“For even when the day goes dark, the light of our lives will shine on and we will burn brighter than the dark that hides us” 🔥

Thank you so much NetGalley for approving this ARC for me in exchange for my honest review 🤎

Wow. What can I say. Andy you have gone and done it again!

It was amazing to dive back into the world with our children of the elements and to discover what going to happen next. I knew there was going to be lots of dark paths and twists and turns and I couldn’t wait for them to unfold!

I absolutely loved how fast paced this book was. The tension and build up towards the battle was written perfectly and it made the whole experience feel full of suspension. The way Andy describes the battle field is so immersive you are made to feel as though you are fighting along side our characters. I was always left feeling 100 different emotions while reading what our characters were experiencing. It was a rollercoaster of emotions for sure!

I loved the character developments within this book and seeing our characters become more powerful and strong (especially when being forced to be independent) was amazing to see. They are such incredible characters and they have been written so perfectly. As much as I love Alexis, it was amazing to see more of our other characters and I personally loved seeing more of Incantus. (Shout out to our boy Gibbious) 🐶

I love how we get to see more of the dark side of things in this book and how it affects everyone and everything around our characters. AND THE TWISTS! Did not see those coming at all! 😱

I love a book that makes you feel all the emotions; shock, sadness, envy, horror, uncertainty and happiness, and it’s safe to say, the book gave us all the feelies! ❤️

Thank you Andy for a wild adventure! I cannot wait to see what more you bring for us! (And how many more emotions you want to us to experience) 👀

Seems a little punny to say but The Dark That Hides Us well and truly blew The Light That Blinds Us out of the water- and was the sequel we all never knew we needed!

Not just in the sense that it was a fantastic continuation of where TLTBU left off- but for the fact that Andy quite clearly put his all into TDTHU- whether it was describing the vulnerability of a character or just the setting of a scene- everything felt thought out and in the end it all came together, whilst simultaneously leaving us gasping for a next book

I was so excited to read this as I had absolutely loved the first book, and this one met expectations and beyond. Everything felt elavated, the suspense, the action, the romance, it was mind blowing.

The love and dedication these characters had for each other was really a highlight, I felt truly intertwined in their friendship and felt every high and low along with them.

And man, ADT is incredible at writing battle scenes which make you feel right there. Every move, every decision was clear and precise it was like watching a film at times.

I cannot wait for the next book, and I really cannot wait for everyone to be able to read this next month. I will be thinking about this story for a while!

The first in this series set down a very compelling tale and introduced us to some great characters and an exciting plot ahead.

I was eager to get back to the story and the follow up which would see us thrown into a well awaited battle. It was a slow burner and one that steadily made its way to the crux of the story and I was definitely in the mood for a bit more pow pow pow straight off the bat but that was just personal preference. I loved the darker turn it took and the intrigue that started to build towards the end of the book.

The writing in this was great and I love the centre to the story. The elementals, the magic and the prophecies, the friendships and the growing relationships between our main characters. I’m super intrigued into the next twist and where it will take us in the next book!

I'm calling it now ... this is one of my favourite reads of the year!!

I ADORED The Light that Blinds Us and I was eagerly counting down the days until this gorgeous sequel graced our shelves. So when the opportunity to nab an e-arc came, you BET I ran to NetGalley.

The transition into the second book was so seamless, it was as though I'd never stopped reading the first. You get straight back into the action and delve further into each character's background.

The writing is so beautiful and captivating that you find yourself quickly immersed in the story. The plot is packed full of twists and turns - with moments that honestly made my jaw drop.

I don't want to say much more right now... because spoilers.
But, please do yourself a favour and preorder this asap. It's absolutely incredible and you will not be disappointed!!*
Thank you Andy Darcy Theo, Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for the early copy. I absolutely devoured it!

I thought the first book was fun, but this one was a bit more of a mixed bag for me. I'll start off with the positives:
- The writing style, as with the first book, was well done. It flowed well and, while it was very 'ya', I think it was really effective in getting the story across.
- It was very ambitious to have the majority of the book be one large battle (I don't think this is a spoiler, as it's very much set up in the first book) and the author pulled it off. It's no mean feat to be able to keep up a breakneck battle pace for 400+ pages but he did. There weren't any sections that felt like they slowed or dragged at all.
- I think the character work improved a little from the first book. There was actually some development of the side characters, and I enjoyed Blaise's journey in particular as he felt a bit one-note in the first book. I do wish I'd had a little more of him though, as most of the book still focussed on Alexis and I felt that he'd had his time already.
So I think the overall writing in terms of style and character development did improve from the first book, but the problems I had with the first book were also a lot more prominent:
- The book felt a little bit like a collection of 'epic moments' that, while cool for those those moments, didn't really have much substance holding them together. It felt a little bit like the author had imagined some scenes and really wanted to put them in, but didn't really consider how they would fit in with the rest of the story.
- Depsite the fact that I think the characterwork improved a little from the first book, it still didn't really work for me. The majority of characters felt like an amalgamation of one or two traits/tropes (Incantus is the 'wise mentor', Ziya is the 'smart hacker', Caeli is the 'snappy teenage girl', Serena is the 'sassy warrior', etc) and I just didn't find them very interesting. This can be fine in one or two characters, but I think the main villain of the book really suffered from this too. He was just 'the evil wizard' and there was really nothing else to him. No proper motivation, only a tiny bit of backstory that didn't really give any kind of insight into his character at all, really cheesy 'mwahahaha I'm so evil' dialogue and a complete lack of charisma or prescence. He was just such a boring villain, which was a shame because it meant that the plot surrounding him sort of fell apart as I couldn't get invested. I also found the protagonist Alexis a bit boring in this book. In the first one, there was actually some evidence of some darkness to him and I was really interested as to where that would go, but here he just spends the whole book going "I'm so evil :(" and then never actually does anything actually bad (killing undead enemies doesn't count).
- The main quartet felt a bit overpowered. Every time the battle got somewhat difficult for them, they'd just suddenly unlock a new ability and it was all fine. It felt really unearned as there wasn't really any kind of sense of progression or hitting milestones, they could just suddenly do it. It was cool to envision them defeating their enemies at first, but it quickly got quite repetitive and meant that there weren't really any stakes. Speaking of the lack of stakes, it didn't really feel like there were many consequences. I don't really want to be too specific for fear of edging into spoilers, but I didn't appreciate the fake-out deaths which were just explained by a character saying 'idk it was destiny I guess'.
And here are just some more kind of 'neutral thoughts', that I wasn't quite sure where to put in this review:
- I wasn't quite sure which age group this book was aimed towards. There's a weird mixture of choices would belong in a ya novel aimed at the lower age range of teens (villains called 'Dr Sinner', sassy protagonists), and then also implied sex. It didn't hugely impact my reading experience, but it was just something that I noticed.
- The dialogue really worked sometimes and then really didn't work at other times. I liked a lot of it, it was really good at showing the emotions of the characters. But, at other times it felt really cheesy and a bit out of place. In some really tense moments, the pov character would suddenly say something snarky or silly and it just really took me out of it. There were also many moments of dramatic romantic monologues and, while they were really well written and beautiful, I couldn't help thinking that 17 year olds do not talk like that.
- I don't expect a huge amount of intricate worldbuilding from a ya book, but some more would have been nice. There were some glimpses we got, but I feel like I have no idea how the elemental world and powers work and I would have liked some more.
- I just wanted to appreciate the artist for this book, because the artwork really was gorgeous!

I think some people who enjoyed the first book will still enjoy this- it has romance, epic battles and magic, everything you want!- but I think it just wasn't really for me. I don't think I'll be continuing with the series.

Thank you Simon Schuster and NetGalley for this arc!

I really enjoyed jumping back into the world of the elementals. I really liked that in this book we also had pov from Blaise too. It really gave us an insight into his feelings.

I love the relationship the children of the elements have. There are a few plot twists that I’m looking forward to seeing what happens. Some of the new side characters are very interesting and I am excited to see their backstories too.

Working in mental health has given me even more appreciation for Andy's wonderful writing. The prose is beautiful but I don't think I can forgive him for what he's done to the gang 😭

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

thank you so much to Andy Darcy Theo & Simon and Schuster UK for giving me this ARC!

where do i even begin?? andy’s gone and done it again with The Dark That Hides Us, totally beating ‘second book syndrome’ (let’s be honest, I never doubted him).

Everything about this book blew me away, from the character development, THE MANY PLOT TWIST, the action scenes, amazing pacing, especially the more insight into the Elemental side of things!

The characters!! I loved seeing Alexis, Blaise Caeli and Demi again (and yes I totally lost my mind over certain parts of the story). Was everyone in this book sassier than ever? YUP and I absolutely loved it!! I was losing my mind annotating everything I could. No peace for the readers in this one though.

Releasing 24th April 2025!!!

I loved this! After reading the light that blinds us I have patiently waited for this to come out. It was soooo worth the wait! I was in a reading slump when I started this book and it has fully pulled me out and got me back on track. I loved every second of it. The battle, the emotional tension and trauma, the feeling of being there with them throughout the whole experience, just all of it! The debut of how dark things get and could still get darker was deeply moving. It had me feeling all the feelings you want when reading a book. I loved it. I loved the story and can’t wait to read more!!

I throughly enjoyed the first book in this series so when our request on here for the ARC was approved I was so excited to get back to these characters!

I’ll start with my highlights; I loved getting further insight into Alexis’ and also diving into Blaise’s background and thought process. We dived deeper into the elemental powers of our main characters and Ian - what they can really do and the depths they can go to! We also got to meet a couple of new characters, one in particular stuck out for me, I am always here for female boss energy and a woman that does not need saving! Round of applause for the artwork in this book - absolutely beautiful!!

Now onto a couple of points that made this book fall a little flat for me… firstly the pacing felt off for me, a large portion of this book is focused on a few hours alone and whilst I really appreciate detail, it left me wanting more than just those few hours! There is still so much mystery surrounding a lot of our characters, I would have really appreciated some answers being given in this book vs more questions. There were a couple of plot twists at the end of the book and I wish one of them had been fleshed out a little more; vs so long being spent over the few hours mentioned above. Finally, we were introduced to other types of beings in this book and it felt a little unnecessary - I would have much preferred we stuck to elementals, mortals & shadowless!

I’m not sure if it’s been announced how many books are going to be in the series, whilst I loved being back with the characters and Andy’s writing is so wonderful, the world feels so real, the characters emotions and traumas are so raw, you absolutely cannot fault how he brings these characters to life! However, I needed more plot, I don’t feel like enough happened compared to the first book. I gave this a 3.5 star rating overall!

Absolutely beautiful writing that continues an amazing story. I was obsessed with the first book of the series and this one went above my expectations. Brilliant descriptions of the setting with amazing cast of characters and plot. It has to be one of my all time favourite fantasy series.

You fall back right into the story with the characters which feel like your friends. The emotions run so high that although you’re at the edge of your seat, you feel like you’re part of the story yourself.

Couldn’t recommend picking up this book/series more!

I loved The Light That Blinds Us and had already ordered its sequel by the time it came onto NetGalley. Andy Darcy Theo continues the gripping story of the Children of the Elements who, having come into their true powers in the first book, must now use their skills to defend the Haven and the world of the Elementals. The title hints at the more mature themes that lie ahead and there are some horrific moments which are skillfully written but may upset younger readers. This book is firmly in mature, young adult category.

The main focus in the first book was Alexis and while we still see plenty of his thoughts, the point of view is widened to include Blaise. This is hugely effective in showing the truly nuanced characters that Theo has created. The ending is a classic, second-book-in-a-series cliffhanger that leaves you desperate for the next installment. I can't wait.

Book aesthetic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The cover is gorgeous, the title is fitting, the authors note and dedication is perfect and the graphic design before and after the prologue are breathtaking.

Structure and writing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Story and plot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Calling each chapter a different word and starting the chapter with a small foreword that gives the definition of that word is something so unique to me in the best way possible. It helps hint at the chapter while also giving more understanding and knowledge throughout the book. I really like this detail as it's not something I see often.
I did find the writing a little 'choppy' when reading in some areas but amazing and action packed in others. "But just because I cry, it does not make me weak" is such a powerful line especially in today's society. I love how relatedable this is for a fantasy book.

The story overall was a really good story with depth, prophecies, power. I loved the spin on the elements (the children of the elements) and using that in the story and LOVE plots where there are powers for light and dark. It reminds me of a mix between the shadow and bone series and the darkest minds series. I think this book will be wildly popular with fans of both.

This book ticks all the boxes for a good fantasy story while keeping it easy to relate to, especially with the undertones of struggling with bad mental health. This isn't seen enough in fantasy books and that just makes me love it more.

A writer's dream and a reader's haven. (no pun intended... okay, maybe a little.)

This was absolutely sensational. I absolutely loved the adventure of book one, but the emotional depth, the character developments, the romance and found family subplot was brilliant in this book.

I can not fathom or explain how incredible Andy's writing is, and how he brings these characters to life in so many ways. How real the world feels, how raw these characters emotions and trauma we learn about are.

A huge portion of this book is a battle, but it takes small pauses where emotion comes in, where we get moments of joy and agony and then we get right back into fighting again. There is a good balance of friendship, romance and action!

This book broke me in so many ways, I cried, I laughed, I gasped so hard so many times my throat hurts. Please be careful and read triggers. This is a YA but there are some horrific moments in this book, lots of talk surrounding darkness so please look after yourselves!

The character art we're blessed with in this book is INSANE. So if you struggle to visualise, these are a real help and also sooo cool.

The ending gives way for another book and you best believe I will be devouring that too. I will never be ready to let go of these characters, they're a part of me now.

✨4 stars✨

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and so when I received this ARC on NetGalley, I couldn’t wait to jump back into this story and characters.

In the first book we focused more on Alexis, whereas in this book the emphasis was definitely placed on Blaise with I thoroughly appreciated.

Overall, this was a solid sequel that built upon the plot and characters that we were introduced to in the first book! Also that ending?! I cannot wait to see where this series takes us!

I would definitely recommend if you enjoyed the first book, and I would recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun YA fantasy that contains elemental magic.

I received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!