I recently finished reading Daniel McDaniel's Grieving Gold, and I have to say, I was blown away by the depth and complexity of the story. Set in the city of legends, Luminocity, the book weaves together the stories of five characters whose fates are intertwined by the currents of destiny.

From Laxerion Tama, a disowned noble son turned heist group mastermind, to Val-Gustus Tama, a golden son forced to take responsibility for threats to the city, each character is well-developed and fully realized. I was especially drawn to the character of Ilumi, a young scientist grappling with the moral implications of outlandish new technologies.

But what really sets this book apart is the vivid and immersive world-building. The city of Luminocity is both beautiful and haunting, and the decaying ruins of the ancient civilization that lies beneath it add a layer of mystery and intrigue that kept me engaged from start to finish. And as eldritch things stir in the dark, the tension and suspense only continue to build.

Overall, I would highly recommend Grieving Gold to anyone who enjoys immersive and thought-provoking fantasy novels. Daniel McDaniel has crafted a truly unique and compelling story that is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Luminocity, a city that stands on the decaying ruins of an ancient civilization, stood in the skeletal ruins of long empty dangerous skyscrapers full of the remnants of a misunderstood past. In the city, rich men can be poor in their relatives and street urchins can feel like kings when they have the right "found" family by their sides. And no matter what happens, the three suns and three gods above them watch it all, shedding their light, powering everything that sustains them. But there is a fourth sun, a fourth god that everyone takes for granted.

The story follows several characters, from several backgrounds as they try and live with the choices they have made and the hand of fate that they have been given. From the heights of the rich to the dark caverns under the earth, one thing is certain: war is brewing though it may not be the border skirmish that most people know about. Monsters are stalking the city, and they seem to have their tentacles in all manner of pies.

This book grabbed me from the prologue and held in in thrall until the past page. It was amazing; the world-building involved, the characters that the story followed and the anticipation I am now feeling towards the next book. (Plus the frustration I do not have it in my hands right now.) The writing is smooth, and clever without being arrogant in the expectation you live in a world of six-syllable words. If you like a dystopian sci-fi book that has the potential to be an epic series then I think this is the book for you.

I am not usually a fan of dystopian fantasy books but i still requested this book because the premise looked interesting to me. After reading this book i am on fence about weather i liked this book or not.

I really wanted to like this book and in many ways I think I did. However, it is confusing to say the least. Too many characters all fighting for a place at the front and none of them actually getting there. The magic is intriguing but far from transparent. Maybe some editing down would have made me more invested.

I can see the author has this whole story in his mind but somehow that became more confusing at the end, Maybe the book needed more explanations and more pages but that didn't happened too.

Absolutely excellent!

Grieving gold is a wonderful book filled with intrigue, complex world building, and character arcs as gorgeous as this cover!

Epic fantasy lovers will utterly fall in love with this new gem. The world is rich in detail, the characters build to perfection and the plot perfectly placed. I'm not usually a fantasy girl but this? Yeah an exception for sure. Fans of Brandon Sanderson, I have found a new fave for you!

I had a difficult time getting through this one. It might be a case of it’s not you it’s me - maybe. This book is the beginning to a high fantasy/epic fantasy adventure. We go through this book via 5 POVs. I found myself forgetting who each POV was, what their magic was and where in Lunimocity they were. That’s my only issue really - my confusion. The concept is great and extremely creative. I also get why there’s so many POVs and so much details. The author wants to take this sucker (series) 20+ books deep. For now though, this is where I’m at. I honestly think I would like this book much better on the 2nd or 3rd reread.

Sadly, this books wasn't for me.
I stopped at 20% because i wasn't enjoying myself.

The beginning is very rushed, but fails to provide enough information for me to get immersed into the world. There are some interesting ideas regarding the magic system but the author didn't explain enough of it to captivate me.
In my opinion there are too many characters, and not enough pages for each of them. At 20% I'd expect to like at least one of them, but i felt like they were all strangers and couldn't get myself to care for them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for giving me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I recieved an ARC of this book, all reviews are my own. I think this book has great potential but I did find it to be a tad confusing at times. If you are into intricate fantasy with a dystopian vibe I think you would enjoy this story!

I was instantly drawn to the cover!

I really enjoyed the multi POVS i think it gives more details and insight into the story, although it can be a little confusing at first!

I really wanted to like this book and in many ways I think I did. However, it is confusing to say the least. Too many characters all fighting for a place at the front and none of them actually getting there. The magic is intriguing but far from transparent. Things happen without adequate explanation, a lot.
Maybe I’m being over critical here and everything will become clear in the upcoming books. Having said all that, I will look out for book 2 in the hope that many of my questions will be answered.

arc provided in exchange for an honest review.

The author has created a deep and rich fantasy world with fully thought out characters who are all interesting in their own unique ways. It is a mixture of fantasy and horror, done very well in my opinion.

To be honest, I was kind of on the fence about whether I would like it or not but with how fast I read it, it's very fair to say I enjoyed it a lot. It was a major disappointment when I finished it.

The writing was good, it often flowed together nicely however there were some information dumps that had my eyes sliding shut a little bit. But I can overlook them as this is the first book in the series, the author truly did set the stage for the world he has created and I found his descriptions painted a vivid image in my head of his world.

Out of the many characters I was mostly drawn to Aiana and her story, I found it fascinating. Dawb stole my heart, I’ve enjoyed all of his chapters. Ilumi caught me by surprise, there's a little twist to her story I wasn't expecting so it only made me more excited for her story. The Duke is just dripping in mystery, I absolutely loved reading and learning more about him. Lax and Val, both great characters with good stories yet I probably enjoyed the other perspectives more than theirs. The side characters are great too, some honourable mentions, Ponlu, Lamara, Igi, Dr. Blaze, and Vatra.

While the magic system is intriguing, don't ask me to explain it because I don't fully understand how it works. It seems very unique though, I like it.

I will most definitely be reading the next book in this series to see where the story takes these characters.

Thank you for the arc!

I really wanted to like this book a lot. I thought the world was unique and I enjoyed the incorporation of science and novel technologies with fantasy. I believe the lore also had Meso-American or South American influences, which was fun and different from many fantasy novels. My main complaint is that there were too many POV characters from the beginning. Some editing down would have made me more invested.

2024 52 Book Challenge - 31) Includes A Personal Phobia

DNF at 20%.

This is going to be a fantastic read for some people, and I am incredibly jealous of them. Unfortunately for me, the book was very hard to get into. There were so many people and so much going on that it feels like a jumbled mess, and I was struggling to maintain an understanding of anything.

✨ARC Review✨

📚Grieving Gold by Daniel McDaniel📚

Published Date: February 1, 2024

This is a novel that is full of adventure in a place called, Luminocity. This will take you on a journey of an enticing world building. It has exciting action scenes and will truly take you in a whole new world. One of the most fascinating part of this story is the disadvantages of advanced technology.

This is a must read for people who love science fiction and fantasy. While for those who are not a fan of sci-fi, this might take you a while as this is packed of information which may take you on a slow-paced reading. This has a lot of potential and I do hope it will be known to many people. This may not be my cup of tea but it surely does made me out of my sit with eagerness on what happens next.

This is an ARC from Netgalley and Endless Equinox. Thank you for trusting me in exchange for an honest review.

PS This is my first time to read out of my comfort zone — the Science Fiction and it was good.

A story with significant potential that was somewhat hamstringed by writing quality. The prologue starts pretty awkwardly, in my opinion, but once we have a POV going, the narrative voice becomes much more distinctive and natural. I think it needs a beta read and subsequent line edit before it's published on account of some non-story-related errors and awkwardness in the text itself. Some examples from the beginning before I stopped keeping track:

- The Kindle version needs paragraph indents for readability as it currently does not have any.
- At loc 160 the POV character (who is being held by another person) is described as walking toward a railing. At loc 171, the person holding her puts her down.
- At loc 213, it seems as though the words "snared" and "snarled" may have been mixed up.
- General italic errors: There's a lot of italic text treated as internal dialogue that has dialogue tags between the bits of internal dialogue. Those internal dialogue tags seem to consistently be italicized even though they aren't part of the internal dialogue.

Overall, giving this book a 2.5/5 in its current state, with a lot of potential to be improved with editing! I think improving on writing flow and errors is really important for this book in particular, as there is a lot of creativity... and a lot of information for readers to absorb about the world and it can be difficult and less enjoyable to do so when the writing doesn't flow smoothly.

A great fantasy/sci-fi opening to what looks to be an amazing story! The first few chapters I was a little lost but it really pulled me in after that. I found myself rushing through trying to find out what happened next with these characters. I’m very excited to see where this journey takes them! Will definitely buy a physical copy! Thank you NetGalley for the Ebook!

Very interesting concept I wasn’t bored not even for a second. I couldn’t get enough of this storyline and the characters they were so much fun. Definitely would recommend it to my friends. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

This is a refreshing fantasy book with South American influences, focused on the lost civilization myths and gods. I have no problem with the too many characters and their points of view, the author's writing flows well and it's easy to understand who they are, where they come from, and how they live in this world.

Together they help to create a complex world and lore. Many characters are full of themselves but in a good way. My favorites so far are the Duke, the kids (I love a good fantasy that includes thieves, urchins, and kids in poverty fencing for themselves), the girl who enters the trials with her amazing knowledge of lenses and I'm curious to see where that banished son is going to end up. I read half of the book in one sitting, but I don't want to rush it because I am enjoying it a lot and it's one of those I don't want to end without having a second on my shopping cart. I'll be patient, but I am a fan. (also, the detail of them drinking our Portuguese cachaca is a great touch)

Love to think of Aztec and Maya cultures with this super advanced tech mixed still with the eeriness of sacrifices, light, darkness, gods, gangs, and different social statuses.

When I am away, I keep missing the characters and I'm always curious about what novelty we'll face next. I will need to have that cover as a physical book. Please keep up with the cover art so we can collect an amazing series. I will need to have that physical cover.

I will update this review if there is something in the 80%s of the end that needs to be added.

Thank you publisher and netgalley for this e-arc.

This book intrigued me, it had so many layers to the story due to the multi POV.

Due to how many POV’s there were it did take me a good 20% to get to grips with the story, and place each character and their motivations in the story. Lumo No Se feels like a very dark and corrupted city that hides in the light despite its seedy deals amongst the higher class/councilman.

I really like Lax and his development in this book, he seemed very avoidant of responsibility until he has to go home and help his brother. I did also quite like his brother Val who’s in a precarious situation being a general but also pushing his fathers agenda with no clear goal in sight.

Dwab felt so genuine and courageous even when he was scared, i really look forward to seeing how his character develops in book 2. Illumi was my favourite in the beginning and the twist with this character surprised me wholeheartedly. The huntress was a great character but I disliked her self doubt and I hope to see her shed that side of herself in book 2.

All in all this book gives you the world building and a foundation to delve into the story. We get character introductions but there is so much more to find out so I look forward to the next book asap!

Sadly I just could not get into this and had to give up.
I feel for some people, this is going to be a really great fantasy book, as it has a lot going for it that some will love.
But for me... I found myself not paying attention and started skimming, which is never a good sign. Too many main characters and points of view for my liking. And a lot of the time I was getting lost in the descriptions of every item in the world and losing out completely on the story and characters.
So sadly not for me, but I really do think it'll be perfect for some.

This was an intriguing read that i picked up on the cover alone. now i'm eager awaiting more in this world.