Winds of Strife is the first book in the Dawnless Night fantasy series, a fantasy I would definitely say is more on the darker side of the spectrum. In fact, it does something that I really love: it blends two of my favorite genres: horror and fantasy. If you are a fantasy reader who had thought about delving into horror to see if it would be one you would enjoy, this would be the perfect book for you to read.

The audiobook narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb is AMAZING. She excelled expectations when telling this story and bringing these characters to life. It would have been so easy to ignore everything except the magic system - but Cobb made the characters so compelling that they were impossible to not give them your full attention. The voice of Madness....oh my. I have to say that one is my favorite. For many reasons which would be spoilers.

If you are a reader who has any specific triggers, there are definitely quite a few to be aware of when reading this book: mental disorders/illness, violence, abusive relationships.

We follow a cast of characters who have a variety of agendas this story introduces and explores. Witch hunts, those who would rebel, a king who has built a kingdom upon lies - but what is really amazing about this world is its magic. In fact, to be very honest, I focused so intensely on this magic system and learning it that I sort of didn't care about the characters. The magic system of Olyanath is based on EMOTIONS - how they can be harnassed and used - what all the uses ARE - the color of the auras - just absolutely fascinating and complex. Conveniently, the author put charts for each of the emotions at the start of the chapters for readers to refer to as needed. This is a dark fantasy, but as a lover of the horror genre as well - I very much enjoyed this fantasy that bordered on the border of horror.

As far as characters, I favored Diane the most, followed by Grin....and, by unpopular opinion, Nye. Nye is very polarizing - he is abusive, suffers from a mental disorder (I have some theories on this) and does some very terrible things. Here's the thing though - he serves a purpose and I firmly believe his purpose fit exactly as it should in this narrative. It was what was required and I am very much interested to see what happens in the next book in this series.

I really enjoy books that cause me to think over what I read for days - supposing the reasons and driving forces behind characters and theories, predictions for what it is to come.