise you, it’s a book you’ll want to pick up and cherish forever. If you are a fan of any Sarah J. Maas books, especially the ACOTAR series, you’ll enjoy this first book of the Shadowfire series.

From the very first page the world building and fascinating circumstances in which the main character, Ember, begins her journey had me entranced. Just the way the plot draws you in from the very first sentence shows that the authors are true master craftsmen (and women) at work.
Though the Merwild cover art is absolutely stunning and definitely catches the eye, the story within is 10x more captivating than what the cover depicts.
From the composition of the landscape that brings the strange and beautiful world Evenfall is cast in to life, to the wonderful band of misfits that believe they’re saving the world(s) by ridding it of a monster. Evenfall brings together all the best things you could ever want in a YA fantasy book. For me every aspect of this magnificent piece of art was all consuming. I read it in less than 24 hours and had a difficult time putting my kindle down for even a few minutes.

I really enjoy that Evenfall is written in a first person perspective, it helps me really feel as if I’m part of this epic journey to save the world. Ember, Ada, Zaphine, Eriyan, and Mordecai are all incredibly unique, and each vividly stand apart as important pieces to the world saving puzzle. The only problem is if I were in Embers shoes I would say “to hell with the world” and stay with Mordecai until the world burned itself to ashes. 😂
The striking beauty and characteristics of Mordecai - the “villain” or anti-hero from where I’m standing - had me drawn to him as much as Ember was. To me the Crescent Prince is very much like Rhysand from ACOTAR by Sarah J Maas, or even a hint of the Darkling but maybe not quite as soulless and world dominating, and definitely more self-sacrificing beneath the hard exterior.
There is only one thing I would have liked to be different, and that is the age of Ember. It is supposed to be her 18th birthday when the book starts, but for me, the maturity and understanding she shows is that of someone at least in their early to mid-twenties. But there are old souls out there, so it’s absolutely not a deal breaker for me. I just thought I would be 100% fair and mention the single thing that could have changed, but it doesn’t once take away from the story or characters in any way.
I don’t want to give any spoilers away, because nothing I could say could describe the entrancing world, relatable characters, and soul deep love that is encapsulated within these pages better than the book does itself. The main point that I am trying to make here is; pick up your copy as soon as it’s available. And get ready to have your world turned upside down, made right again, and then turned upside down once more, in the way only a truly captivating story can.

-Thank you to Gaja and Boris Kos for now only writing this amazing book, but also allowing me early access to your ARC in order to write this review! I am forever grateful! See you in Svitanye in 2019! 😍

[Alice 🔮 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

eARC kindly provided by Netgalley

review posted here: https://lowlightlibrary.wordpress.com...

[Irma *Irma The Book Whisperer* · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Ember, I made my peace with the blood on my hands a long time ago. But I would not wish to see it become a stain on my soul.”

What an absolute magical and visual delight.
The writing is so good. The descriptions so rich and perfect! And the story is filled with interesting twists and turns.
Addictive, riveting, and beautifully written. I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what will happen next. Can't wait for more!

[Tree ✶.˚⟡ ࣪ ⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had kind of a shaky beginning but, halfway through the book, the story picks off nicely resembling very much the stories of Hades and Persephone and Beauty and the Beast. Also, I actually liked all of the characters and their potential development for the sequel.

Anyway, I NEED BOOK 2 RIGHT NOW.!

[trash™️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

best The Darkling fanfic 10/10 would recommend reading it.

[Raven_Blake (dreamy addictions) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars!
Same Review Also Posted On My Blog: Dreamy Addictions

*eARC received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Evenfall was a unique read, but it was a bit slow for my taste. This is a clear case of it's not you, it's me. It has a gorgeous cover and a tempting synopsis so I couldn't resist requesting it. It was my first Gaja J. Kos book. I loved the concept of this book and the characters were very interesting, but they need more fleshing out. The heroine Ember isn't my favorite protagonist, but I really loved the Crescent Prince Mordecai. He was totally swoon worthy. The romance seemed too insta-lovey. I wish it was a slow burn romance. The writing was beautiful and very much detailed. The world building and the magical aspect was great. They're the best parts I loved about this book.   

The characters weren't bad but I couldn't emotionally connect with them which is one of the major Issue I had with this book besides the slow pace. Ember was an okay-ish character but sometimes she was very annoying. I really want to admire her, but her constant attraction to the prince seemed totally cliched. I don't blame her either because he was a dark charming prince, but I wish she had some self control. Well, coming to Mordecai, he was my favorite character in this book. He's a complex person and boy, he was hiding so many secrets. People believes him to be evil because of his cruel actions. He kinda reminded of darkling with his swirling shadows and all.  The romance wasn't my favorite. I really thought that I would enjoy it but insta-love is one of my book turn-off's. Nevertheless, I'm still rooting for this couple. The secondary character seemed very interesting like Ada, Eriyan, Zaphine, Dantos, and also Ivarr.  They weren't fleshed out well enough and also they were kinda left-out in most of the second half which was a bit disappointing. I really hope we get to know more about them in the next book.

The plot was interesting and unpredictable. There's not much action in this book. If you like slow paced books then you'll definitely enjoy it more than I did. I really liked the sci-fi and magical elements in it. The writing was captivating but some parts seemed overly descriptive. The book was written in Ember's first person POV. I like both singular and multiple POV's, but I think this book should've been great if it was written in multiple POV's. The world building was interesting. It's not too complex, but I wish there's a map to get clear picture of this divided world. The concept of using blood magic to create illusions seemed very fascinating like altering your appearance, deceiving, and creating illusion of Sunlit sky or Starry Sky etc. I would really love to discover more of this magical world.

Despite my issues, I still think it was a good start to a series and I'll definitely look forward to the next book. I actually wanted to give this a three star, but because of Mordecai, I added another half star to it.

[Rune Divina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast-paced story full of mysteries and magic as we follow Ember’s point of views. The story was so intriguing that I almost could not put the ebook down -even though I have a HUGE exam in just a few days. The characters were described with amazing details not just on their features, but also on their sentiments and feelings, making each character easily distinguishable and unique. The author has nailed in making distinct as well as consistent characters, which I truly appreciate.
There are characters development, which enriched the story more although I felt like the character development was too fast for Ember in one part. I felt like she was too accepting with the situations, that she almost readily fight for causes she still could not decipher clearly. Although this has also been mentioned in the story that Ember’s character is easily accepting of situations, I still think that she accepted the conditions too fast for my liking and– enjoyment hahah… I like it when characters are having battles with their own conscience and in the end, they could determine the right decision. It should be a steady process of thoughts woven as the story progresses. Thankfully, the authors were able to provide me with this enjoyment as Ember battled her conscience on what she truly is.
The worldbuilding was also amazing. I applaud the authors’ imaginations. So rich and unique and I thank you for the DETAILS of this world. Great authors pay attention to the details in the world they are building, the details are important to build readers’ imaginations. And the magical system in Evenfall world is MUCH WOWW!! 😍😍 That is all I could say.
The authors also portrait the story with an amazing writing technique. It was poetical and beautiful, making readers able to understand the feelings; the sentiments; the ambiance that the authors wanted to describe. It was lyrical and definitely enjoyable to read.
I recommend this book if you love Jay Kristoff’s, Leigh Bardugo’s and Sarah J Maas’ writings. Gaja J Kos and Boris Kos had done wonderfully that I believe they are in league with the mentioned authors. I recommend this YA read highly ❤❤
I am so looking forward to read the second book! Can’t wait to see more of Ember.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very kindly sent this book to review and talk about! I fell in love with the cover the first time I saw it and then when I read the blurb I couldn't wait to receive it and read all about Ember!
This book is full of magic. From the writing style, the descriptive explanations and the incredible characters. I was blown away by the world that was weaves into my mind. I felt for Ember and the way she has never been able to stick up for herself and has always let people use her for their own purpose.
Ember - the main character is a high masters daughter who finds herself in a new land by accident and has to survive being searched for by The Crescent Prince. She meets another young girl called Ada and the adventure begins.
I won't say much more to avoid spoiling it for you, but it is going to be part of a series so bare that in mind when you read it.
I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. I really hope you give it a try and enjoy it!

[•Melanie Elizabeth• {To tea, or not to tea? ☕️} · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evenfall was by far the most unexpected read I’ve had this year. The plotline was not what I expected, and somewhat surprisingly, the characters themselves were unexpectedly put together.

The story takes place when Ember wakes up to find herself in a completely different universe than her own, with no recollection of how she got there.

The capital of Nysa is enchanting, with its enchanting citizens and storybook town. The strange new land is not all as it seems, when people can change their appearances and surrounings with glamour and illusions.

When she meets Ada, the scavenger on the run, she learns that their universe is hiding a dark secret, and must avoid meeting the mysterious dark king at all costs.

This book was sent to me By NetGalley and in no way reflects my opinions

[Caryn - iam.caryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evenfall had an interesting premise and a fascinating magic system, but I felt it could have befitted from better editing.

The characters were all very enjoyable, and I liked the dialogue a lot. If the rest of the story had been written as well as the dialogue, I feel I would have enjoyed this more.

I found the inner monologue and descriptive paragraphs to be lacking interest. They failed to captivate me.

This might be a book for some people to enjoy, if they want something easy to read. You can kind of turn your brain off and just enjoy being in a magical world for a while.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.4

I tried to get into this one, but ultimately it was just plain boring. If I hadn’t been committed to finishing the book to write an adequate review, I would’ve DNF’d it and been done. The characters contribute most to this issue. Pretty much all the characters are incredibly flat. I couldn’t tell you any personality traits of any of them after reading the whole book. The evil prince is technically not flat, but I found his “redemption” story unconvincing if not nonsensical, so I didn’t really find that as much of an improvement. Further, the plot moves at a glacial pace. It takes about 30% of the book to even present the premise of what’s actually going on. So many of the chapters prior have a bunch of verbiage that still leaves Ember (and the reader) thinking “wait, so what is going on?” Only to try and explain a bit more (to little or no avail) in the next chapter. I think this was to avoid infodumping, but it essentially just infodumped for much longer since there wasn’t much other development in those chapters. This is significant since the plot was actually quite simple. Some stuff happens for the next 30% bringing in a few new characters who still aren’t very interesting and featuring some action. Then the last 40% is just Ember swooning over someone for literally no reason other than that his sapphire eyes are SO hawt.

The other biggest issue is the book’s difficulty with fulfilling promises. The beginning of the book, while it was slow, at least set up some cool stuff with a chick-led heist story with a potential F/F love triangle in a torn-apart world with evil villains and a wealth of different magic. Then the main character gets captured, there’s no pay-off on the initial romance, the magic is incredibly vague, and the heist plot disappears. Ember kept referring to the group she was with earlier as her “friends,” but I began to wonder why seeing as she wasn’t with them long and was happy to trip over herself trying to get in bed with their enemy after he kidnapped her and threw temper tantrums, calling her useless for a couple days. Not only is the heist not on-screen, it basically doesn’t occur. The romantic tension with the two women earlier on is forgotten as if it never happened. There are times when such a setup and twist could make for interesting subversion. Instead it just felt like two different books crammed together.

For the most part, I’d just give this book 2 stars given the above issues. But I did feel like the prose was actually quite strong considering. Most of the descriptions were fairly vibrant and expansive, painting a picture of the characters and scene that the emotional beats were unable to accomplish. So I gave a few points for that. I would’ve given more but the book also strayed too often into being overwritten because of it and eventually, the prose got lazier and lazier with lots of repetition beyond intentional descriptive devices (ie, character tags are great in moderation, but the prince’s eyes are likened to sapphires 38 different times—and the word “sapphire” appears 9 other times in other descriptions—in the book, which is way overdoing it for a book this length. I began to think he might just literally have sapphires for eyes). Because of this, I wasn’t willing to give it too much of a bonus, despite liking a portion of the prose to some extent. I will also say that the definition of purple prose varies a lot from reader to reader. This book only strayed into that category a few times for me, but I think for a lot of readers it’d be too much.

There is actually decently cool world-building, even if some of it just felt like a Grisha rip-off. This sort of raises the book in my eyes, but I had a hard time enjoying it when such good ideas were often overshadowed or left vague when it came time to actually feature them. The book describes three different magic systems spread across three planes of existence, each with their own mechanics and aesthetic. Practitioners of each play key roles in the story and the magic is used throughout the few action scenes around the middle of the book. But most of the time I forgot most of these elements were there as the story focused on the brooding prince’s angst trying to convince me to care about him rather than the world. When the magic is used, it just kind of happens and little is done to make it all that interesting or dynamic. Still, I was willing to bump up my score a bit for the attention to coming up with these elements as I think they had the potential to turn the book around some if they were handled better.

Despite some of the better aspects of the novel, I can’t really recommend this book to anyone. Being dull is a fatal flaw for most any book and the other elements did little to mitigate that effect for me. Maybe a sequel would get better with this story arc out of the way, but while this wasn’t super long (it wasn’t super short either), I don’t think I’d have the patience to sit through another book like it. It’s clear from other reviews so far that it has its fans, but I have a hard time understanding why, even after reading some of them.

I was provided an advanced copy by NetGalley. All opinions herein are my own.

[Anca · Rating 3 out of 5]

*ARC received from NetGalley in return for an honest review*

2.5 stars.

I almost DNFed this at 40%, but pushed through because I had hope and with a cover like that, it has t get better...right? And things got a little better around 65%, but it was a little too late.

Here is a really quick overview: Evenfall starts with our MC, Ember, waking up a world that isn't her own. She has no idea where she is or how she got there. She is quickly discovered by a girl who says they have been waiting for her and that Ember needs to come with her now so that they can send her back where she came from before the Crescent Prince finds her. Ember, of course, runs away and into the town where there's a Solstice Festival happening. She encounters and sees all this kind of magic she has never seen before. The girl, Ada, finds her again just before the Prince sees her, and Ada takes her back to her house to have her mother explain what is going on. There is a plot to over throw the leader(the prince), some confusing back history, whispers of rebellion, and eventually Ember IS captured by said Prince. I will stop there so I don't give too much away.

The issue that I had, and why I almost did not keep reading was that it was entirely boring, unoriginal and the world building wasn't there. The characters were flat and I kept asking myself, why do I care about them? This reminded me A LOT of Alina and The Darkling, except not executed nearly as well.

Ember literally falls into this world as a snowflake. She doesn't know why she is special, but everyone else does, and everyone else wants a piece of her. We don't learn much about her either, she remains pretty one dimensional and there is nothing really interesting about her either. At one point she mentions how the one tool she has is her brain...but she hardly ever uses it. She willingly listens to what Ada and her mother tell her, about she is and is easily swayed to their cause. She also had a LOT of internal monologue, where the author took the liberty of explaining things...but how did Ember know said things? She'd be having a conversation with someone, then there would be a huge pause where were are explained things, but through Ember. It was confusing. Can we also talk about how she was IMMEDIATELY drawn to Mordecai, because he is so incredibly attractive. She constantly swoons over how good looking and attractive she finds him...but he is suppose to be the bad guy right? When she has to interact with him, she makes sure she looks amazing...because why? I think there was a whole point to that but I must have missed it. I guess if she looked nice, he would what, be intimidated? Naw...don't thinks so, there is that brain of her's working again. They both barely know each other, or much less ANYTHING about one another, but they love each other? Ugh....

Let's talk about Mordecai now. I called it at the start of the book that he was actually not the villain, but is what the people have made him to be. I liked him a lot more than any of the other characters. He has to potential to be a really layered character. He also reminded me of The Darkling from his physical description and power. Honestly if it wasn't for his character adding something more to the cast, I probably would have put this book down.

The cast of characters. I found nothing interesting or developed about them. There was no depth, no history, nothing relatable about any of them.

The world building, or lack there of. It was there...but it didn't really make sense. And things didn't fall into place until about 70% of the book, and even then I kept asking myself why I should care. We know that there were 3 countries or races of people or...something like that? And one got too power hungry and ended up ripping the world apart into fragments. I couldn't understand if one of them was the void or if the void was just where all the magic was feeding to, and it was expanding for that reason. I have no clue...and that might be my fault because I got to the point of skimming.

I don't know if I would recommend this to anyone. To me, it just wasn't enough, and it reminded me so much of the Grisha series with parts of its storyline and some of its characters.

[CrowCaller · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Evenfall breaks a few genre conventions, but can't shake a cliche story"

★★☆☆☆

(2 stars)

Got this book as an ARC off NetGalley for an honest review. Like an odd number of recent reads, I picked this because *kisses fingertips* the cover is fantastic. I am incredibly easy to persuade about a book if I like the cover, and I especially love the illustration on this one. It's fantastic arc and deserves credit, as does the typefacing and font-work!

Anywho, this is a slightly different YA fantasy- that still, very much so- is extremely conventional. It's an indie book with an extremely mainstream storyline, and seems to fight itself over if it wants to tell a typical YA story, or if it wants to make a point about breaking those cliches. While the latter half of the book surprised and pleased me, overall I found the cast not particularly likable, the worldbuilding uninteresting, the storyline plain, and the writing far too overdone.



PLOT
The blurb for this book is pretty hard to parse through, but the essential plotline becomes very clear early on, and is quite simple: Ember is a girl who lands suddenly in a strange new world, with no memory of how she got there. In her world, only men are allowed to use magic via 'objects of power', and it is eternally daylight- here, magic is used through blood, and it is eternally night.

Ember finds she is a prophesied person in this land, and falls in with a rebel and her friends who hope to use Ember to reunite the world- as it has been shattered into three pieces, and only Ember is able to save them. However, in this world there is the Crescent Prince, an immortal tyrant who has also been waiting for Ember to arrive.

Ember has no idea what is going on, but the plot is quite a 'chosen one' storyline. She is reluctant and confused about the role she has fallen into, but has hidden powers she is only learning about, and must figure out who she is. She hangs with Ada, a lesbian (hell yeah!) rebel, Saphique, Ada's ex, and Other Guy, as they try and plot a way to break into the Crescent Prince's palace and steal an ancient relic.

The first real twist is when Ember kills someone, and in doing so finds out she has a hidden, dark energy that is similar to the light energy the Crescent Prince is bathed in- the series is named after this 'shadowfire'.

The second twist is the latter half of the book, in which the rebel's plan goes sideways, and Ember ends up kidnapped by the Crescent Prince himself.

WORLDBUILDING & WRITING
My very first note about this book is that it was 'wow, talk about overwritten prose!' I'm very much turned off by purple prose, and this book has quite a few segments of exactly that, especially in the beginning. For a quite short book, it made reading- and wanting to read- a lot harder.

I suppose in theory the worldbuilding is quite interesting, but the writing is what fails it for me. The world is split into three, with a different magic system in each one- blood magic controls illusions and trickery, time and space are controlled by objects of power, and... no one knows what the third type quite is, beyond 'some sort of voice magic'. There's some good thought into the world of blood-magic we see in the book, such as how people have pins woven into their clothes so that they can constantly be bleeding to power their illusions, or the way a character always has sharpened hairpins 'just in case.'

However, the descriptions of action scenes, and the writing itself, turned me off to what is honestly an interesting idea. Beyond this, we don't actually spend that long with anything magical happening, Ember's world of time/space isn't particularly explored, and we flat-out know nothing of the third world.

Still, there's a number of interesting fantasy and magical concepts, including world-ideas (such as the eternal moonlight of the plane Ember is on now)- it was just also met with boring cliches. Chosen one narratives, a mysterious race known as The Ancients, sexual assault to fuel character development (TWICE!), an angsty murder-prince...

I think with some reworking, a lot of this book could have been improved.

CHARACTERS
The characters were horrendously forgettable, save maybe one.

Ember, our first person narrator, is fairly generic for a new-wave YA fantasy lead. She flits about with her role in the world, she is able to comment on being a pawn but does nothing of note to rectify this, she has dark angry powers that make her think of being a monster, but ultimately is a nice, smart, resourceful, normal girl. She's pretty, she likes books, she falls instantly in love with a boy, et cetera.

The rebel crew is only really around for half the book. There's an admirable amount of effort in trying to get the reader to like Ada, and I liked her for being something different- she's in charge, she likes girls, she determined, she's very powerful. However, like her two friends, I couldn't really place a personality on her, and found myself quite apathetic about her in the later half of the book.

I couldn't tell you anything about her ex-girlfriend, for one. I mean, I'm happy the cast was so women-centric at first, and we had some good lesbians, but they weren't compelling characters otherwise.

Crescent Prince stands out as the most developed and interesting character, though he is also painfully generic in terms of the genre. He's an angsty dark murder prince- I mean, he's literally in charge of the city and still not called a king? That's YA, baby!

However, the book did some nice choices in the second half. Let me explain how this goes: the YA girl in a dark fantasy book always has an edgy royal/powerful/prince love interest, but relatively often, he's there to tempt her, and she ends up with a more generic nice boy. Childhood friend, quite often. She learns that, while the prince is hot, he is also kind of evil, and she must still fight against him... no matter how seductive he is.

This book, surprise! Does not pull that cop out. Crescent Prince, aka MORDECAI (I think only of that dumb movie when I hear that name now) is Ember's love interest, through and through. No cop-outs there (except the fact they don't bone, which was a real disappointment).

Mordecai's character is much more appealing and non-abusive than I'm used to in this archetype, so I appreciate him a bit. I'd say I'm not that into him, but he has some nice dialogue, he has complex motivations and emotions... I do wish it wasn't such insta-love between him and Ember though, but oh well.

CONCLUSION
While the book has glimpses of higher potential, and is willing to break a few norms, it sadly ends up a quick normal 'chosen one' journey of a Very Special Girl and her Hot Angsty Prince Love Interest. It offers very little new on top of this, making it hard to call it particularly special.

With the way the book ended, and the clear arc of what the sequels will be, I have to say I have no interest in reading the rest of the series.

Pay my regards to the cover artist though. They are doing the work of the Heavens.

[Esmay · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received an arc from the author in exhange for an honest review*

"the truth always had many faces"

5 stars. (stars have never been as accurate as with this book haha)

When Gaja asked for people to read this book I jumped at this opportunity immediatly and I confess that it was the cover that drew me in, it is absolutely stunning. However, once I had read the synopsis I was hooked and knew that this would be right up my alley. The one thing I was scared about was whether it would deliver and I can truly say, yes, yes it did. The characters in these books are so well written, there is so much diversity in this book when it comes to the characters and I absolutely love it. Another thing that is a big plus for me is that The Cresent Prince reminded me of The Darkling (Shadow and Bone) and Khalid (The Wrath & The Dawn) and these are two of my all time favourite characters.

The story itself was just as interesting, the plot was so well thought out and it really delivered. It was fast paces, in a good way, and action truly came at the moments you did not expect it. I do have to say that there were no major plot twists in this book, but that's probably because the world had to be explained. Which gets me to the next thing I really enjoyed: the world building. The world is so well woven and interesting that I absolutely loved it.

The only thing that I do want to remark is that Ember was always displayed as stunning, beautiful, and hence everybody thought she was beautiful. I don't mind this too much, but it's just the cold hard truth that even if someone is gorgeous not everyone will like them, and it's not so far as everybody loves her, but they do find her beautiful. Just a minor thing, nothing that would stop me from reading this again.

It was such an amazing book and I feel like this is truly underrated, I know it's not out yet, but this deserves just as much hype as so many others!

[Anne Clarence (The Reading Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy for an honest review.

This book...ugh.

I am so frustrated because of how much better this book could've been and the obvious, blatant potential this book possessed.

It can't be just me who realized this - this book had an AMAZING premise/synopsis (hell, even that cover is phenomenal. I mean, it's not surprising because it's Charlie Bowater, but still).

This book reminded me of a movie I watched really recently (Mortal Engines). Both had amazing visual world building and attempts to make a deep and meaningful storyline, and yet you can still feel the heavy flaws in the execution and storyline.

This can be even further exemplified by the lack of of...empathy and care I have for the characters at the end of the book. None of them stood out to me - the Crescent Prince himself was nothing special, Ada herself cannot provide to with any reasons to care deeply about her well being (aside from the fact that she's the main character). I think one great way that could've made the Crescent Prince more interesting if the author was to give him a more..."Levi" vibe (Attack on Titan fans, you should know exactly what I am talking about). These characters are excellent examples of how you can portray a cold (arguably heartless) character with an understandable (yet not cheesy) "tragic backstory". The fact that these characters are so badass also really help with not only making them more likable but also spicing up the book's entire storyline in general.

However, I would be easier in this area regarding Ada as a character. I wouldn't give the author such a hard time for not making her extremely interesting because I think by doing this, the author could leave a great amount of potential for her to grow and transform throughout the series (which is a common and key component in many good stories). I just hope that she actually does this, though, and not leave her completely unchanged even when her environment is changing at the same time.

Overall, this book was an embodiment of "not as bad as I thought it was after looking at Goodreads average review, but not as good as it obviously could've been, which was a huge shame".

Do I hate this book? No. But this book is definitely quite forgettable (and maybe that is its most deadly flaw out of everything).

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

[Isabel Lieshoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

And finally finished
4/5 🌟
I adore this book so much! I love the night / stars vibes and I love Mordecai.
Can’t wait to read the sequel! Glad it arrives tomorrow!
If you wanna read a great enjoyable fantasy book I can highly recommend picking up Evenfall even though it’s not very popular.
Besides, I love the writing style! I love the images the authors created, the figurative language style, metaphors that remind me of SJM (ACOMAF / Rhysand) and of my own writing as well. Just so much love!

[Shan · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

I was provided with an ARC through netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"A girl who had always been inlove with the night, then became it"

Ember wakes up in a world that is not her own, in her world the sun never sets. Here it never rises. As she trys to find out where she is and how she will get home she discovers that they have been waiting for her here and she may be the key to saving them from the brutality of the crescent prince. Ember dosnt know if she can or even wants to be their saviour, but she will discover more about herself than she ever thought possible.

✅Amazing imagery
✅Fantastic World and Charecter building
✅Strong female protagonist
✅Unique magic
✅A little bit dark
✅Fantasy

❌Nothing except now I have to wait for book 2!!

I flipping loved this book. The world Gaja and Boris have created was incredible, the imagery alone was enough to suck me in. It was so detailed but not over done, just enough to make you feel like you were seeing what the charecters were seeing. The story, writting style, plot twists and just the plot in general were amazing and i couldn't put it down. I look forward to see what ember will do next!!

[Museofnyxmares · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blog post: https://museofnyxmares.wordpress.com/...

2.5/5 stars

*I was provided with an ARC of this book by the author, in exchange for my honest opinion. Any quotes used, may be subject to change upon publication.

I really wanted to love this book, because the author seems incredibly sweet, the cover is so stunning and it genuinely sounded so interesting to me, and I did love it up until around the halfway mark. I’m truly so disappointed that I didn’t end up enjoying it in the end, because the first half had so much promise. To me it felt like two different books, and something that I’ve seen a couple of books do now, where the first half is the female protagonist living her life or hiding from the ‘villain’ and the second half begins when they are kidnapped by the villain. Whereas the first half felt very original and creative, the second half was very typical of many YA fantasy books and very similar to The Grisha Trilogy.

I found the book hard to get into as the writing was a bit too much, at times. It took me longer to get through sentences because a description was so drawn out, that I ended up forgetting what was being described. It was quite beautiful, but ultimately hindered the flow of the story. I initially really liked Ember, as she was clueless about where she was, but was still strong and actually had her wits about her, she also made a few jokes here and there which was endearing. This really started out being very unique, with Ember talking freely about sex, her period and the treatment of women. And the magic was very intriguing, as it required blood to be performed in Somraque, whilst in Soltzen they could only do magic through enchanted objects and there was apparently a place where words were magic. This was fascinating, but quite confusing, as sometimes these places would be described as being apart of the same world, but then other times they would be referred to as separate worlds. The picture that I tried to conjure in my head of these worlds – in relation to each other, just failed to materialise, the layouts that were described didn’t make sense to me, so I just couldn’t picture it.

The world building was great at first, it was all so exciting when Ember was exploring her new surroundings. I loved the Magic and the fact that there were different types of Magic and different types of people who could do magic. There were Illusionists – influencers of the mind, Magicians – influencers of the body and Mages, who had a combination of both abilities. We were given quite a lot of information about the world’s and people and every time I thought I had something figured out, I’d learn something new, that didn’t always fit for me. It was so frustrating because I’d already started to fall in love with this world.

At the start, I appreciated Ada’s character a lot (she’s the first one to find Ember). She seemed so sweet, yet fierce and determined. She carried herself with such a sense of purpose, as she truly believed that Ember was the saviour. Although, as the book progressed, she became very unlikeable, hostile to almost everyone, anyone who was getting in her way. Her ex girlfriend Zaphine, basically had the same personality as her, she was also standoffish and was strong, but in a too harsh way. Eriyan was one of their companions on their little quest and he was by far my favourite, he was so charming and easy going, and brought out the fun in everyone, apart from Ada and Zaphine who were constantly in a bad mood. And the other character dearest to my heart was Ada’s dog Lyra, who was just the cutest thing ever and maybe the smartest. Telaria, Ada’s mother was so strange and I don’t get her character, she’d done everything in her power to secure Ember’s future years ago, and then acted as if she were a bother now, which was odd and later on she does something that contradicts everything she suffered for. Her relationship with Ada was very strained and Ember is very vocal, well in her thoughts, about how she doesn’t trust or like the old woman or her treatment of Ada.

Giving how Ada had rescued Ember, taken her in, that they’d laughed together, fought side by side and Ember is fiercely protective over Ada (still just in her mind) when it comes to her mother, I found it so peculiar that Ember seems to renounce their friendship after she is kidnapped by the Prince. She says “I cared for them, worried for them, but…Was I any better than Ada? Any better than the rest if I allowed myself to believe that had been friendship kindling among us?” I honestly have no idea what she means by this, if she means it’s too early to call what they had a friendship, then I’m very sure that it’s a bit hypocritical for her to be confessing her love for the Prince, after maybe a week or two tops, of being held at his home.

The second half of the book fell short for three main reasons: It mainly documented a case of insta love, the others weren’t in it and the writing was quite repetitive. I accepted early on that Ember was so strongly drawn to The Crescent Prince, because they probably shared the same sort of powers, but for her to completely dismiss every bad thing the others have said about him, to excuse what he did to Ada’s mother and then say that she loves him so deeply, is beyond me. There were also quite a few similarities between Ember and The Crescent Prince, and Alina and The Darkling, from The Grisha trilogy. Both The Darkling and The Crescent Prince are immensely feared and have done terrible things, but then appear to the girls as having valid and even honourable reasons for their behaviour.

Both boys are ancient beings, have similar powers of controlling something that’s shadow like, their physical make up is exactly the same (apart from the eyes) and the way they treat the girls is more or less the same. There’s also something like The Shadow fold from The Grisha Trilogy, but it’s called the Void. Also the line “Like did call to like” in Evenfall is very similar to the famous line from the trilogy “Like calls to like”. It was just a little distracting for me, as I love The Darkling and aspects of that trilogy a lot. I don’t really have an opinion on The Crescent Prince because he just didn’t really interest me and I was slightly emotionally checked out at this point, although a lot of people said that he made this book for them.

The other characters weren’t in the last half, like at all and I really missed them, from my fave dogo Lyra, to even Ada and Zaphine. Ember on the other hand was far to preoccupied with the Prince to properly care, even though she knew they were probably in danger. Though I do have to admit that I got really distracted myself at some point, by an unbelievably sweet dance they had. The writing in this half was quite repetitive, which a lot of others picked up on as well. The prince’s eyes are repeatedly described as Sapphire’s and other things were constantly Obsidian, argent or felt like talons. It was hard to overlook and didn’t help my attempt to try and still like it. Overall I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’d liked, I had great fun with the first part, but almost DNF the second half.