Sep 13, 2026
Awesome!
This is the seventh novel and eighth story I have read by LaPoint. I said it before and I say it again, with each I am more impressed with his style, skills, and range. I had not read the description before picking this up. I picked up all his available books wile in the middle of reading a previous story. I loved the first book in this series, Chalk, Dusklight took the action, adventure and horror to a whole new level, and this one amped it up again. But in this one some new help comes, and some new skills are learned. This story has a prologue that gives us some more insight to Percy Dayspring’s background. We also find out why he has a weapon he supposedly should not and why his devotion and attention to Raven is so intense. Why he left the Knights of Saint Benedict. There is a statement at the end of the prologue: ““Our roles here will be revealed to us in due time. If not in this world, then in the next. Part of our duty here is to protect those we love.”” The sentiment or role, plans, and living out our duty is a key element of this volume in the series. Not only for Percy, but for his best friend Damien, for his fiancé Lady Raven Mistcreek, and for others we encounter in this story. But from that prologue we enter directly into the action, the opening words of the first chapter are: “I was surrounded by dead bodies, and only half of them were my fault. “What just happened?” I squeaked. “I thought the route was supposed to be safe!” We were only a day out from Dusklight Castle on our way to Mistcreek Manor when the abominations struck in the middle of the night. Hideous constructs with the skins of beasts sewn over them, then animated by black magic. Mismatched claws and jaws, all worked around armatures of furniture, wires, bone, and other random objects.” And from there the action continues across the world, up and down the continuum, and even through a portal into hell. This is by in far the most intense of the novels I have read by LaPoint. It was incredibly hard to put down. We have action, aadventure, battles, encounters with creatures assumed to be mythological, and support from friends both old and new. For a time Raven returns to Girls school from our realm, and strives to save the girls as she battles her way through the school and against the bosses at the end of each level. We have the appearance again of Saint Michael the Archangel, and we have gifts bestowed to help immediately and in the coming battles. There is an epic battle for Mistcreek Manor. And though the story ends the war is far from over. The ending leaves leaves you desperate for the next installement and based on hits given in the story and the pace so far I can only assume there are still a number of volumes to be released in the series. This was an excellent read. I have already shared the books with my niece and he mother wants to read them as well. Before I had even finished book 1 I sent a copy my nice as a birthday present and she is very excited about the book and series. And I am excited to share them with my youngest two also. This was a great read in an excellent series. Catholic fiction at its best. I can easily recommend this story for anyone who loves a good fantasy with more than a modicum of horror mixed in. Another excellent volume from LaPoint’s masterful pen.
