Down Comes the Night was the gothic ya fantasy I've been looking for for a while now. I never really felt like Emily Duncan's Wicked Saints books quite worked for me, but this exactly filled that hole in my life. It was at once thrilling, romantic, and exciting, and I found myself thinking about it throughout the day whenever I wasn't reading it. A resounding five stars!

The countries of Danu and Vesria have been at war for over a century, a war fueled by magic and countless lives. Although a tentative truce has been reached, the balance is threatened when soldiers from both armies start to go missing. Wren, a soft-hearted and magically talented medic, runs afoul of the Danubian Queen when her act of mercy allows a potential source escape. Stripped of rank and threatened with exile from those she loves, Wren chooses another path and accepts an invitation from a mysterious noble and flees to his estate. Once she arrives, Wren finds an eerily empty mansion ravaged by an unknown disease, and faces the challenge of curing the lone survivor. But the boy Wren is tasked with healing is none other than Hal Cavendish, the Reaper of Vesria and her greatest enemy.

Despite all the lives that Hal has taken, Wren can't walk away and leave him to die. Wren soon discovers that Hal's illness isn't the only mystery in the mansion. As they get to know each other, they realize they have similar goals: finding the missing soldiers and stopping the war that threatens to tear their countries apart. Only their cooperation and trust in each other will save them.

Down Comes the Night is many things: a romance, a mystery, and a magical fantasy. It's set in a grim world of warring nations that run on magic and religious and political propaganda. The main characters are traumatized child soldiers who were raised to fight a war with no victors, only casualties. Wren immediately stands out because she is "soft" and "kind" -- two traits that her upbringing and training haven't been able to repress. She is told her emotions are a weakness and her compassion is a flaw. Even when her actions get her kicked out of the army, Wren does not compromise and even consents to healing her enemy. While the story takes the reader on adventures and intrigues, to haunted mansions and snowy mountains, it always comes back to the underlying theme of forgiveness and compassion.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, the world building and magic systems, the immersive settings, and the bond between Wren and Hal! For fans of the Grishaverse and Sorcery of Thorns!

DNF. This just couldn’t pull me in. I tried repeatedly, but kept setting it aside. Wren was too naive and I was annoyed by her.

Down Comes the Night as gothic vibes, a blooming romance, and pure magic dances with the fantasy genre.  It is a captivating story full of mystery and intrigue that is sure to pull you in and hold your attention until the very end.

This one was a surprise for me. I had forgotten the synopsis when I picked it up and so I went in blind. I enjoyed it right away though. I loved Wren right off the bad and felt that she was very well done. I loved the magic system and found the mix of science and magic to be very very well done. The writing and story telling were also very well done. The only thing I didn't enjoy were the overly romantic parts, which honestly took away a little bit from the overall story for me. Otherwise it was a great read and I am excited to read more from this author.

This turned out to be one. of my favorite books of the year! The mix of fantasy and gothic romance had me so captivated, I read it in one sitting. Fans of A Madness So Discreet and other moody thrillers will love it.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an ARC.

Down Comes the Night follows Wren, who is a healer and member of the Queen's Guard. The Queen being her Aunt who has disowned her and not let her have any right to the throne. Wren is in love with her best friend Una, who has pledged allegiance to the Queen. When Wren gets banished from the Queen's Guard and told she will go to the mines to heal the miners. Wren decides to answer the call from a mysterious man and heal one of his staff in his drafty old crumbling mansion that leads her many secrets and also answers to Wren and Una's missing friend and soldiers of the Queen's Guard.

This book was a fabulous mix of romance, fantasy, and a bit of dark goth. The mix of good vs evil use of magic between Wren, the heroine of the story, and Hal, the villain of the story set a great tone for a love story. I loved the incorporation of LGBT theme and appreciated how naturally the author spoke of Wren's love for a woman and a man equally.

"Maybe I'm wrong," he said pensively. "I still have things I would kill for. But perhaps the most important things—what truly drives us—are the things we would die for."

I know for a fact a lot of us love morally grey characters, but something that's often done that I don't like is when the bad things they've done are brushed off because they are "hot". Let me introduce you to Hal, our love interest. He's done bad things and though society practically made him a monster, he still was the one who did those horrible things.

That's something Allison Saft didn't do. She didn't just tell us what he did and moved on. No, she showed us how he regrets it all and wants to face the consequences of his past actions. PLUS, and this is a big one, Wren wasn't there to make him better! He wanted to be better for himself! That made me so happy because that's how it should be!

Down comes the night revolves a lot around Wren and Hal, of course, but may I also just talk about Una? The character DEVELOPMENT? Can we not sleep on that please? I will not spoil because this is obviously a spoiler-free review, but again: it made me so happy! Wren's journey to acceptance is also such a good one and I! LOVE! THIS! BOOK! So yes, Wren was great on her own and Hal too, but let's talk about them together...

"Mercy is the most difficult thing."

The way I couldn't breathe is truly concerning. Never in my life have I seen such tension between two characters. Allison Saft could've made them kiss way earlier in the book because the tension was there, but she chose not to and I both love and hate that. No, no, seriously: I love it even though it made me suffer in not-so-silence (yes, I was screaming). Waiting made it all feel so much more natural and realistic.

Now that I'm thinking about that: their whole relationship is actually really realistic. It just felt right, you know? Not too fast at all while still not dragging on which I'm always here for! Let's just say my heart exploded and I cried a whole lot. (May I repeat: THAT TENSION THOUGH...)

I loved that Wren was bi! I've seen lots of people say it's lazy representation because the romance is between a man and a woman, but that kinda makes me really angry? How does Wren being in love with a man make her any less bi? I actually loved this and hope that bi people who are dating a man will feel more than valid because of this representation!

Before I go on and rant about feminism, let's keep it to reviewing Down comes the night! This book was written so well! Full of beautiful and meaningful quotes, this book covers a lot of important things. The one below this paragraph is one that I can only applaud the author for because it's so true!

"Maybe the only difference between a monster and a hero was the color of a soldier's uniform."

I don't think this review truly captures how much I loved this book, the feelings it gave me and the things it shows and teaches people, but I tried! I consciously waited a few days before writing this review because I needed to process everything. I think I only started loving it more because I couldn't (and can't) top thinking about this! Allison Saft's debut gets a 5/5 from me! If this doesn't end up on my top 10 books of 2021, I don't know either...

*this review will be published on my blog March 5th. Variations of it will be published on my other social media platforms. Links will follow.

"Dear Ms. Southerland,
I hope this letter finds you well. Let me begin by saying that I reach out to you with the greatest humility. Your reputation as a healer and a surgeon precedes you. But before I prattle on about my great admiration of your profession, let me first arrive at the point. I am in desperate need of your talents."

Wren and Una were out on patrol, investigating the disappearance of three fellow members of the Queen's Guard over the past four months, when it happened again. Wren let her sympathy get the best of her and healed their possible lead. The boy had broken his arm trying to run, and after Wren healed him, he got away, leaving behind only a notebook. The notebook gave a clue as to how valuable the boy might have been - it listed the names of every soldier who had been on patrol in that area of the border between Danu, Cernos, and Vesria, with some names struck out. The Queen was NOT pleased. Wren has never been in favor with the Queen - Isabel's illegitimate niece, she was sent to the abbey where she learned her magical and surgical skills after her parents died. And after this incident, that's where Wren found herself sent again, suspended from duty.

But shortly after she returns to the abbey, an opportunity arrives. A letter, from Lord Alistair Lowry of Cernos. He has heard of Wren's abilities to heal and perform surgery and requests her assistance to heal his servant - much of the rest of his staff recently died from an illness, and he's hoping Wren can heal this final survivor. In return, he promises support to Danu against Vesria. The Queen assumes, and Lowry seems to agree, that the Vesrians are responsible for the soldiers who have disappeared (although recent news has revealed that some of Vesria's soldiers have vanished as well, including the Reaper of Vesria, Hal Cavendish, the man favored to be their next grand magistrate, who can kill anyone who meets his eyes). Excited at the opportunity to prove her worth to the Queen, Wren brings her the letter, only to be denied. Seeing no other way to regain the Queen's favor, Wren chooses to accept Lowry's offer anyway, and travels to his isolated manor to heal her patient. Only after she signs her employment contract does she see who she will be helping and discover that it's Hal Cavendish, known to the others in the house only as Henry. Wren finds herself surrounded with questions. What is the mysterious illness afflicting Hal, that seems to resist her healing? What is causing the strange noises she hears occasionally in the night, when she has been asked to stay in her room? Should she attempt to bring Hal back to Danu in the hopes of pleasing Isabel? And can she possibly get to the bottom of the case of the disappearing soldiers?

I'm not much of a romance fan, but I enjoyed this one. I thought the conclusion was satisfying. The magic system is simple and anatomically based - magic is carried through the user's body through fola, a set of vessels. As Wren is a healer and surgeon, a fair amount of medical terminology is sprinkled throughout the book, a lot of it in metaphors about her surroundings. Sometimes these felt like a bit of a stretch to work another term into the writing, but for the most part I thought it worked. There was one plot point that I thought was a little implausible that Wren didn't think of it sooner.

I think fans of Sorcery of Thorns would like this one (another magical enemies to lovers), maybe also fans of Graceling?

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the eARC. Down Comes the Night is published today, March 2nd, 2021.

I was honestly not expecting to like this one very much. My recent reading seems to be full of surprises!

I'm so grateful that it was just as atmospherically gothic as the synopsis made it out to be! When a synopsis seems that good, you always have to be a little cautious. Thank goodness it was true in this case!

I loved the characters. I've heard complaints about Wren's character, but I enjoyed her character arc! It's also one that the novel's readers can empathize with: being too touchy-feely. Emotions aren't a bad thing. And Hal. Don't get me started, he's absolutely swoon-worthy.🥺

While Down Comes the Night is definitely a fantasy novel, there are some fantastic gothic thriller/mystery vibes. Just enough to keep you on the edge of your seat without overdoing it or losing sight of the plot.

I'd just like to quickly mention the writing and dialogue. While at first glance it may seem run-of-the-mill, it's actually quite humorous and entertaining. Humourous writing in an otherwise dark book is an all-time favorite of mine!

I rated this book four and a half stars. I do that for books that I really enjoyed, but still have flaws. There were just a few things here and there that made me pause, so let me brush on those.

While I liked the whole idea of fola, which are basically another set of veins that magic-wielders have that pump their power instead of blood, I wish that we got a little more worldbuilding. At first, I thought that the only kind of magic was healing magic, but then we were told about different kinds more or less out of the blue. So healing magic is just a common type? And how exactly does fola work? Are they just like normal veins? Is there a second heart to pump the magic? I'm probably overthinking this, but I'd love to know more!

There was also a huge plot hole that a noticed that's going to be hard to say without spoiling, but here goes: basically, Wren and Hal got caught in a sticky situation that wasn't their fault while there was literally evidence to back up Wren's claims right behind them. I understand Isabel ignoring it, but Una was there! It's just a little off.

All in all, I liked Down Comes the Night! It wasn't a perfect book, but the reader's satisfaction outweighs the few little mistakes here and there.

Wren is searching for ways to please the Queen and thereby curry her favor. In an attempt to do so, she accepts the request of a nobleman named Alistair Lowry to journey to his home and help heal the sick there. However, to do so means she is leaving from her current assignment without the Queen's permission. This offense could lead to the stripping of her magic if she's caught. This is even more motivation to succeed at her mission. Once she arrives at Lowry's estate, things seem strange and not at all as she expected. There are strict rules and curfews, as well as strange, suspicious sounds. Still, Wren pushes the limits in order to solve the mystery and cure the sick.

Wren discovers things about herself during this journey. She grows and matures. She also finds herself caught up in a forbidden romance. She busies herself investigating the mystery surrounding the sick and dying and hopes that she can figure out a cure. Wren's goal for all of it is the hope that Lowry will make her a liaison between the Danubian and Vesrian countries and help her broker a truce. Thus enabling her to regain the Queen's favor. Through this experience, Wren also learns a better understanding of sacrifice and friendship. She discovers that sometimes you have to look deeper because things aren't always as they appear on the surface.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This gothic fantasy is a great book for a winter evening. It's cozy and a bit terrifying, and smart and satisfying.

Wren is an itriguing heroine, who is in a tricky situation and makes the best of it. I particularly enjoyed how the story thought about healers and healing magic.

The romance is the element most people will read this story for, and I found it enjoyable and compelling. Definitely a standard for the genre.

My only critique is that some of the side characters didn't get as much due as I'd like, and that the world-level political stakes were not something I was that emotionally invested in.

DNF. I cannot believe I am saying this, but this book is too gory for me! This isn't an insult -- I'm just not the right reader for this YA fantasy. Love the queer rep and the nursing-enemies-back-to-health trope. Would recommend for someone who can stomach medical horror.

I feel like this book could be described as "yearning" meets "gothic" meets "morally gray" and you know what? I'm here for it. The atmosphere alone was *chefs kiss*

What a wonderful book. I'll admit that by the time I got around to it I had entirely forgotten the synopsis and it wasn't until like 25% of the way through that I was like, 'oh right! spooky gothic mystery house!' More importantly though, Wren is such a wonderfully crafted character and her commitment to compassion over violence and orders is shown throughout to be a strength despite what other characters say. I wish the book spent more time than it did playing with the gothic horror house; that was by far the most unique feature of the book, and while the other parts were all good-to-great, they did tread on some standard YA fare.

Down Comes The Night is unusual in the sense that it’s Gothic, has High Fantasy political/kingdom at stakes vibes, witchy undertones, and a unique magic system. It’s a standalone, which is awesome, but it also leaves you hankering for more.
DCTN has bi girl rep. An enemies to lovers trope. Oh, and Saft’s writing is oh so pretty. This novel isn’t as atmospheric as I imagined upon requesting the book and focuses more on the romance and theme than the murder mystery element. I think it fits Wren’s character arc well but may not suit some readers.
Although I did receive a copy of this novel through Net Galley, I would have picked this novel up regardless based on the cover art alone.

This arc was kindly provided by Wednesday Books, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

TW: body gore, murder, torture, descriptions of surgical procedures.

*screams into a pillow* the ending

Allison Saft really said, "it's about the yearning" and I respect that. Even when it hurt me.

Down Comes the Night follows Wren Southerland, the daughter of the deceased sister of the queen and an outcast. She has always been at odds with her aunt, and she desperately wants to prove herself. She has the magic to heal and you can either be a nun or enlist in the army.

However, due to her actions, Wren is being sent away to the mines. When an opportunity arises to gain favor in a neighboring country, she takes it longing to make her aunt proud. In Colwick Hall she is hired to heal a servant but what she finds there will change the course of her life.

I am deliberately being vague in the synopsis, I think this is one of those books you need to dive into. Wren's country and the people in her life see emotions as weakness, which completely defines Wren. She has always been told she is too emotional, she is weak because of it. The writing is truly shown how Wren was created and you, as the reader, could understand her feelings and see them boil up to the surface.

Wren is someone who has never had any kind of emotional support and she just wants to be seen and to belong.

The writing perfectly exposes Wren's situation and her motivations as the story unfolds. The connection between Wren and Hal, as it blooms... This book is the perfect example of yearning and I WAS HERE FOR IT.

If you enjoy enemies-to-lovers, complex characters, healing magic, I really can't recommend this enough. I loved it so much.

Down Comes The Night by Allison Saft is a YA fantasy about two warring countries and the two magic wielders stuck in the middle.

Wren is the illegitimate niece of the Queen of Danu, a healer with magic and a member of the military. Her unrequited love for the captain of her guard (and best friend) along with her tendency for mercy and softness has put her position within the military in jeopardy and on the wrong side of the Queen. Wren sees an opportunity to redeem herself and avoid a punishing post to the mines by accepting the invitation to an isolated manor and healing an employee of Lord Lowry. The mysterious and eccentric Lord promises to help her with the Queen if she heals his employee but when Wren arrives she finds out that nothing at the manor is what it seems. To Wren’s horror she will discover the “employee“ she is asked to heal, the rules of her stay, the terrible illness and the real motivations Lord Lowry are all more than she ever imagined and it will take all her healing skills and strength to get out alive.

I really enjoyed this moody, atmospheric fantasy novel. The slow burn romance between the two main characters and the mystery of what was really happening at the manor kept my interest and I found myself wanting to read more. There is a nice storyline about how soldiers have to come to grips with what they’ve done in the past, how two countries can move past lifetimes of war and animosity and how someone can keep their humanity when their world forces them to be a killer.

I highly recommend Down Comes The Night by Allison Saft for young adult fans of fantasy, mystery and romance.

4.75 stars rounded up to 5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My copy of Down Comes The Night was provided by NetGalley and the publisher for review purposes

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for letting me read an e-ARC of Down Comes the Night! It came out on March 2nd (with a bunch of other amazing books), so make sure you go check it out ASAP!

Down Comes the Night 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.
The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.
With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

I liked Down Comes the Night a lot- I think the magic system was really interesting, I liked Wren and Hal as characters, and I really liked the villain. I did, however have so many questions throughout the book, and while they didn't bother me while I was reading (they were definitely easily overlookable), I'm going to ask them all right now. Was Hal blind or did the damage to his eyes just impact his magic? How many different types of magic are there? Why was Isabel so against everything Wren did? What happened to Wren's dad? You know her mom died, but how did she die? Why/how was Isabel's power so unchecked? Why did Lowry have so much power? Was there no one else in his kingdom who could see what was going on? Like I said, so many questions. I liked the beginning and the middle of this book a lot, but I felt like the ending was little too... easy and tied together. It felt like some characters did a total 180 and changed their personalities to make the ending work, which was weird, but it did end up with us having a nice happy ending, which is always fun. Overall, I enjoyed Down Comes the Night, and while it wasn't my favorite 2021 read so far, it's definitely worth the read!

Wren Southerland always felt more like a healer than a soldier. It’s a talent passed down for generations in her family and it’s one of the only things that gives her life any meaning – her magic and her best friend, Una. She longs for a place where she can be more than just the Queen’s poor little orphan niece. A place safe from war. A place free of death.

So when a single act of mercy during a mission threatens to take away all that she holds so dear, Wren will do anything – no matter how treasonous it may seem, to find her way home.

“Most nights, Wren still jerked awake drenched in sweat and gasping. Her dreams were lit by raging fire, the stench of burning flesh coating her skin and screams ringing in her ears. But did someone steeped in so much death even feel the weight of it anymore?”

Hal Cavendish is best known as the “Reaper of Vesria”. His magic is almost as legendary as his thirst for his enemy’s blood. Wren can hardly believe that it’s actually him that is teetering so close to death in Colwick Hall.

Regardless of her patient’s past sins, Wren plans to live up to her part of the bargain she made with the inscrutable Lord Alistair Lowry. Heal the boy and win the forgiveness of the Queen.

But the more that Hal reveals of himself, the more she feels her world beginning to shift. If they can work together to solve the mystery that lurks in the long dark hallways of the near deserted mansion, they can stop a coming war. But if they’re not very careful, they could lose their lives as well as their hearts.

“Were they really so different? Two weeks ago, Wren had thought she knew herself. A medic in the Queen’s Guard. Reckless, yes, but good-hearted at her core. But with the weight of Hal’s life and a war in her hands, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Nothing was as simple as she wanted it to be.”

Down Comes the Night is everything that a gothic romance should be! Allison Saft immerses her reader in a world that is both dangerously seductive and bravely hopeful at the same time. Seething with a suspense that never surrenders, I couldn’t look away for an instant. From the sophisticated characters to the multi-sensory landscape, this is a story that will quicken even the blackest of hearts. And what could be more thrilling than that?