ARC Review: Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft

Thank you so much to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for letting me read an e-ARC of Down Comes the Night! It came out on March 2nd (with a bunch of other amazing books), so make sure you go check it out ASAP!

Down Comes the Night 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

I liked Down Comes the Night a lot- I think the magic system was really interesting, I liked Wren and Hal as characters, and I really liked the villain. I did, however have so many questions throughout the book, and while they didn’t bother me while I was reading (they were definitely easily overlookable), I’m going to ask them all right now. Was Hal blind or did the damage to his eyes just impact his magic? How many different types of magic are there? Why was Isabel so against everything Wren did? What happened to Wren’s dad? You know her mom died, but how did she die? Why/how was Isabel’s power so unchecked? Why did Lowry have so much power? Was there no one else in his kingdom who could see what was going on? Like I said, so many questions. I liked the beginning and the middle of this book a lot, but I felt like the ending was little too… easy and tied together. It felt like some characters did a total 180 and changed their personalities to make the ending work, which was weird, but it did end up with us having a nice happy ending, which is always fun. Overall, I enjoyed Down Comes the Night, and while it wasn’t my favorite 2021 read so far, it’s definitely worth the read.