A remarkably brutal read, the first book in Sarah A. Parker‘s Moonfall series features fairly extreme highs and lows; it goes to some dark, dark places while at the same time telling a beautifully undying love story. Only thing I can complain about is that one of the ending scenes is clearly meant to be portentous but… the ruling class has already been shown to be hopelessly corrupted so I don’t see why anyone would care about legitimacy at this late point.
In Darkness Forged is the first of Kenley Davidson‘s Night Elves of Abreia novels, a stand-alone and overall upbeat romance that doesn’t shy from hardship and trauma. While its odd-couple dynamic is pretty standard for the genre, the event development is more egalitarian than most with both leads having opportunities to save and (unintentionally) seduce the other.