Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night was an atmospheric adventure into a world filled with magic and wracked with political tensions.

I am torn on how I feel about this book overall because there were many strengths but also a few glaring weaknesses that got in the way of my enjoyment.

First, let’s focus on the characters. Wren Southerland, the protagonist, is very hard to stand in the beginning. She is emotional and reckless, and that is portrayed as a weakness throughout the book. Although she comes to terms with this part of herself and no longer sees it in this way, her emotional nature gets her into a lot of trouble. I wasn’t very pleased with this element of her character because it has a lot of anti-feminist undertones: being emotional, which is associated with being feminine, makes her weak for most of the book.

Similarly, she can be very inconsistent at times. Sometimes, she shows a strong moral commitment to saving lives and healing (as a combat medic and healer), while other times this commitment completely falls away. Similarly, she is very immature throughout most of the book, but she survived a war. This did not make much sense; her character was not too realistic.

However, I liked Hal Cavendish a lot; his character was very interesting. Lowry was also an interesting character to read about, and Queen Isabel’s development was done pretty well.

In regards to the plot, the book starts very slow. It was hard to make myself want to read it in the beginning. However, it picks up towards the middle and the end and becomes pretty riveting. I liked the ending a lot—I thought it was a good way to round out the story.

I also appreciated the quality of the writing. The descriptions were dense (which had me skimming a lot) but also contributed to an eerie atmosphere. The cover is stunning, and the writing captures the feelings that it evokes really well. Allison Saft did an exceptionally good job here.

Lastly, I liked the romance. I thought it was lovely and sweet. However, this book had been advertised to me as enemies to lovers, when really that was not what occurred.

Overall, I think this book was an enjoyable read, but there were parts of it that lowered its rating for me. I recommend Down Comes the Night to readers who enjoy prose that captures their emotions and sends them into the same spirals of dread, fear, anxiety, hope, and love as the characters, but also do not demand high paced plot and lovable main characters.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Down Comes the Night" by Allison Saft. I really enjoyed this story, especially how it was a fantasy world but in a sort of late-1800s European setting, which was different and fun. It included more modern medical practices and the occasional electric light and gave it something of a macabre Sherlock Holmes feel, especially since the main plot centered on something of a mystery of missing people. This combined with war and political scheming in the background, and a romance that made up the bulk of the book, which is never something I mind. It was enemies to lovers, done in such a sweet way, with something of a bisexual love triangle that I thought was handled in a really satisfying manner. This book was dark, romantic, and fun. I also really connected with the main theme, that being an emotional, sensitive, soft-hearted person is not a weakness, but a strength. I definitely recommend giving this book a try!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters. I think the premise is really interesting, but I don't think it was well executed. I wanted to like this so badly, but I found myself putting it down and not wanting to pick it back up. Oh well, not every book is a winner. This one just didn't speak to me.

OH MY GOD WHERE DO I START WITH THIS BOOK?

Let's just start with the protagonist, Wren Southerland. For the first 15% of the book, I was sure I would hate her. She was incredibly whiny, consistently disobeyed the direct orders given to her, and was just an overall brat because her commanding officer, Una Dryden, refused to think of her in a romantic capacity. But oh boy was I wrong! Wren developed into this feisty and strong character with a quick wit and so much personality it was hard to believe she was the same character we were introduced to at the beginning of the book. I'd like to say that her character arc became most interesting when she arrived at Colwick Hall, and met the one and only Hal Cavendish.

Hal Cavendish, also known as the Reaper of Vesria to Danubians like Wren, was set up to be in an enemies-to-lovers relationship with Wren, and I was expecting to be really disappointed by their development. Once again, my expectations couldn't have been farther from what happened, and I ended up loving the dynamic, as his hard shell slowly started to crack and he expressed himself to Wren. What can I say, I'm a sucker for "you're the only one I can be myself with" tropes.

The antagonist was a flawed character, with both motive and means to pull off what they wanted, and while it was revealed pretty early on who the antagonist was, it didn't feel rushed. Moreover, it was a brilliant decision on the author's part, because it never felt like we were being strung around and led in a false direction.

The ending was satisfactory as well, and I can confidently say that this is going to be one of my favorite books for a long time. The only criticism I have for this book is that it is marketed as a gothic fantasy, which it really isn't, it feels far more victorian than gothic, and that the first 10-15% is nearly unreadably slow. The high-end vocabulary is enjoyable, but it takes away from the meaning of the text rather than enhancing it, giving the first few chapters a very clunky feel. But overall, I enjoyed this book a lot.

Down Comes the Night was such a beautiful experience (yes, it was an experience, not just a book) with rich language, beautifully developed characters, and a spectacularly eerie setting. I appreciated the representation for queer characters, and how their queer identity wasn't the main focus of the book, but just another part of their character and motive for them to achieve their goals. It releases on March 2nd, so if you haven't bought it already, what are you waiting for? GO GET THIS BOOK!

5 STARS

It is winter, war is brewing, and Wren Southerland has lost everything.

Her nation of Danu is on the brink of violence with neighboring Vesria, one of her dearest friends has gone missing, and in the aftermath of a mission gone sideways, she has been stripped of her rank as a healer in the Queen’s Guard and sent to a convent to await whatever misery comes next. Except in that convent, Wren receives a letter inviting her to Colwick Hall, home to an eccentric lord whose servants are dying of a mysterious illness. Against all odds, she accepts the offer, only to find herself trapped in an eerie estate by the winter storms, with a patient who is also her sworn enemy.

And yet, to survive, she may need to make peace with that enemy. She might even have to prevent a war.


If you want enemies to lovers with a dash of mystery and murder and sickbed pining, this is the book for you!

Easily my favorite feature of Down Comes the Night is the outstanding execution of enemies to lovers! And, to be honest, lovers to enemies concerning a secondary character. Wren and Hal have a particular sort of banter that I enjoyed, one that could be a little impish, but one that also had all the sharpness of a knife when it hurt the most. Except those moments that hurt weren’t played off as cutesy banter, but genuinely painful, worth apology. And do you know what that means?

Our main characters actually communicate with each other!

I feel like that alone makes this book the Holy Grail. Wren and Hal may take a while to open up (which is sensible and perfectly in character), but they actually talk to one another! And have all manner of emotions, not just the soft sappy ones!

And on top of that, they also tangle up with some beloved tropes. Only one bed? Check! Sunshine and Hope Character healing Despondent and Tired Character? Also that! Character A gently overwhelmed by the sight of Character B in formal wear? Got a bit of that, too!

Basically, Down Comes the Night is well-crafted trope heaven. Yes, it absolutely has a compelling story (more on that in a moment), but it also sports a romance I don’t despise! And if you’ve been around for my reviews for any length of time, then you know that’s a real achievement. What can I say? I’m aro and I’m picky!


“Mercy is the most difficult thing.”

Seriously, stellar trope use aside, I’m in love with the plot and the way it questions war. Effectively, Wren, Hal, and many of their fellow soldiers are child soldiers. Sure, they’re nearly adults now, but they’ve been at war far too long far too young. More than that, they’ve witnessed atrocities. They’ve committed atrocities. All in the name of a war that was never of their own making. Hal especially bears a great deal of guilt for the awful things he’s done, and acknowledges that he is, in many ways, a monster.

And yet! Yet!

Down Comes the Night is also about recognizing the outside factors that pushed children into war. It’s about extending forgiveness in the interest of a better future, not just because it’s polite, but because it will be the right thing to do. It’s about the power of compassion in the face of an older generation that refuses to consider anything but further violence.

Plus, it’s about forgiveness being earned. This is by far my favorite thing about Hal in particular. He knows full well the scope of destruction that he’s brought in the war, and he regrets it deeply. It’s not enough to just feel regret, though, so his active goal is to make real change, make meaningful amends that will lead to a more peaceful future. He’s not in it to be forgiven, either. It’s not self-centered, and it’s the kind of redemption arc that I like to see. Forgiveness comes with work.

And as for mercy? It’s about mercy being so, so difficult to offer when you’ve been wronged, but still doing it anyway, because there are greater things at stake.


I will be the one-man hype squad for Down Comes the Night if I must, but I want to you to join me!

Maybe I’m just a sap for the power of compassion and trust. In fact, that’s the most likely explanation for my adoration of this book. But the point still stands that Down Comes the Night is a wonderful debut, and I can’t encourage you enough to read it!

You don’t have to wait long to get your hands on it, either. Tomorrow, March 2nd, it hits shelves for the first time, and you can fall in love with this wintery, gothic standalone too!

Please come join me in enemies to lovers trope heaven. I can’t be the only one in love with this book!


CW: graphic injury, gore (including eye gore), medical scenes, loss of a loved one, violence (including gun violence), smoking, animal death, child death, sex scene, nudity

[This review will go live on Hail & Well Read at 10am EST on 3/1/21.]

*An ARC of this book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.*

Mixed feelings about this one, but overall enjoyable. A solid magic system, interesting characters, good slow-burn romance, plenty of peril. I love that it's a standalone fantasy, as those are getting hard to come by. Some of the conversations and descriptions got a bit repetitive (the book felt really long because of this), the "gothic" atmosphere was more of a suggestion than an immersive experience, the main villain was obvious from the start and apparently just evil for evil's sake. But I kept reading, and more importantly, I wanted to keep reading. This is definitely more New Adult than Young Adult - the characters are confirmed in their adulthood, there's no coming-of-age transitions, there are some descriptions of violence and war that are a bit more mature than most YA (although still not overly graphic). Also, this is tagged as lgbt, the main character is bisexual and starts out in love with a woman, but the main romantic storyline is a M/F pairing (no triangle), just in case you were looking for something non-hetero.

It took me a little bit to get into the book, but once I did, I really enjoyed it! This book is a fantastic gothic fantasy that has just the right amount of mystery and witty and likeable characters to hook you into the story and make you not want to let go til you finish it. Not to mention a great enemies to lovers slow burn romance, how can you go wrong?

It starts off with the main character Wren, a mage with healing abilities being suspended from the queens guard due to her reckless actions. She then finds herself traveling to an estate of a lord in a bordering country to heal one of his servants. But everything isn't as it seems at the estate, including the servant who turns out to be her biggest enemy...As they work together to uncover a sinister plot within the house, they find themselves growing closer to each other and igniting all sorts of different emotions.

Overall this was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good mystery to solve and a little bit of s slow burn romance.

This was a really pleasant surprise read, even after the synopsis caught my attention. It actually took me quite a long time to get through the first several chapters as it was very slow introducing the main setting, and spent so much time describing environments in areas we're barely spending time in. But once we got past that speed bump and thrown into our MC's meet-cute, I absolutely had to force myself to take breaks - couldn't put it down!

The dynamics between Wren and Hal are very much a Romeo and Juliet setup, where two enemies are reluctantly forced to work together. It's very refreshing on how physically and mentally vulnerable they both are from the start where they have to set aside their prejudices and can must rely upon their unstable truce.

Beyond the extensive scene descriptions in the beginning, the writing was nicely paced once the leads meet and work to solve the mystery behind the mansion and Hal's disease. I wish we could have seen a bit more from the magic system (especially on Hal's side) but it was a fun stand-alone and nice wintery fantasy murder mystery mashup to add to my re-reads.

This was the gothic bisexual horror fantasy that I could have hoped for. I love that it starts character focused before diving into the nitty-gritty. The mystery could have been a bit better, but the rest of this was great for me.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

magic, healing and bumps in the night

una and gwen are on the look out, gwen is a healer and una is in charge, when the capture a boy gwen wants to heal him but is forbidden though that doesnt stop her...

hal cavendish is the enemy an powerful enemy with powers of his own..one look from him and it causes death...he is a wanted war criminal

both sides have had men go missing, though they dont know it...

but hal and gwen are destined to meet

not a bad storyline, i did find the last few chapters drawn out...but apart from that it was an entertaining storyline...

<b>4.5 stars</b>

I have to say the cover didn't convince me but oh, the actual story and the ROMANCE did! I freaking loved it and I'm so happy with the way it turned out.

In Down Comes the Night, we follow a girl named Wren who has healing magic. She's bisexual and as soon as the story starts, we learn that she's been in love with her superior (and best friend) Una. I was shipping them until I figured out that Wren probably deserved better. Una kept leaving her crumbs and Wren had to be satisfied with that? No way. So when Wren ends up in creepy castle full of mystery and having to heal her enemy Hal Cavendish, things started getting more and more interesting! Especially when that said enemy wants to redeem himself and investigate the disappearances of a few of his people (and some of hers as well). But for that, he would need to survive this disease that no one has survived before him....

Overall, the creepy setting kept my attention and I adored the relationship between Wren and Hal!! I'm so glad I got to read this book. I'll definitely check out any other release by Allison Saft.


<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

I very much enjoyed this novel. The story was mysterious and violent, and it was interesting to see three separate communities on the brink of a war. The Gothic feel of the novel added to its appeal.

The characters were endearing and flawed. They were truly wonderful representations of reality. All are flawed in different ways and we see relationships that are both unhealthy and irrational. The character development and plot both moved at a steady pace.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for providing a copy of this eARC for review.

Everything from the cover to the title to the synopsis made me know I would love this book. And I was not disappointed at all. A wonderful mix of magic and creepiness. A large haunted house in the midst of winter? Yes please. This book was perfect for me. Wonderfully drawn out characters and the romance was very sweet and we'll done. I enjoyed the main character a lot. It can be very difficult to be kind when everyone around you is anything but. It was a different kind of strength and one I loved reading about. I'm definitely going to be watching for future books by this author. Loved it!

This gothic medical fantasy novel set in a creepy castle lives rent-free in my mind most days, and it's bound to be one of 2021's hottest releases. It features on my upcoming list of queer reads, too! Delighted to see a bisexual main character in a fantasy novel (and her initial love interest is a lesbian!) because that's a rare treat.

The bisexual rep is really well-done. Wren isn't a token character, and her sexuality isn't used as a cheap trick or capitalized on for marketing's sake. She has real heartbreak and love, where her queerness doesn't have to be questioned at every turn to still be real and part of her. We also love a fantasy world without homophobia. This is what we mean when we say not all fantasy has to be grimdark and "reflect the real world"! Books can examine societal problems without harming readers!

Wren and Hal are literally enemies--their countries are fighting a war, and they're both soldiers. The romantic tension? Immaculate. Especially when they're forced to work together to find out the secret behind Hal's illness, a truth more sinister than they could have expected. These two drove the novel for me. Stuck inside a castle with your mortal enemy is such a vibe, after all. Even through all of this, I couldn't help but ship them. They get to know each other while Wren is working through the illness, and there's heated banter, but also boundary testing and slow affection. I'm so so in love with their story.

There's a significant murder mystery glossed over in the synopsis--it takes up quite a bit of the book, and although I sort of had a suspect in mind, it was the catching of the suspect that really engaged me. Wren and Hal are quite adept at elaborate plans, and stumble into some of my favorite tropes along the way: there's only one bed, sacrificing yourself, and secret midnight investigations. There's just something so attractive about working to find a murderer while trapped in a Gothic castle, right? Extraordinarily sexy. Thank you to the author for this gift. I shall treasure it forever.

I was also into the medical aspect. Wren has healing magic, but also an extensive knowledge of the human body and regular medicine. She's clever but impulsive, and the blend of science and magic behind her character intrigued me. DCTN has some slightly gory moments, but none more than most high fantasy series. I appreciated the darker elements. This recent trend in YA really does it for me, as I've mostly had enough of fantasy that isn't willing to fully embody its principles.

The worldbuilding is a bit basic beyond the war and political intrigue, but what really drew me in is how they're used to fuel the characters' motivations. Everyone's hiding something in this novel, and I had a grand time discovering all the small mysteries Saft locks in. It's definitely worth the read for all the small intricacies. 5/5 stars for a brilliantly written novel.

Wren has been dismissed from the Queen's guard, and she can't be with the girl she loves now, all because of a little bit of magic of hers gone terribly wrong. Outcast, she jumps at the chance for redemption when a letter asks for her assistance healing a servant in a lord's house. Traveling to Colwick Hall, she finds it dilapidated, creepy, and reflective of her host. Things become even stranger when the Reaper of Vesria, enemy to her people, is actually her patient. His name is Hal Cavendish, and he too sought out redemption here, but fell ill before he could find it. What they don't know is that now that they have walked into Colwick Hall, they might not be able to leave safely, and even if they wanted to, there are secrets buried in the Hall that threaten both kingdoms, and they can't turn away from that despite their own imminent peril.

Gothic fantasy meets murder mystery as disgraced magical healer is hired to cure an illness of unknown origin for an enemy of her people. There's a premise to pull a person in! Unfortunately, Wren is a bit of a willful healer, so she does things she generally shouldn't do, mostly because she feels like it. This gets her into trouble, both with her queen, and simply for the fact that she goes off to Colwick Hall without confirming some perhaps pertinent details. Still, she struggles upon finding out that her patient has killed many of her own people, and a plot is uncovered along the way as they find out more about the Hall and why they are there at the same time. Though Wren has Una, her by-the-book partner back home, she finds herself being drawn to Hal, even though he is supposed to be her enemy, as the walls close in around them. I generally enjoy when enemies become lovers, but Wren spends almost too much time as an enemy to Hal, which dampened my ability to believe their growing feelings for each other.

I loved the setting, and after the first few chapters the story and atmosphere is very compelling. Unfortunately, the pacing plods along for about half of the story, and the story itself feels as if it could have been compressed without losing anything important. Down Comes the Night is a gothic fantasy mystery with a touch of romance that pushes sworn enemies together to save their respective nations from disaster, and if any of that description interests you, I think you'll enjoy this debut from Allison Saft.

⭐⭐⭐.5/5⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft is an interesting mix of two genres, Gothic and fantasy romance, that Saft doesn't quite manage to blend well.

Saft has all the pieces of a good story here, but the way they're brought together doesn't make sense after a while. I don't often say this but Down Comes the Night has too much going on to just be a stand-alone novel, and that's thanks to the fantasy elements. There are things that happen that are easily solved in order to keep the plot going in the direction Saft needs it to go. The biggest offender is near the end, when Hal has been imprisoned and Wren and her commanding officer/first love go to save him. There are only three guards in front of his cell, and they're all "inexperienced" according to Saft. Why would you put inexperienced guards on a notorious war criminal's cell? You put your best on that post. Predictably, Wren and her commanding officer are able to intimidate the officers away, and they literally walk out of the prison with Hal. Everything worked too conveniently according to what Saft needed to happen, even when logic dictates that it shouldn't have. I spent too much of this novel going, "This shouldn't have worked, and I can literally think of several reasons why."

The timeline of the novel is literally two weeks, maybe three, and in that time I'm meant to believe that Wren and Hal are able to not only put aside their differences to be civil with each other, but fall in love? I couldn't buy it, unfortunately. I can see what Saft was trying to do with Wren's character, making her a compassionate, emotional girl who can connect with people, and I do appreciate that. There just wasn't enough time for me to believe that her relationship with Hal progressed the way that it did.

Added to that, the villain's plot doesn't stand up under scrutiny. The villain is an interesting character on their own, but ultimately their storyline had too many holes in it I couldn't ignore, and too many instances of characters acting a certain way so that Saft could get the villain to do what she needed him to do. The worldbuilding, which influences the villain's plot, also doesn't hold up once you think about it for too long.

Maybe if Saft hadn't tried to do so much in one novel, it would be better. But the constant convenience of everything going whatever way Saft needs it to in that moment in order to get to the next checkpoint on the plot became too much to ignore, and ultimately, does the story a severe disservice.

Best Enjoyed when you’re stuck in a dark mansion where something seems wrong but you’re still in the mood for an enemies to lovers romance.

Wren Southerland’s healing abilities and empathetic heart may have finally ruined her life. After healing a young boy who appears to be an enemy spy connected to the disappearances of her fellow soldiers, allowing him to escape, she is dismissed from her place on the guard where she serves under her best friend and first love. Isabel, the Queen of Danu–as well as Wren’s emotionally withholding and dismissive aunt–plans to send Wren far from her comfort and into the mines, a hell on earth for any healer. As she awaits her fate at the abbey where she honed her skills, a mysterious letter appears from a nobleman from the nearby neutral country of Cisneros. In the letter, Lord Lowry promises to aid Danu in the centuries-old war against their enemy, Vesria, in exchange for her help healing his favored servant, Henry. Wren sees this as a chance at peace. Though the Queen disagrees and forbids her from going, Wren still manages to find her way alone.

However, when Wren arrives at the old estate across the border, she finds that nothing is as it should be. Not only does the ancient mansion seem to be hiding dark secrets, but “Henry” turns out to be Hal Cavendish, the Reaper of Vesria and the most wanted man in Danu. After her initial shock, Wren sees this as an opportunity to reclaim her place and begins to formulate a plan. Unfortunately, there are machinations larger than both Wren and Hal at play, and they realize that must learn to work together–as well as fight the growing feelings they have for one another–in order to save not only themselves, but the countries they love.

There are so many things going on with this story. There’s the family drama, the political intrigue, the gothic mystery, a sort of love triangle, an interesting power structure, and an enemies to lovers romance arc. All of the plots were carried through, some far more successfully than others. For instance, the gothic mystery was a little painful as the MC really appeared to be oblivious and I found myself mentally screaming at her at times because very obvious mentions were made to vital parts of the story that seemed to be completely ignored. Usually, that wouldn’t slide with me, but the other plot points kept me invested. There was also the issue I had with figuring out the time period it was supposed to mimic. It felt like a mix between the late 1800s and WW1 Europe. It wasn’t enough to put me off, but at times I was really confused and I believe a little extra world building would have been helpful.

On the other side of this coin, I also enjoyed the setting and the depth of the characters themselves as well as the political and technological differences between countries that have and don’t have magic. I really enjoyed that part of the story because it was believable that a country without magic would have made the nonmagical advances that Cisneros would need to have in order to continue to improve themselves as they could not use magic the way their neighbors could. The enemies to lovers romance was also really great. I enjoyed that part of the story a lot. Although I knew where it was all leading, I wasn’t sure how or why it was going in that direction. It’s possible there may have been too many plot lines active at once. Regardless, it was still a good read.

Saft probably needs more work on her mystery writing, but I think the potential is definitely there and if she also improves her ability to write romance. I think her next book could be a killer. Overall, this book is worth a read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday books for and advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really wanted to love this book, but I found it a bit disjointed, like it wanted to be a lot of things at once. A solid fantasy with a bit of mystery and thriller thrown in, different parts of the story felt like they had been drawn from different books and forced together.

The slow burn romance between Wren and a man who should be her sworn enemy is what drew me to this book initially, but it just felt a bit flat. Wren was incredibly annoying and I didn't like her at all, which didn't help.

The world building was good however, and I'd be interested to read more in this world.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This gothic fantasy romance started off pretty interestingly, and is not your usual fantasy romance. The main character, Wren, is not a grrl powa warrior (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but not everyone’s a badass warrior, obviously), but is, of all things, a combat medic. She is a magic surgeon of sorts, able to heal people with her magic and perform surgeries with her magic. Her country, Danu, has an uneasy cease-fire with neighboring country Vesria, and this is threatened by the fact that some Danuvian soldiers, one of whom is Wren’s friend, have gone missing.

Wren is in love with her superior, Una, who, at age eighteen, is already a war hero and very much respected by the Queen, Isabel, who also happens to be Wren’s aunt. Being related to the queen doesn’t help Wren much, as her mother, the queen’s sister, passed away and her father was a commoner and isn’t in the picture. All Wren wants is for her aunt to love her, but the Queen just, sadly, isn’t interested.

Wren has spent most of her life in an abbey, where the Queen banished her once her mother died, and it was there that she learned to perform healing magic for the benefit of their triune Goddess. This is interesting, as the religion, on its surface, looks a lot like Catholicism, with nuns and abbeys and such, but also pagan elements, like the description of the goddess, who has three heads – maiden, mother and crone. This goddess, like the God I worship, is also pretty vengeful, and demands you pay people threefold.

Wren and Una are on an assignment and, due to Wren’s emotions, it goes awry, and Wren is dismissed from service and sent back to the abbey. There she gets a letter from a noble, one that lives in the neutral country of Cernos, the only country whose inhabitants have no magic.

In the meantime, one of Danu’s most feared enemies, Hal Cavendish, the Reaper of Vesria (due to his magic, of which amounts to a magical death stare that basically kills people instantly – think of like, a male Medusa or something) has gone missing. Wren discovers that Vesrian soldiers have gone missing too.

In the interest of using Cernos as a mediator between the two nations, Wren decides to respond to the letter, of which was written by Lord Alistair Lowry, and travels to his estate, Colwick Hall, despite getting a new assignment from her aunt. It is here that most of the action takes place, because Lord Lowry has asked Wren to heal one of his servants, given that his servants have been dying of a mysterious disease.

This is a bit of a spoiler, but the servant Lowry has her heal happens to be Hal Cavendish, who has arrived at Colwick Hall to investigate the disappearance of the Vesrian soldiers. Wren, naturally, is horrified because of course, this is the guy that killed her fellow Danuvian soldiers, and who has a fearsome reputation. But he’s obviously very, very ill, and Wren has already signed a contract with Lowry to cure this “servant” of the illness.

Anyway, we see Wren get down to the business of diagnosing Hal and treating his illness (which turns out to be poisoning), and they slowly fall in love. She’s attracted to him right from the get go, but spends a good chunk of the story trying to convince herself that he’s a monster. Well, he did kill a lot of people, but the treatment gives them the opportunity to talk to one another, and they get to know each other, and slowly come to realize that a lot of what their respective countries’ governments and media is total bullcrap.

I love Hal. He’s a very interesting character who has a devastating magic ability, one that reminds me of Rogue from the X-Men. He’s clearly not the monster Wren or anyone else thinks he is, although he’s a good soldier, obviously. But he’s also intelligent and is deeply scarred by the war and the things he’s done. By the time Wren arrives at Colwick Hall to treat him, he’s basically used up his magic.

Which brings me to the magic system – I love it. Everyone has a system in their bodies called the fola. The fola is like a separate nervous system where their magic energy is stored. It glows or otherwise colors a person whenever it is used, and one can exhaust this magical energy. Rest usually brings it back, but it is possible to permanently lose one’s magic, and it can also be permanently removed from a person by surgically severing the fola. If a person uses their magic illegally, their magic can be severed from their use, and this is something Wren is afraid of.

Another thing I really liked is how both Hal and Wren essentially have PTSD due to their service in the war. This is realistic, and a lot of YA novels featuring warriors or whatever don’t really have characters that have PTSD or are affected by the things they’ve done. Wren gets flashbacks and so does Hal. Both have nightmares. It’s all very realistic.

Meanwhile, at first it seems that Colwick Hall is haunted, but that turns out to not be the case. In fact, what’s going on at Colwick Hall, and with Lord Lowry, is kind of predictable. Obviously, when Wren arrives, Lord Lowry is very strange and is clearly hiding something. He also tells Wren that his father was obsessed with figuring out why the people of Cernos don’t have magic. Here’s another spoiler, and it’s a big one – Lowry is clearly continuing his father’s work, as he thinks that if he and his fellow Cernosians can have magic in addition to their superior technology (they’ve harnessed electricity, unlike Danu and Vesria), they can be a world superpower.

At some point, Wren realizes that she could bring Hal to her aunt, and have her place in the military restored, and wrestles with this because she does fall deeply in love with him. She was also in love with Una, but eventually sees her as a best friend rather than a girlfriend. Relationships between soldiers was forbidden anyway, so their romantic relationship always came across as one-sided.

Hal helps Wren to see that her emotions and her compassion for others, including those that are technically her enemy, is a good thing. Previously, she felt that her emotions always got her into trouble. And it still does, even to the very end, but that’s still one of her best qualities.

Hal no longer believes in the military’s cause, because too many Vesrians hid their true intentions behind the banner of patriotism, as he says. This kind of reminds me of lefty criticism of the Iraq War, and of course, Hal being essentially a veteran with PTSD and guilt.

Both Hal and Wren wanted to feel useful, and their magic was the key to being seen as useful to those around them. But both were used by their respective governments. Both also want an end to the war, and that was partly her original intent – to bring Hal back as prisoner, who would then find the missing soldiers, and she’d be reinstated to her original position and the Queen would finally accept her. Still had ulterior motives, but she did want to end the war. Hal wants to become grand magistrate, and to do that, he has to solve the case of the missing soldiers. He wants Vesria to be a place where kids grow up happy, not as soldiers.

Excellent quote: “Both Danu and Vesria created monsters the moment they stooped to recruiting children.” I agree with this wholeheartedly, even though, of course, in our military, you have to be eighteen to serve. But I get the point – to recruit twelve year olds, for example, and teach them to kill…that is seriously messed up. Both Hal and Wren joined their militaries at very young ages (Hal when he was eight, and Wren when she was twelve).

I hope the teenagers that read this book remember that quote. If your society teaches children to kill…that’s about as low as it can get.

The author really knows human anatomy, because the narration and Wren’s dialogue is peppered with anatomical terms. I liked that, as it made Wren feel realistic as a combat medic and surgeon. I also liked the magic system – there’s a source for the magic, it isn’t the cure-all, it has its limits and it can be permanently lost through overuse, or deliberately by the surgical severing of the fola.

I thought the mystery at Colwick Hall and the mystery of the missing soldiers was a little too predictable and convenient – of course the missing soldiers would end up at Colwick Hall, the very place Wren travels to. The story is pretty much a gothic romance set in a fantasy realm that is inspired by Victorian-era Europe, as far as I can tell. It is primarily a love story, documenting the romantic relationship between Wren, a Danubian, and Hal, the feared Reaper of Vesria. They should be enemies, yet eventually fall deeply in love and are prepared to sacrifice what’s important to them to prevent another war breaking out between their respective countries, as both are deeply scarred by the war (and both suffer from PTSD).

The story is neatly wrapped up and does not end on a cliffhanger, but there’s also a possibility of a sequel if it does well. I wouldn’t mind a sequel, but this one is kind of rare in that it’s not set up to be a series or trilogy or whatever – the story stands on its own.

A copy of this book was provided by Wednesday Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

**Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. This in no way changes my rating**

Down Comes the Night is a debut novel by Allison Saft. The synopsis promises a Romance Fantasy and the title promises some Gothic Horror thrown in for good measure. The book meets these promises, but it wasn't a favorite of mine.

The book follows Wren Southerland, the niece of her nation's Queen and a healer. Viewed as a screw up by her aunt for being emotional instead of detached, Wren sets out to prove herself by answering a summons to heal someone at the mysterious Colwick Hall. When she gets there, however, she discovers the person she's meant to be healing is Hal Cavendish, the most feared soldier of the nation hers is fighting. She also finds that the mysterious "illness" he has might be foul play and sets out to solve what's going on.

While the premise sounded promising, I was fairly bored through most of this book. I chalk most of that up to the predictability of the book. Due to the closed setting and a pretty small cast for what's essentially a locked door mystery, it is really easy to guess who's at fault for the "illness" of Colwick Hall. There are four named characters living there for most of the book, one is our protagonist, one is the sick love interest, and only one of the remaining two is suspicious enough to be pulling it off. I guessed it immediately after meeting the character and was not surprised when they were the culprit. I would have liked more red herrings to make this a more engaging mystery story. However, it would have required at least two to three additional characters to make that work.

I also had some individual issues with Wren and Hal. The main problem with Wren lied in her relationship with Una, her commanding officer. She starts the story "in love" with Una, but there is little evidence of them having a relationship. It is stated that they've kissed once and then Una ended whatever could've come between them because of "fraternization laws" in the military. It comes off more as an unrequited crush than a true "love" based on a deep understanding of the other person. They're good friends, but the romance fell flat for me in this situation.

Hal comes off as "very much wants to be Rhysand from ACOTAR" to me. He's the most powerful soldier for his nation, he has this scary power that makes him threatening, he has a reputation for being a bad boy but he's really nice and misunderstood, he kneels for her at one point, she's "the only one who doesn't see me as a monster", etc. Obviously, Rhys is an example of the "bad boy with the heart of gold" trope and is not the first or last love interest to have these qualities. I probably wouldn't have even made that connection had it not been for the off brand "mating bond" type magic Saft uses in the book. The explanation given is that Wren's healing magic stays in the patient until they're well enough to push the magic out. But until then, there is a "tether" between her and the patient that allows her to find him wherever he is and to "tug" on it (does this sound familiar?). Wren heals no fewer than three people OTHER than Hal and NEVER has this "tether" with someone else. Ever. I'd give the benefit of the doubt that this is due to her healing Hal for longer, but it pretty much shows up immediately after the first time she heals him. They later fall in love and the "remains of the tether" are still there multiple days after he is fully healed and running around causing havoc. I was not a fan of the ACOTAR "nods" in this book as they weren't done as well and seemed to have little to no rules. They just showed up when it was convenient to the plot.

The ending was sufficiently dramatic to keep my interest as I finished the book. Wren has a small growth arc. Overall, I am in a minority of people who wasn't overly impressed with this book, as evidenced by other Goodreads reviews. It really comes down to my looking at this book's Romance Fantasy and YA Mystery peers and just finding this be passable in comparison to some other titles that impressed me much more. I'm sure there are people who will really like this. Wren and Hal's relationship is actually built pretty well. But overall, it just came across a little run of the mill for me. It didn't strike me as anything overly special.

3/5 stars