Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft - OPTIONAL

Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft, 400 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2021. $19.

Language: PG13 (19 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Having the Healing Touch is Wren’s only redeeming quality. Her aunt, the queen, only tolerates Wren as long as she’s a useful member of the Queen’s Guard. But Wren has always let her emotions get the best of her, and her friend, Una, can’t save Wren from the consequences of her last blunder. Desperate to regain what little favor she had, Wren considers taking the biggest risk: deserting.

The premise drew me in, but annoyance with Wren’s actions nearly made me set the book down – multiple times. Saft challenges her characters and readers to consider the roles of magic versus technology, vengeance versus mercy, duty versus compassion. I liked the mental exercise of considering the viewpoints of different characters on these subjects more than enduring Wren’s wishy-washiness. The story ends well, but getting there was more painful than I wanted it to be. The mature content rating is for alcohol use, innuendo, nudity, and sex. The violence rating is for gore and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen