Plot Synopsis

This dark epic fantasy follows the heirs of four noble houses—each gifted with a divine power—as they form a tenuous alliance to keep their kingdom from descending into a realm-shattering war.

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.

Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light—will sacrifice everything to save the city.

But their defiance will cost them dearly.

My Review

4 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the e-arc!

Queer characters, magic, some steamy scenes, and political intrigue? Sign me up!

This book was wonderful, though I do see a new common theme arising in books and that is characters either related to a god/goddess or bestowed powers by them. In my opinion this is a great thing, I love a good book that involves the world’s religion.

The book does begin with some heavy handed plot laying that discusses how the City of Dusk and the four other realms are cut off from each other due to the Sealing. I felt like the author was a little too heavy handed in this aspect, as a reader you’re constantly beat over the head with how the Sealing has cut everyone off and what that means in the long run. I know it was meant to build a sense of urgency, but to me it was just irritating.

We have our four main families (which I love the family breakdown at the beginning of the book) and each family is tied to a god/goddess. Each of the families is tied to that god/goddess by blood and has powers that reflect that god’s realm. For example, Tae is related to the God Nyx and has powers related to shadows. As the book develops you learn more about the political standing of each family, even though the families are descended from literal Gods the land is ruled by a King. I loved that the book spoke freely of the refugees that the Sealing left behind and how the families either protected or abandoned those refugees. Each family felt quite selfish to me, each only operating within their realm of influence, unwilling to interfere or assist each other. The parents in particular felt so insular to me, not a single adult figure ever really encouraged working together to solve the realms issues. They were all too busy trying to make sure that their heir would be named the heir to the king as the king has no progeny.

As the book develops we have fourish main characters with a few other POVs sprinkled throughout the story. The switch between POVs was very well done and helped build understanding and sympathy for each of the families. Though Angelica’s mom did seem to be kind of a monster, Angelica herself did grow on me. The book focuses on two main plots: breaking down the barriers and stopping conjuration. Conjuration is essentially witchcraft believed to be used to summon demons. It was believed that all occult books had been destroyed and no one had practiced conjuration for hundreds of years. Of course, magic and people find a way and that’s not really true. As the book develops, conjuration and breaking the barrier are tied together with a true understanding of what conjuration was coming to light.

Will the families heirs decide to work together? Will the barriers break? Who will be the heir to the throne? And why are the dead rising all over the city? I’m telling you this book really has it all.

The descriptions Tara Sim has in this book are lovely, you can really imagine yourself immersed in this world and picture the characters so well. I honestly was hooked and the last half of the book had me staying up until midnight to finish it. I’m looking forward to further plot development in the next books and will definitely be purchasing the sequels!