There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool - OPTIONAL

There Will Come a Darkness (The Age of Darkness, #1) by Katy Rose Pool, 485 pages.  Henry Holt and Company, 2019.  $20.  

Content: Language: PG (6 swears); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13.  

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Five people with very different backgrounds all have a role to play in the gathering darkness in their kingdom.  Ephyra takes the lives of wicked people and transfers their energy to keep her dying sister, Beru, alive.  Anton has been raised to believe that he is the future prophet, but has trouble accessing the prophecy that is supposed to save the world.  Jude has trouble keeping his vows because of his feelings for his friend.  Hassan is supposed to be the future king but has been exiled from his country and is hiding in secrecy waiting to revolt against those who have stolen his kingdom.  As these character’s lives start to intersect, they realize maybe their roles aren’t what they thought they were, but they need to work together to save the kingdom.  

I enjoyed the backstories and the different characters, and I cared what happened to them.  I felt like the purpose behind their actions needed to be more developed and was super frustrated with the cliff-hanger ending.  The content includes a descriptive bleeding to death and an implied sexual molestation.  I hope that the second book in the series can provide more answers.

Reviewer, C. Peterson