I loved the vibe of this story. It was very manga/anime-esque in the way that the fights and the monsters are portrayed. This is one huge fun read full of great characters/character development, great action scenes, and really interesting mythology and Asian folklore. I absolutely loved this and I cannot wait for more by this author and in this world.

Thank you to netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, HarperTeen for allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed the dynamics of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!!!
This one feels like anime. Big flashy fights with monsters that become more humanized during your time reading. Incredibly well done characters with diverse backgrounds and increasing complex wants. They grow and want more throughout this. I am waiting for the next one eagerly.

SO GOOD. the concept was PERFECT and the writing was literally immaculate. this book definitely cured my book slump era

Magic and mayhem collide in this riveting read that beautifully pays homage to Asian-diaspora folklore. I couldn’t possibly love a book more!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

5.5 ⭐️
The whole entire book was incredible. The world building, the characters, the premise. Literally everything. If you want a book that’s going to make you cry then read this book! That ending is painful. I rarely cry at books. This is the second book to ever make me cry. These characters are so lovable. I loved every single second of this book. I will now be reading anything this author writes. There’s no words to describe how heartbreaking 💔 this book is. You will feel pain, anger, sadness, resentment, hatred, love, happiness and so much more. These characters don’t have anything easy. They go through non stop pain and the worst type of pain by the end. If you want to be emotionally devastated please read this book. I highly recommend it 🖤

This book is so good!! It reminds me a little of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. The world building is so interesting. I loved the magic system and the hierarchy of the gods of the underworld. The main romantic subplot was well done. The friendships and family dynamics were well done.

The m/m relationship could have been fleshed out a little more, not insta love though, just would have liked more relationship progression. But I have a feeling that will be more fleshed out in the sequel (which I am very excited to read in the coming months/years).

TROPES:
Friends to Lovers
One bed
LGBTQ+ rep
Magical school
Fated mates

Content Warning: low spice (intense makeout scene), violence


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

It’s been eight days and I can’t stop thinking about this book. When I say this was SO good!!

June’s writing has grown and improved so much since Jade Fire Gold and I couldn’t put this book down. The comp to Shadowhunters is accurate and I love how this concept worked with Chinese gods and underworld. I want the next book NOW

I am not quite sure I am the target audience for this as it reads a bit mid/younger YA (I'm 28 and a crossover, upper YA reader) so perhaps some of my issues with it were due to genre/age conventions. The world was fun and intriguing but I felt a lack of connection to the main character and felt she didn't really have a complete character arc, and we are simply waiting for book 2 to resolve these issues. The plot twists were quite obvious (though I didn't mind this problem that much) and deeply disliked Yiran as a character.

Zizi was my favorite and I wish we got more explanation of this star-crossed lovers trope and answers to the whole "anomaly" fate element. TLDR, this book felt incomplete without the rest of the series and so overall I was left a bit disappointed...HOWEVER! I 100% support this concept of modern Asian-inspired fantasy, had an overall good time reading it and still recommend this book to teens!

Ok when I tell you I loved this book- I LOVED IT!
The beginning starts as a tragic flashback. Then you fastfoward to the present to catch up with our protagonist and you learn life is complicated and she has trouble with relationships.
From there we're introduced to character powers "exorcists". This book also incorporates Asian mythology which I loved. I'm not familiar with everything but it felt like a great change up from the repetitive things I'm used to.
The characters-Rui, Zizi, Yiran and Nikai you can't help but be drawn to them. If you don't love Zizi, how could you!?
All this to rambling to say I cannot wait for this to come out. I'm buying a physical copy immediately.
Thank you June C. L. Tan and Netgallery for letting me read this book.

June CL Tan has fast become one of my favorite authors.
The delightful cast of characters, the well built world and beautifully paced story- all simply a joy to read. This feels fresh and fun, despite using some common tropes.
Can not wait to read the sequel!!

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Teen for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"I am going to see the stars, my friend."

Screaming, crying, and throwing up!
I am obsessed with Darker by Four, and I'm going to need that sequel asap!

A vengeful girl. A hollow boy. A missing god. (I love this tag line, by the way.)

If you thought Jade Fire Gold was great, prepare to be blinded by fabulousness that is Darker by Four. I swear if they ever make an anime adaption of this series I would watch it in a heartbeat. So get to it MAPPA. I love everything about this book: the cover, the characters, the dark and gritty story line, and the way June CL Tan took my heart, and stomped on it at the end. I highly recommend Darker by Four if you've loved the action and humor of Jujutsu Kaisen, the strength and bravery of Xingyin from Daughter of the Moon Goddess, and the slow-burn romance from her debut Jade Fire Gold.

"Haven't you ever felt like that? Like you're searching for someone out there who's right for you - someone who completes you... When I saw you that night, I knew."

The pacing and Tan's story-telling kept me captivated from the beginning to even after the end. I could have stayed in that world for a hundred pages longer. The characters are flawed, and so well-developed. There is great queer representation, and Chinese mythology. I loved reading from each of the point of views, and I appreciated being able to read from a favorite of mine at the end. I'm intrigued by the Kings, and the darkness they brought to the story. I'm hoping we will see more of them in the sequel.

Zizi has my heart. He is literally a reincarnate of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, and we must protect him at all costs. I'm excited to see where Yuki and Yiran's complicated relationship will go. I'm rooting for them so hard. Rui is one of my favorite protagonists. I loved reading from her point of view the most.

I'm crossing my fingers for an exclusive edition, especially Illumicrate, since they did Jade Fire Gold previously.

5 stars.

[I might edit, and add more to, my review later because I'm still reeling from the cliffhanger.]

From Jade Fire Gold author June CL Tan, Darker by Four is the launch of an epic, sweeping contemporary fantasy duology that is the Shadowhunter Chronicles meets the Chinese underworld, drawing inspiration from diaspora folklore.

Fantastic. One of the best books I have read this year.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me a chance at this rather interesting read!

Darker than Four is an interesting drama with secrets and mysteries set in a world like our own but not quite our own. It took me a while to get used to this world - cars, cities, etc. exist (even fantasy films too). But, in this world, there is something called The Blight, in this world, the Blight turns people into monsters. There are also those who are monsters but have their humanity still a part of them (or fighting it).

The book begins with a car crash, a pregnant woman is about to loose her baby. At the scene is a mysterious group of people called 'Reapers' and you find out that they are here to usher the souls into the great beyond. You also find out that the great beyond is split into various dominions, these dominions are guarded / ruled by kings named after numbers - One, Two, Three, Four etc. One, Four, and Ten are present. Four is a young twenty-looking something, One is older, and Ten is older in looks and age but not by much. Four has the power to stop death. It is not done often, and One requests this of Four. Four does so. Ten has an object that Four wants. Four asks for it, but in return he must grant something to Ten and the promise to let him know what this object is. Four leaves and vanishes never to be seen again. Four also has a Reaper who is his friend, who was found by Four, and works for him.

Eighteen years later, we find out that the girl has grown up, her mother has passed on, and her father is still alive but in a not so rocky relationship with her. Apparently, this is where it took some time to get used to - there are people called Exorcists, whose job is to find these creatures that were caused by the Blight and get rid of them with their powers. Our FL is a very gifted Exorcist - both in skills and powers.

We are also introduced to another boy, who is also 18 , and lacks no powers. He apparently is part of a family of Exorcists who all amounted to great things except him. He wishes he could have powers and make his grandfather (who is known as the big man in the world of these Exorcists) proud.,

Our FL has a friend that she sees who has powers, chooses not to be an Exorcist, and dabbles with magic experiments. He is part of a group of underground magic users. She goes to him to try out a spell, which allows power to be split and given to someone else, or removed from that person. She tests it out because he found her helped her when her mother passed due to a killing by one of these creatures, and because she also likes him.

It is during a hunt for her mother's killer, and the creatures in general, the FL and ML meet, and in a dire situation she gives him her power. The power then is given to him, and starts off a chain reaction of things that link them all together, and draws attention to the reapers in regards to the missing god Four.

If you watch CDramas, there is a lot of tropes and plot devices used in this. If you're not used to CDramas or this is might be a little rough on your reading scale. For me, this book has a big one - reincarnation and or transmigration. Also the use of magical terms / powers like qui.

The reason I mark this down is that while I enjoyed the story, I feel like I'm missing something in the way that things were explained. It wasn't quite clear over the Blight, where the creatures exactly came from, what does the rest of the world think of this, and of course - the missing God Four and why exactly he vanished. Based on he ending for the characters discussed we will find out in book two, but I feel like the writing could have been clearer to the reader or a way of making it flow without giving away these details could be helpful.

Still, it's most certainly a different read, and one that I encourage people to try if they're getting tired of Western fantasy.