7 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2025/01/10/lightfall-by-ed-crocker-review/

No humans, only immortals.

First thing’s first: I loved the concept. An original take on the classic story of things that go bump in the night. Vampires, werewolves, immortals of untold power—all just dropped on their own continent and left to duke it out.

I loved the aforementioned concept, story, and characters—all of which build on one another to make the read better and better as it goes on. The characters especially brought the world to life! So many distinctive and interesting leads, all told in first-person (which has a tendency to throw the narrative for me, but which didn’t here). Maybe because they worked together so well, or because the plot flowed seamlessly between one narrative and the next. The story itself ran along quite easily, and was never any trouble to read. Just the opposite. The pacing took off early and… at least tried to stay fast throughout, though it stumbled on numerous occasions before the end. Also, a few consistent issues spoiled the ending for me, though not completely. At the end of the day, this was an innovative, interesting, and generally immersive read, with a good story, one that would make a great miniseries one day!

Unfortunately, therein lies the problem.

My main issue with this is that it’s like the author was pressed for time, or just cared nothing for intrigue. Everything came too easily. The was torture within, but it never got anywhere. The way to get your mark to spill their entire story was to just ask them. At multiple instances, a character will just vomit up their entire, shadowy backstory for no reason. There’s an integral part of the plot, maybe halfway through (which I won’t spoil in any detail) which required a few chapters worth of planning, and at some length gains access to their quarry. And the quarry spills what they know when confronted with essentially “you can trust me”. It was here that I noticed everything came too easily. Everything. There’s precious little intrigue in this, and no subtlety. People are collected and killed constantly—unless they’re central to the plot, whereupon they inexplicably escape, right away. No waiting, no worrying. In prison and out in no time. It’s the problem of time, see, a bit like any TV show or movie. We skip from event to event, action sequence to action sequence, as to keep the audience entertained. It’s like an epic fantasy trying to exist jointly as a thriller, which… can work, just in this case doesn’t seem to.

Like most problems, it takes quite a bit of time to explain them compared to the relative ease of detailing just what I loved. Thing is, with Lightfall, the good still outweighs the bad. It gets my overall approval, though my recommendation may be a bit tepid. If I were you, I’d read a few more reviews, then check out a sample of the text before buying. As one typically does with a debut author, regardless.

It may have taken a bit for this book to really sink its teeth into me, but just before the halfway point, *things* started to happen that really grabbed my attention, and lead to a thrilling back half.

This is a world of immortals (Vampires, Wolfkind, and Sorcerers) who have scattered from the Centerlands, to their own corners of the map, after the arrival of the mysterious “Grays” and their deadly bullets.

We primarily spend our time in First Light, home of the Vampires, but worry not, we also spend time with a badass wolf lady, and two sorcerers.

There’s a murder mystery at the heart of the story, but as we learn more about this city of Vampires, we also get class struggles, politics, and a really unique blood system that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

I really liked the characters, and loved their interactions with each other.

Along with the overarching mystery hanging over the characters’ heads, there was plenty of action and scheming, and I never knew where the plot was going to take us next.

I had a hard time putting this one down and I am definitely looking forward to continuing on with this series!

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for providing me an early copy of this ebook. All opinions are my own.

What this book is giving:
✅ Fantasy
✅ Multi-POV
✅ Vampires
✅ Wolfkind
✅ Sorcerers
✅ Mysterious Enemy
✅ Detectiving
✅ Plotting
✅ Action

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ / 5

It all begins with a murder...Lightfall is a fantastic read. It has vampires, werewolves and sorcery. Ed Crocker did a phenomenal job building this intricate world where there are no humans, which really added to the creativity of the story. I genuinely liked the characters. The characters were well developed and no one seemed to have overly powerful abilities as books sometimes do. The only slightly disappointment with this story is how easily things are resolved and cleanly wrapped up. I'm sure people who love and easy happily ever after will love this aspect. For those who prefer a little more struggle before the characters achieve a happily ever after, there will be a slight disappointment.

Thanks NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for the ARC!

After reading The Familiar (and not particularly LOVING it like most people did), I was hesitant to get back into a vampire-centric novel. However, this was definitely way more up my alley!

With the beginning of a trilogy, and a very interesting lore involving the co-habitation of vampires, werewolves, and sorcerers in a post-human society, the world-building was integral to the novel. While it took some getting used to (and I appreciate the author treating the readers as smart and capable beings who are able to figure out some things), the novel also uses creative ways to impart the history of this new world with excerpts from books the protagonist has read. The lore of Lightfall is dense (and we're still missing a lot of it to hopefully come in the next two novels), but manageable... And while there is a lot of explanation and world-building, it is woven nicely throughout the novel that it doesn't feel like I'm just reading a history book.

I thought the plot was exciting and had many unexpected twists, some brutally gory imagery, and a setting that was atmospheric and moody. I didn't expect to see a vampire novel so layered and tackle sophisticated themes like social inequalities, the impact of losing a loved one, and the problems of blind trust in societal norms. For those who want a fantasy that isn't a sapphic romance (which is all the rage right now), this is a solid choice.

A novel of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers yes please. I am for sure getting a physical copy when its released cause this book was everything. If your like me and love anything with Vampire, Werewolves and sorcery this book is for you. Loved Ed Crocker's writing style a lot. Will for sure be reading more of his work in the future. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Lightfall by Ed Crocker

100 years ago, the society of vampires was torn to pieces by a mysteries enemy. Now, they have rebuilt a city but can not leave its walls without being shot by the Greys. When a member of the royal family is found dead outside its borders, a variety of misfits bands together to get to the bottom of it.

We’ve got a maid, a Lady, an assassin, a werewolf and two sorcerers obsessed with mortals. We also get a mystery, a heist, a lot of battles, entertaining conversations, spying and a hidden library.

A true fantasy, with quite a bit of world building. This is the first in a series, so there was a lot of character development and history of the city and world. I didn’t mind though, it was interesting and unique!

I loved this book and found it hard to put down. It was refreshing to have zero romance, just a good old fashioned fantasy adventure. I can’t wait for the next in the series and to find out what else awaits these characters.

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my advanced copy! This is out on the 14th.

DNF at around 50%
I really tried to get into this book but I have to admit, it just isn't for me. The pacing was slow, I didn't care for the characters, and the world-building felt messy and overwhelming. As a huge fantasy fan, I'm fairly used to being thrown into the middle of a world and being expected to keep up and follow along. Usually, this isn't an issue for me but this time I wasn't hooked. This felt like a different type of overwhelming than the typical new names and magics being tossed my way. I might try to pick this up again in the future, as the plot truly sounds like something I would enjoy, but for now, it's a no.

This was an engaging book with a really unique plot which I really loved! The characters weren’t my favorite. For one there are quite a lot of them to keep track of and the multiple POVs at time in this book just turned me around and made me loose the flow of the story. With so many characters I also found it difficult to connect with any of them more than surface level. I loved the idea of not having any humans in this book it was really original and was explored and explained really well. Overall and enjoyable read that I definitely recommend giving a read!

A dark fantasy murder mystery that turned out much better than I anticipated. It's a dark, dark world in the Everlands, as vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, and the mysterious Grays co-exist in a tenuous balance of power on a war-devastated land. Mortals are mythical beings that only a few people believe are real. No one seems to remember where they came from, especially the sorcerers, among whom there are no children.

Into this strange land emerges a young vampire scullery maid, among a class of vampire commoners known as the Worns, who struggle to live in a single-city vampire society of elite nobles, an industrial middle class, and then the working, peasant class. Different types of blood, magicked or not, can give the vampires special powers, such as quick thinking, extra strength, or even flight.

I was suprised at myself for reading this so quickly, as I didn't think I would like it at first with some unfortunate info-dumps at the beginning. Once that was settled, however, I quickly became trapped in the same world that our young Sam was in, trying to get out of her desperate situation and solve the murder of the young Azzuri lord at the same time.

An enjoyable book! I understand this is a debut novel, so props to the author for that! And, of course, my thanks to Netgalley, the publishers, and the author for an early copy for a review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Everything in First Light seemed just fine until Lord Azzuri, one of the highest nobleman in the city, lost his youngest son to the Grays. Sam, a palace maid, is sent to clean the deceased Azzuri’s room when she stumbles across a clue that may give her a step in the right direction on his death. It may not have been just an ordinary death, but a murder! In an attempt to use this information as leverage for a higher status, Sam is thrust into a political world involving all immortals.

This book had everything I thought I needed to have a five star read early in the year. I tried to keep pushing through to the end but the writing is just not there. The story is multi-POV but also first person in present tense. It’s very confusing, especially if you pause mid-POV, to keep straight on whose POV you are in. Even more so when the characters interact with each other. The info dumps are continuous and at some points repetitive. I loved the concept of this story, but the execution is lacking. I did DNF at 40%.

The best part about this book is the characters. Readers will enjoy getting to know them and following their epic adventures. Overall a bit generic but enjoyable nonetheless. Three stars.

Wow. What a brilliant world and epic story. If you loved The Failures by Benjamin Liar, I think you will love this one too. With immense world-building, and a history and lore that can be felt in the pages of the book, Lightfall is sure to be a paranormal fantasy of epic proportions that is looked to in the future.

Sam is my new favorite vampire, with her love for books helping her to understand the world around her. A world that is pretty ignorant to the real history of the world and what happened to mortals as the vampire royalty keep the books locked away in their library and don’t seem to even read the books themselves. I’m fascinated by the history in this world and cannot wait to see even more revealed there in the coming follow-ups in the trilogy.

We get POVs from several different characters that all seem to bring something different to the story and bring together a ragtag team to try to stop the worst of the royalty from ruining the world.

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I am so excited to see vampires making a comeback, specifically ones that are more monstrous and less about love. There is a complex political climate in this novel, as well as various paranormal beings. The vampires in the book are strong, with the type of blood mattering, but they also have a deep hierarchy that makes a big difference in who is able to get what. The whole book starts with having a vampire die, and multiple groups trying to figure out how/why, but as these difference groups search, the more secrets of the world around them start to come to light, or well night. Overall, I really enjoyed this book but there were times were it felt a bit info-dumpy, which is fine when being the first book in a new trilogy. I am excited to see where this series goes.

The pacing was slow in the beginning, but picked up. Following multiple POV was tricky at times, and I found myself liking some characters timelines more than others. Overall a good fantasy, I look forward to book 2.

They definitely didn't get the "if you liked Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire" wrong. This definitely gave off similar vibes and was very enjoyable. I do love a good world build and throw in vampires, I'm sold and giving you my stars easily.

Lightfall is a solid start to a fantasy vampire series.

There's lots of scheming and action. I love a good story where you don't know what everyone's true intentions are. This world of vampires, werewolves, and mages was very well thought out and I very much enjoyed being along for the ride in the world building! I also really loved our main character and how intelligent, resourceful, and driven she was.

Lightfall definitely delivers a dark, gritty, vampire world steeped in chaos and nefarious plots. I can't wait to see how the stakes (HA!) are raised in the next one!

Slow burn and heavy world building. This is an epic fantasy so it is not a quick read. If you like world building, you will enjoy being sucked into this world and all the monsters you meet along the way.

Lightfall is a good first book for a trilogy. The story is told from multiple first person POVs, but the main character is Samantha. Most of the characters are likeable, and their personalities and stories are slowly revealed throughout the book.
This is a great political intrigue book with a pretty different take on immortals. I look forward to the next book in the series.
I will say, if slow pacing and slow reveal world building aren't your thing this may not be for you. Otherwise, a great book for the right audience and it has the potential to be a great series.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel before its release date.

I have been an epic fantasy lover for a long time. Lightfall hit all the right buttons for me. The description of the overall world was detailed and instantly put a picture into my mind. The development of the different races of characters allowed for a full appreciation of the story. And although the characters are vampires, werewolves, and sorcerers, this isn't your typical 'monster fantasy.' There was political intrigue, social class tension, and a central character that you just can't help but love. I can't wait for the next in the series!

I just finished Lightfall: Book One of The Everlands by Ed Crocker, and I’m blown away! This epic fantasy takes vampires, werewolves, and sorcerers to a whole new level. The story is packed with mystery and has such a fresh twist on the usual vampire tales—I couldn’t get enough. Honestly, I didn’t even realize how much I needed a book like this until I started reading it. If you’re a fan of vampire fantasy, you absolutely have to check this one out. It’s a stunning debut, and I can’t wait to see what Ed Crocker does next! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.