DNF.

I'm not sure how I ended up with this book on my shelf because I don't really go for fantasy stories and I don't have any real interest in series, and this was both. So I will start out by admitting that I am not the target audience for this book and that's probably why it didn't hold my interest. The author bounced around between POV characters but they all had a pretty similar voice and I would often forget who was narrating. I found myself paying more attention to the grammatical errors than the story itself, which helps no one.

I did find it interesting that in a world where supernatural beings are the rule rather than the exception, their special qualities were treated as mundane. It's hard to make vampires, werewolves and sorcerers boring but I guess if that's your whole population, then not everyone can be exciting and glamorous. Even vampires have to do laundry sometimes.

I'm giving 3 stars because it's right down the middle. I'm unable to give it a fair shake. due to my biases, but I did try.

I can't give it a higher score because it just is not for me, but I can't give it a lower score because it was never going to be.

I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for access to a digital ARC. My honest review is my own opinion.

Sam is a palace maid in the last vampire city left standing after the mysterious Grays came out of nowhere and decimated all the immortals in the land. She's pulled into a murder investigation that starts to shed light on truths the elite Lords don't want the population to find out, and it goes a lot deeper and darker than just the murder of the First Lord's son. Sam will have to be smart and team up with individuals she'd never have thought possible to survive and find the truth behind the darkness that makes the city of First Light so dangerous.

There were moments of brilliance where I was 100% into everything, rooting for the characters, and excited to know what was really going on. Then it lost me when the pages and pages of exposition and talking heads started. That was the entire experience of reading this book: going from page-turner to finding any excuse not to read because I was bored.
The characters are interesting. I would have loved a bit more time to explore them in action instead of talking, because they all get little moments to take charge and those are what kept me reading. Crocker's writing shines when the characters are moving and the action takes center stage. The plot moves as the characters are doing instead of talking, so you're pulled along at their exciting pace. The problem is that what follows those scenes is people talking and exploring what happened, why, how, and just too much exposition that I would have liked either summarized or explained with fewer details.
In the end, what made this a middle-of-the-road book for me instead of a miss was that some pretty exciting things happen, with fascinating revelations toward the end. I could not believe what was revealed and the reasons why. I just wish getting there hadn't been so tedious.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the read.

Lightfall by Ed Crocker
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Sam is just a palace maid in a Vampire city, when the prince is killed. Sam finds something in the prince’s room that she believes means there was more to the Prince’s death than people want known. And so she starts looking for others who are suspicious of the ruling class.
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I was really excited to read this book because I love fantasy reads and always want to support them.
The first three chapters of this book were really good. It set up the story in a way where I got invested and I wanted to know everything.
There are vampires who had to flee their own city a long time ago due to these mysterious gray people. Now they have a sort of truce with the werewolves and are building towards trying to take back their city. Once the prince dies it really gets Sam and her friends digging out ALL of the secrets, and there are a LOT.

The book got really slow for several chapters in the middle and I unfortunately set it aside for a long time.
Once I picked it back up, the second half of the book was really interesting and got me invested in the rest of the trilogy once it becomes available.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A good start to a new fantasy trilogy. I want to read the next book once it is available.

Lightfall is an epic dark fantasy filled with political maneuvering, intricate world building, supernatural creatures, conspiracy, corruption, and intrigue. I loved the vampiric class system and the idea of a stock market for blood. The multiple POVs was well done, and kept the plot moving at a fast pace. The characters were complex, there was plenty of snark and banter, and the action was thrilling. I loved this one and can’t wait to see what happens next.

Thank you to St Martins Press, Ed Crocker, and NetGalley for the ARC.

📔Lightfall
✏️ Ed Crocker
📆 January 14, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

READ IF YOU LIKE:
🩸dark, intricate fantasy
🩸vampire, wolves, and sorcerers
🩸no humans
🩸court politics
🩸conspiracies and intrigue
🩸multi POV

DNF.

I love a good story with vampires. Unfortunately, this one didn't grab me. The world building was trying to do something new and interesting, but I can't say for sure whether it achieved that, since I only read about 30 pages before deciding I wouldn't continue. The few characters I met felt flat, and I wasn't interested in the plot. There were also a surprising number of places where I was confused by basic sentence structure; to try to tell what or who the sentence was referring to.

Lightfall introduces a refreshingly original fantasy realm—an Everlands devoid of humans, where vampires, werewolves, and sorcerers forge uneasy alliances and rivalries in a layered, post-human society. Ed Crocker deserves credit for ambition: the lore is rich, the setting evocative, and the themes of power, rebellion, and identity are thoughtfully seeded throughout.

The book’s strength lies in its atmosphere and premise. The city of First Light is vividly imagined, almost gothic in tone, and the class tensions between ruling vampires and the rest of the supernatural world create an undercurrent of tension that adds depth. There are moments when Crocker’s prose feels lyrical, brushing against something truly captivating.

However, that potential often gets bogged down by pacing issues and uneven character work. The plot moves in fits and starts, and while Sam, the palace maid-turned-unwilling-heroine, is intriguing, her arc feels rushed and occasionally muddled. Some supporting characters blur together, making it hard to feel fully invested in their fates.

Still, for fans of dark fantasy looking for a new world to sink their teeth into (pun intended), Lightfall may scratch the itch. It’s not without its flaws, but it shows enough promise that I’d consider picking up the next installment—hoping it finds a stronger rhythm as the series unfolds.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book but found the execution to be a bit messy. There’s a lot to establish at first with the worldbuilding, which keeps you from getting fully invested in the characters. I also found the first person perspective just a bit grating.

Complex fantasy world of shifters, vampires, and magic - politics, manipulations, power plays, and insurgence create a dynamic and rich world. For those that loke epic fantasy in imaginative worlds, you will like this one.

This novel brought a concept that I never even thought of before. It's too good and too unique for me to just tell you. It's something you'd have to read to understand the repercussions of. I do believe that there were some areas in the book that seemed a bit out of character. But the concept is good enough to overlook most of that. Try to answer the question: what is the most dangerous thing that vampires could come up against?

This book was just so easy to get lost in. I completely got lost in the story and I just loved getting to see these new characters come together. I just absolutely love this story and I just didn’t want to put it down. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

This book wasn't for me. It's for somebody, but I could not stand either one of the narrating characters. One of them was just too special for this world, and the reason she was just too special was because she is so special. Just the absolute worst kind of person, except for the more absolutely worst kind of person, the guy who does things for exactly the right reasons but you wouldn't understand if you're not as honorable as him.

The writing was good, plot and pacing were fine, but I can't stand these two and I hope bad things happen to them

I tried more than a few times to pick this up and start it. I just couldn't get into it. I'm not sure if it was the writing or just me... but unfortunately I had to DNF.

I was not able to read this book and review it before its publishing date but now that I read it I have given it 4 stars.

I wanted to like this but I just did not think the writing was good. The story and atmosphere was cool, but I needed better writing.

I’ve sat on this for a while because I thought if I sat with for a little while I might be able to put my finger on why I didn’t love this. All of the ingredients were there, dystopian setting, vampires… the story caught me at first, but then the characters ultimately lost it for me. They were sort of just one dimensional.

I wanted to love this so badly. I love vampires. I had set it aside, and came back to it because I thought perhaps it was just my mood, but alas, I just did not enjoy this one unfortunately.

I enjoyed the very beginning, it felt promising, but then I ended up a bit bored. A few things that pulled me out of the story... The dialogue felt odd, I couldn't put my finger on it - perhaps all the "First Lord" repetition. Of all the cool names - Beth...Beth is literally my 67-year-old mortal mother's name. PLEASE give me all badass names! In the beginning, the "assassin" doesn't even come close to actually trying to assassinate them. It was not believable at all. A few things were just "too easy". The foreshadowing was a bit too clear, so I saw the "twist" coming and wasn't surprised at all.

This was an interesting and unique fantasy that started off really strong! I liked the world building and character development and found myself really intrigued for the first half but then it slowed down in the second half to the point where it made me feel less invested in the story and characters. There just seemed to be a lot going on with vampires, magicians and werewolves that it made it hard to follow the story.

Oh Boy..this was a fail for me. When I read the snyopis I was very excited but I SLOGGED through this..I mean it took me 45 days to get through it. Oh my.
I truly don't know why this was such a fail for me - it really had everything I normally love. It had vampire society, it had intrigue, it had assassins, and mysteries and tons of action scenes but I just couldn't get invested in this book. I truly think the switching of POV's was a tough thing for me. I kept going back to see how I was reading. I think the only character I truly liked was Sam. She was complex and exciting to read about as she had the most potential for Arcs but all the other characters seemed very set.
I also struggled a lot with the world. I kept getting the words, and places confused. It flipped from almost old timey historical but then threw in made up words that just didn't flow - LIike Bloodflute..I am sorry..why couldn't we just call it a glass - every time I came to these types of words it pulled me right out of the story again.
I also felt a lot of the places and wording was too similar - Light fall, Last Fal New Fall ...we all fall I still am clueless of where this was taking place. There were too many wars, too many time lines that I was trying to keep track of...I felt like a needed a cheat sheet - Twin War, Grey fall, last light.
Ok that is what I didn't like...what I did like, what made me want to actually finish was the mystery - I am always a sucker for a good "lets get the gang altogether and solve the problems" type story and as the story moved along we were getting there. I actually think the next book is set up really.
I also really really think this would make an amazing TV series. I just feel like the descriptions of the characters, and costumes and imagery of the city with the vampires and all the action scenes would play out amazing on screen. The different POV's work well with that type of story telling and I could really see this story working well in that medium.
So while this is not for me I think a lot of people would really really like it. It had tons of good qualities.

I feel this story has potential, but I had a hard time following the plot, even as things were explained. The ending was not surprising to me. I am not interested enough to continue the series.

Lightfall is the first book in a trilogy and I will definitely be reading the next two books.

This book is about immortals- vampires, sorcerers, and werewolves- and all of the secrets that come with years of immortals existing. I wasn't expecting to love this book as much as I did, but it had such great characters all wrapped up in an excellent story.

Fantasy fans and horror fans will find something to love in this book.