***Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

Pleasantly blown away at the creative dynamic of this book! I don't want to give anything away but the character complexity and back story of the characters are mind blowing. I felt caught in between a series and a historical lesson. Must read!

The book was good but I wish the author would have but location indicators so I knew where we were at times. The story is really good and I really enjoyed the characters. I was just lost at times but it didn’t take long to figure out what was going on. I would recommend this book. Thanks netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

this was a great start to a series, the characters were great and I enjoyed getting to know this world. I look forward to more in this series.

When Darkness Descends is a well penned Fantasy novel with a really clever story line. It outlines the story of a teenage boy Tom Anderson who, in a war infested world, seeks vengeance upon the killer of his Grandmother. With a friendly wild grell at his side & a plethora of other unlikely allies, Tom travels his path. But no matter how oblivious he is, someone is hellbent on making him embrace his destiny.

I admit, the basic plot of the book was really confusing at first. There were a lot of different characters and remembering the names of all of them was a very tedious task. However, as the story progresses, I found it easier to indulge myself and then, there came a point when I didn’t really wish to put the book down even for a minute. Further, the author provided an appendix at the end of the book which was really helpful.

The major theme of the book was the generic lust for political power but the way it has been threaded into a Fantasy setting is truly amusing. The author brings out a fresh perspective in a clichéd story line & that is worth praising.

The author narrated different incidences happening at different places simultaneously. However, he did so with such prowess that it wasn’t even the slightest bit confusing. The world building was commendable. The author painted the scenes with his words. The way he threads the entire story is really amazing.

The story had a very strong narration and the characters kept building and developing throughout the course of the book. They weren’t stagnant and that is the best part about the book. Further, the characters were vivid and seemed real. The author brings to light, some really heartwarming friendships.

I would recommend this book to all the people who wish to read something fresh and engaging.

When Darkness Descends is an upcoming fantasy book that captured my attention from the first page until the last. It was written with such tenacity that I am left in awe until the very last moment. I had a liking towards Tom, the main character, because I found myself in him at some point. Seeing him grow throughout the story had me rooting for him.

I am excited for everyone else to be able to read this when it comes out.

What I enjoyed most about When Darkness Descends was the variety of opposing worlds and cultures. The characters throughout the story vary from highly intelligent animals that you might find in a classic children’s novel, to the scheming overlords from Game of Thrones. For me, Lucke’s creation of the Grells in all their different forms was something completely original and unique. They represent the good and bad of people from more basic cultures as they get swept up in the conflict and greed of highly evolved civilisations.

The main character, Tom, is thrown from his typical Australian life into a world where he is the pivotal character in a timeless battle. Tom is naturally quite helpless in this first part of the series, but quickly forms bonds with a Stone Grell and another group of young rebels that fight beside him against a common enemy. Book 1 sets the stage by introducing the worlds, characters and conflicts. I love that it can be read as a book in itself yet leaves the door wide open for the books that follow. I’m looking forward to Book 2.

I really enjoyed reading this book because I liked the well thought out story and the good described characters and surroundings very much. The writing style is pleasant to read and it's easy to find into the story. An interesting story from the start until the last page.

I finished this book in a couple of days and loved it. The author has blended medieval-inspired fantasy with murder mystery in an action-packed adventure with plenty of plot twists. There is a rich cast of memorable characters with my favourites being Tom, Thaly, Caeli, Rosalie and Jurelle. I especially liked Dwarrow who provides light-hearted moments in an otherwise serious narrative, and as a female reader, appreciated the strength and diversity of the female characters.

The author has created a new and interesting setting, introducing us to creatures with their own unique culture such as stone-grells and mouldewerps.

The narrative is written as switching, third-person point of view, and there are at least 10 (or more, I didn’t count them) distinct PoVs in the book, which is great if you like complex, multi-character stories, but some may find it hard to latch onto every PoV character.

The plot is intriguing and unfolds gradually as the author provides new pieces of the puzzle as the story progresses. The complete puzzle is not revealed in this volume (well, at least there are still questions that need answering!), which made me even more desperate to read the next instalment of the trilogy.

The writing is plot and character-driven, and the style is tight with lots of active voice and dialogue, which may not suit those who prefer lengthy, information-rich descriptions of fantasy landscapes/places. The ending might annoy some readers, but I’m assuming Volume 2 of the trilogy will pick up immediately where Volume 1 has left off, and that this is a continuous story over 3 volumes rather than each book having their own self-contained story.

In summary, the book left me wanting more, which is a good sign for an ongoing series.

This is an epic tale, fast paced, imaginative and well written. While it has a multi faceted plot its not hard to follow or distinguish characters and places. I'm already looking forward to the next two instalments! Its always a good sign when I would rather read a book than watch my favourite team play - as happened with When the Darkness Descends! I'm not a great reader of fantasy however, reading this book has encouraged me to think of reading others.

The first instalment of The Revelation Trilogy was epic! A sci-fi novel like none I’ve read before, When Darkness Descends is a masterpiece from a truly brilliant mind. The plot is concisely written, yet the author has achieved exceptionally original character development. This achievement is no doubt due to the author ruminating on the story and characters for decades, in combination with extensive life and professional experience (see Acknowledgements and About the Author sections). The novel is set between an imaginary world, Enthilen, and the South Australian Landscape. In the former setting, the author shows great creativity in constructing a detailed fantasy world that completely captivated this reader. The latter setting references endemic Australian flora, fauna and indigenous culture, where the author’s scientific expertise shines through (e.g., references to “macropod highways” and “psychological photosynthesis”). No slow burn, the plot is full of tension and conflict that climaxes in an intense crisis which left this reader pining for Book II, At the End of Everything, a teaser of which was thankfully included at the end of Book I. This is not a book I’ll soon forget and I’m eagerly awaiting the next instalment.

In this book, toward the beginning we see an imperial prince taking on a conflict with the grells to get his city back...though it doesn't provide some insight into the entire story you can figure that the fight is about substantially more then simply the city itself, what was it that roused the sovereign to slaughter such a significant number of people...protectors of the life calander?

These individuals, the realm adores an antiquated god Volardie whom they accept to be the maker of human life.

There are individuals who don't have faith in him and in this manner got executed and it is a fabled tale that their skull decorates the throne of Volardie.

After two or three sections enters ruler alaric, a voracious, narrow minded and overambitious individual who needs to locate the shrouded city in the entrails of Malang Gunya, the city they had quite recently won. This lord albeit canny and savvy, ends up being a force hungry control crack with seveare trust issues.

The sovereign, in the wake of being controlled and determined what he ought to accomplish for his entire life at last arrives at a limit and murders his own dad or was it simply greed that took control?

In the subsequent course of events, we see Tommy a little child who saw his grandma killed by somebody before his own eyes...now what will Tommy do?

At 16 years of age, Tommy is guilt ridden that he was unable to do anything for his grandma, whatever he is seeing is it mind flight or reality?

In the event that we talk about the composing style, the language is somewhat complex yet nothing that would not benefit from outside assistance by a little word reference.

The story is devided in two courses of events, one antiquated and the other present day. Each character has a couple of one of a kind layers to themselves which makes it very fascinating and complex to understand them.

The author has attempted to delineate concealed shades of connections simply like ruler Alaric and his child had with numerous hues and layers.

The composing is smooth, no mistakes, no syntactic blunders, and no genuine obscenities either.

It was a fine persuit, a book to which you can return on occasion.

Will sovereign Oldaric locate the concealed city?

What's the life calender?

Who and what precisely is Volardie?

How the two courses of events cross one another?

By what method will Tommy and olderic associate?

Who is the killer?

Will Tommy have the option to vindicate his grandma?

To know all that you'll need to purchase the book here:

An exhilarating adventure thriller of a book. It took decades to conceive and it shows in the crafting of the plot and creation of the Worlds and characters. A welcome antidote to hastily written commissioned books.

Our traveller’s tale begins in his youth, much like the author’s story, with the mystery of his Grandmother’s murder. As a young man, his quest to solve this mystery and Dark magic draw him into an unfamiliar World, in which he encounters fascinating characters and is engulfed by a rollercoaster of events that shape his destiny. In a welcome divergence from typical fantasy genres, Tom is rarely the architect of the events around him, which allows the wonderful and weird World and other characters; sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes evil, sometimes heroic to create the rich storylines.

The story moves and evolves at a pace that is hard to tear yourself away from, yet at no point does the author fail to bring characters or events to life. The author has clearly strived for a fine balance between enough detail to bring it all to life and draw you in, yet not too much to be detracting and laborious, and achieved that aim to create an engrossing thriller.

When Darkness Descends captivated me from the first page. The author is a true storyteller who has created the world of Enthilen and beyond, and his characters and plot are authentic and memorable with plenty of mystery and plot twists. I quickly found myself rooting for the good characters and despising the evil ones (although some characters are quite complex and resist easy definitions as ‘good’ or ‘evil’). I found it hard to stop reading and felt that slight desolation that comes when I finish a book that I love. For me, these are hallmarks of a great story.
The main character, Tom, is an anxious young man with little self-confidence. He is forced into a personal journey to seek justice for the murder of his grandmother, and his development throughout the story is believable and relatable. He is befriended by both human and non-human characters with shared ambitions to thwart a rising tyranny. As a fantasy reader, I normally prefer non-human characters to be the familiar and “traditional” ones, like elves, goblins, and fairies. That this author has avoided these tropes and created new creatures such as grells and mouldewerps that I could easily picture and very quickly liked (or disliked in some cases), is a testament to the strength of GW Lücke’s writing style and storytelling ability.
The story of Tom’s journey is interspersed with critical events set in different parts of Enthilen and told from the point of view of various characters, but this is handled really well and the result is a complex, yet intriguing and easy to follow plot.
I would strongly recommend this book for older teenagers (the book has some violence and a short, non-explicit sex scene) and adults who enjoy a good fantasy read; I found it very hard to put it down, and look forward to the second instalment!