My heart is full. Amanda Dykes has raised the bar of excellence in this masterfully crafted tale. While I love historical fiction and read a lot of WWI and WWII era stories, this one stands out for its beautiful prose, heartwarming cast of characters, and unique viewpoint. I absolutely loved that Ms. Dykes chose to tell this story through five different characters, knitting together what at first appears to be totally different viewpoints into one united story of courage. Their individual journeys of faith tugged at my heart, as each character reached out into a greater story of sacrifice and love. This is a book for the keeper shelf, to be returned to again and again. Bravo!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book. Way to get to the heart and never let it go. This book, like every book I have read by this author is engrossing. I cannot put them down. This one was very different but no less powerful. At first the 5 different narrators was challenging. Who is speaking? But then, it made sense and just clicked with me.
The research in this book is impeccable. The prose is lyrical and will linger with the reader for a long time. And that cover! I am eagerly awaiting my paperback copy!

If you're anything like me, you read Amanda Dykes for the way she takes truth and chips away all the darkness we've buried it under so that it shines clearly in its true radiance. You probably like her characters and you think her stories are splendid, but it's the way she writes them that makes them special.

And if you're anything like me, you pre-ordered Yours is the Night because Set the Stars Alight is a masterpiece in its genre, and you need more of that and wonder how Yours is the Night will compare. I'm sorry if you haven't read Stars, because it was impossible for me to read or review Night without thinking of her sister.
This review is for those who are anything like me.

The Prose - Amanda Dykes delivers truth as beautifully in this one, although maaaaybe not to the same extent. You know how you were highlighting and underlining every other page in Stars? This had maybe fewer quotable quotes, but did have great ones worth remembering.

The Truth - "The night— it had become our homeland, his and mine. The place where all the rest of the world slept and our hearts found each other in the dark. To sit, to talk, to be heard— and to see that the darkness was created and held by the same God who had spun the sun and all its golden light."
Honestly, the verse this story centered on, the message ("the God who created the light also created the night. There is nothing to fear here.") - this is good stuff. This is important stuff. I loved it, but I doubly recommend this book to anyone for whom the dark and the night is difficult, lonely, painful. This book is for you.

The Characters - This book is told in the POVs of five main characters, very different from each other, but sharing a time and place. I like this style of storytelling, and I liked these characters and their arcs. I enjoyed spending time with them.

The Plot - the story was fine. I liked it. It wasn't the most captivating one I've ever read, but I don't have any issues with it.

The Emotional Toll - this is important to me. Christian fiction authors walk a fine line between being realistic in their portrayal of difficult topics and pain, (often facing criticism for not being "raw" enough) and offering enough hope along the way that the reader isn't devastated in the reading. As a reader, I lean towards preferring the latter. I don't mind a good cry in a book, but I need to want to pick the book back up and not feel tense and stressed all day between times. This book was perfect for me. The author shows pain but doesn't drown you in it. She refers to devastating things that happened without you having to see and feel every detail. This is a good thing to me. This is a five star talent to me. I support authors who don't devastate their readers. Furthermore, I would say that if Amanda Dykes' three full length novels, this one had the happiest ending.

Now. With all that said, I only felt like this was a 4.5⭐ book to me. I had an ongoing problem with little plot holes on the scene level. I try to picture what is happening in the scene and follow the author as the characters talk, but it jars me out of the scene when I'm told the characters are kneeling and then on the next page they're standing, and I never knew when they stood up. And then I'm flipping back and forth wondering if I missed something. And I find it didn't, and I've been completely taken out of the story. At one point, a MC is holding a woman, on the next page he's wishing desperately that he could hold her, while I thought he still was.
Dear reader, I counted at least six instances of these little things that made me wonder if the editor didn't read the book all the way through again after the author's final edits were in. It struck me as what happens when I edit something on one page and then don't reread the scene to realize my changes left something hanging. I'm looking forward to others reading this book so I can talk to them about my little list and find out if it's me or the book. I wish it wasn't like this, because it diminished what I would have thought was a very good book into something with a lot of question marks for me.

Anyway, don't miss this one. It's good, respectful, gentle, beautiful, but I do think Stars is still my favorite.
I received an advance copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review but I received my pre-ordered copy when I was halfway through the book. All opinions are my own.

“Sometimes there’s a dark so thick you just know that the God who made light with His own two hands— with just His words— is going to plunge right into that dark to find you. You remember that, Mr. Matthew."

This book. This is a book I've wanted since I first heard about it because Amanda Dykes has earned her place as an auto-buy author for me. If you're looking forward to this one, and maybe, just maybe, wondering if the story can possibly live up to the hype in your mind, let me relieve you by saying Yours is the Night is, at the same time, all that we've anticipated and far more.

That heart-tugging prologue lets us know that there's an emotional ending coming. But the journey--the JOURNEY is worth the tears. And isn't that just like life.

In that poetic way of hers, Amanda Dykes introduces you to the Seventeenth Band. Matthew, Jasper, Henry, George (hilarious George)...and Mira too, because she certainly earns her place in their band. As you walk with them in France, you find yourself in those WWI trenches. In a mysterious forest haunted by song. In the midst of hope and light to combat the night. To live with you in the night.

I was, of course, shedding tears by the end, but those tears were born from acknowledgement of the sacrifice others made long ago--and still make today. This isn't a story to be missed or skimmed. This is one to savor, line by line.

And the little nuggets sprinkled in from her other two novels are so fun!

(Side note: I'd love to be a fly on the wall while Amanda Dykes writes because, man, does she have a talent that must be intuitive and God-given as much as attained through practice and study. I'm in awe.)

*For transparency's sake, I'll tell you I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. But all this gushing is absolutely my own opinion!)