Reviews with content warning for Violence - Down Comes the Night

The dedication page on this book reads "For all the girls who feel too much." So I already knew this book was written for me. Then it turns out the protagonist is bi, same as me. And oh look, all the imagery and country names and religions are references to elements of Paganism. It feels like this book was written exactly, solely, for me. Like Saft knows my heart, intimately, and wrote the book that my heart wanted.

Is this a gothic mystery full of adventure and romance? Yeah. Do the settings breathe and come to life so much that I swear you can smell them off the page? Yep. Does the plot start a little slow, then build up with careful intimacy, so that one look lasts years but three days pass by in a blink? Absolutely. Everything about this writing is just so damn good. We linger in all the right moments. We speed up for all the action, so that my eyes wanted to be even faster to find out what happens next. The descriptions of the smells are unparalleled. The character interactions are vibrant, heart-wrenchingly real, in all their tenderness and cruelty.

By the time I got to the haunted mansion setting, I didn't want to put the book down. And I honestly could have read 300 more pages of just the yearning. It was so good. And the realistic way relationships evolve and change over time and distance. And the way the climax was built on empathy as the ultimate strength. I loved so, so much about this book.

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onemamareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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obscurepages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Hellooooo, this was so good??

This was atmospheric, romantic, and the prose was just lovely. I loved the writing style of the author and how the story unfolded in Wren's perspective. The plot was unique and thrilling, and as a reader, it never ran out of surprises for me. The characters get you hooked as well! We have a disaster bi MC, an emotionally constipated bestfriend, and a dark and brooding love interest. I was invested in these characters,

Apart from that, I was invested in the romance as well. There was a lot of tension and pining between Wren and Hal, and I loved their chemistry. (Also, enemies-to-lovers, plus "there's only one bed" trope?? I loved it!)

The world-building and the magic system were also great! I loved how science and magic blended together, I loved knowing about Wren's healing powers and how they worked. There was a lot of history between the three countries, too, which really helped pain the overall picture/situation for the plot.

I think my only complaint is that I wanted to see more action in the end, (and more pining? Because I love pain, I guess). I also wanted more characterization for Hal and, maybe Una too, since we see only little of her. But honestly, overall, this was so good!

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Down Comes the Night is a really interesting, unique book within its genre. It’s a fantasy, but it’s also a mystery. It’s got vibes of things like Shadow and Bone – something cold with swirls of dark magic and forbidden romances. Our story follows Wren, a healer, as she tries to salvage her place among the Queen’s Guard and broker a peace between two kingdoms. When a mysterious call promising great reward summons her to Colwick Hall… the situation intended to be her saving grace is not quite what it appears.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Down Comes the Night when I started reading it. The book seemed to have a spooky feel to it, and I do love a good ghost story so I started out expecting something more akin to that. It’s not a ghost story – Down Comes the Night is a story about war. It’s one of those unique books about war that does not take us into the fight, but rather, to a place where peace stands upon the edge of a knife. There are diplomatic relations and monsters and there is blood. In fact, parts of Down Comes the Night are surprisingly gory. It’s a good thing to be aware of before diving into the story – there’s violence and blood and surgical procedures, all told in stark, straightforward detail.

For me, the first half the book dragged. I wasn’t truly invested in the story until about 60%. The action is slow to rise and there’s not a lot about Wren I actually liked. She’s a stiff, stubborn character, and the world building felt… distant. Descriptions and settings provide enough information to place the characters and plot, but there are few passages that truly build atmosphere. Mix all of these things together, and I struggled to get invested.

By the end, though, the story picked up and there were enough sudden twists to keep me turning pages. I still believe that the characters as a rule were too changeable and many scenes and conversations were a bit too convenient to be satisfying. Still, the idea of this book was unique and in that way, it was refreshing. We rarely see mysteries or a mash up of technology and magic in fantasy books, especially if they are not steampunk (which this certainly is not). Down Comes the Night is a book I feel has a lot of potential, and it will find its readership, but there were too many missing elements for me to love it. I would still recommend it, particularly for those readers who like a little spookiness, a highly inadvisable romance, and plots and machinations.

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