I think this book had so much potential, and perhaps others will enjoy this book much more than I did, but it was unfortunately a DNF for me for a variety of reasons. And it is worth noting that being unwilling to finish this book is made worse by the fact that there were aspects of this novel that I was so excited for.

First and foremost, the positives. This book has a wealth of world-building. I am always a slut for good world-building and complex systems of magic and social hierarchies. The Darkness Before Them is rife with both**. The main character is a queer woman who, like the vast majority of the population in the book, is Middle-Eastern-coded, and her sapphic relationship is given prominence and space from the first few pages of the text***, which can be refreshing in a genre of fantasy that often pushes queer characters to the margin.

Now, on to the negatives. Frankly, I don’t really find anything about this book to be unique. I have read a lot of fantasy, and the plot and world presented feel like a collage of other series. The premise of power from a soul is fun, but feels like a mere rebranding of mana-based magic, and that has been done many times before. This is not to say that people can’t write fantasy that follows a set formula, but to have a book that is every epic fantasy series just substituting a queer heroine and some Arabic-sounding names isn’t reinventing the wheel, and shouldn’t be promoted as such.

** The problem with having such intensive world-building is that, at times, it felt like Ward lost sight of the plot and the actual scene before him, instead opting to write superfluously long and detailed scenes and descriptions that add nothing to the actual plot or scene the reader is experiencing. I found my eyes glossing over long paragraphs and jumping to dialogue in the hopes of plot movement that didn’t go nearly as smoothly as I would have liked.

***The deal-breaking issue that took me out of the book, more than anything, is what felt like forced inclusivity without any genuine inclusion of cultural knowledge. As far as I am aware, Matthew Ward is a white, British man who has neither Middle-Eastern roots nor is in a queer, sapphic relationship. I say this as a slight jest, and not as a knock on Ward’s identity, but as a queer, Muslim woman myself, I am always apprehensive about people from outside the community writing into it with impunity. From what I read, Ward does not commit any offenses against either the queer or Muslim communities, but it is my personal reading preference to read books about characters whom the authors personally represent and identify with. Ultimately, this was the breaking point for me and this novel, though I know not everyone will agree with this opinion and may want to look past it to continue with the book.

I think if I had pushed through the text, this would likely have received 2 stars, which is what I have rounded this rating to, but given my grievances that led to a DNF status, my true rating sits at 1.5 ⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and Orbit publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Early released ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This will be a spoiler-free review.

"The Darkness Before Them" follows the characters Katija "Kat" (a 25-year old thief looking to survive another day) and Ihsan Damant (an honest dedicated man serving as the Castellan to House Bascari). Their different standings in society allow for different perspectives. The characters as a whole, not just those two, are interesting to me. These various characters separate, developed personalities, not at all lumped together.

I enjoyed the terminology in this story. Ward's creativity comes alive in this series, and having a glossary at the end was especially helpful. The setting was interesting. The ARC didn't come with a map, but if there is one in the final work, that would be further helpful. The descriptions of these places, especially the city of Tyzanta, is well-described (i.e., alleyways, guardhouses, taverns- the contrast between the more-desirable and less desirable parts of the city).

One part that seemed on the weaker side was the pacing and plot progression, mostly from Kat's side, in the middle third of the book. It was kept still interesting from Damant's perspective, but Kat's side felt slightly more uneven. This changes in the final third, with the twists and reveals having me hooked. There was one in particular- No, I won't dare spoil it, but it was a bombshell of a reveal.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel. I appreciated Ward's previous series, "The Legacy Trilogy", and so far, this debut to a new series is looking quite enjoyable too.

4/5 Stars

I received an Arc of The darkness Before them for an honest opinion and review. Thanks to orbit and netgalley for this. First I was super excited to read something by Matthew Ward because I loved his legacy trilogy, and I was not disappointed.

It starts off with Kat and her girlfriend azra are on a heist to clear the debt she inherited from her father and it goes from there.

Great world building, great magic system, and great characters are leaving me waiting for part 2. The story starts off a little slow , but once it gets going it's great

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC.

This book is a whirlwind of political intrigue, lively skyship battles, and found family. To start, let's talk about the two perspective characters, Kat and Damant. The POV time spent with each was super well-handled, and I rarely felt I had spent too long or too little with each character. Though, I did find myself wishing for a better connection with them. I was never completely attached to any of the characters and often found myself wanting more from them. As for the worldbuilding, I really enjoyed the magic system. It's a super, super interesting premise. At first, keeping up with each new aspect of the world proved a little difficult, but eventually shifted into something super enjoyable, especially once the politics came into play. If political intrigue is something that interests you in fantasy books, I would recommend giving this one a try. There's a lot of scheming, and watching each character vying for their own sliver of power proved an interesting dynamic. As for the mist, I was a little disappointed at its lack of presence in the beginning of the novel, especially when things were moving a little slow, so when it finally introduced itself, I really enjoyed it.

Furthermore, I would be remiss not to mention the twist. It certainly got me. The way in which each plot line intersected at the end was really satisfying to read. That's when certain characters really came alive to me, especially Damant. For awhile, I felt that he was static (not making as many choices as I would've liked — especially when he was surrounded by so many politically charged, active characters; it made him fall a little flat), but I liked the direction Damant's arc was headed. As for Kat, I enjoyed watching her learn more about herself and her personal, individual motivations. I hope we get way more of that in the next book. Some standout characters that I loved definitely include Yali, Tatterlain, and Rima. Yennika was another really interesting character to follow. For me, the found family aspect of this book is what made a lot of the scenes entertaining to read.

While I didn't absolutely love this book, I still enjoyed it, so I'll be keeping my eye out for the sequel. This world has a lot of great potential, and I'm excited to see where it goes. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for more skyship battles.

This was a story full of revenge, but lacked the character development to make you care about the why of the revenge.

Kat, is trying to find a way out of debt from her father, with her love….then she ends up in a rebellion on a path of revenge. The magic system was interesting, but I think at times not fully developed. Which is the overall issue with the book. It is an interesting plot, interesting characters, interesting magic, but none of it truly reached a point where you think oooh this is good.

Parts of the book were a slog.

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for the Arc

I don't think I was the target audience for The Darkness Before Them by Matthew Ward. It was just so difficult for me to get close to any of the characters, and I struggled to get through this. The narrative seemed to drag on at times, and I found myself losing interest. The plot, while intriguing in concept, didn't fully captivate me and left me wanting more depth and complexity. Additionally, the writing style felt a bit disjointed and inconsistent, making it challenging for me to fully immerse myself in the story. Overall, while this book may appeal to fans of dark fantasy and suspense, it unfortunately fell short for me.

★★★★★ - 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
The Darkness Before Them by Matthew Ward
Book 1 - The Soulfire Saga
༘Detailed Review will be updated 24 October 2023 (two weeks prior to publication date) ༘
⭐️ For now, I will say this lush Epic Fantasy blew my expectations out of the water. Matthew Ward’s world-building is so intricately executed. If The Darkness Before Them is any indication of The Soulfire Saga to come, there is no doubt this trilogy will be a Fantasy Holy Grail. ⭐️

I’ll be honest and say there’s no way I will finish this book by the deadline. The reason, however, is it’s so good I don’t want it to end! The world building is fantastic and creates an alternate reality you can lose yourself in. The main character, Kat, is a reluctant heroine who wants nothing more than to be left alone. Her fate is tied up in her kingdom’s and both face a reckoning in the future.

Good book I suppose for some readers hopefully, but I found myself disappointed reading this book. I don't really know what I didn't like about it but just didn't love it. The magic system was underwhelming and uninteresting.to me. I didn't really care for any character in particular as well. Not every book is for everyone I suppose. This book will be enjoyable for some but sadly not myself.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Orbit Books for providing me the eARC in exchange for my honest review! The title will be released on November 7, 2023.

1.5 STARS

The story kicks off with our protagonist Kat in the middle of a heist—a rather exciting way to start. This young “Cinderblood” woman has joined now girlfriend Azra in a life of crime in order to try to pay off her tattooist father’s enormous debt to the temple. When a later heist goes awry, Kat is shipped off to meet her death. But fate intervenes…

The world Ward created for the Soulfire Saga has so much potential! The first chapter or two indicate to readers that this society in the Khalad kingdom has complex magic, a troubled history, corrupt aristocracy and religion, and a deep division of social classes. I feel that Ward made a grave mistake in having Kat’s plot take the turn on the ship that it did. If Kat had remained in the city, the story would have been tighter. As it is, the already large book has a plot to devolves into too many threads and introduces too many world-building elements that cannot be meaningfully explored. For all that adventuring, Kat’s character development is poor; her whole personality is centered on having been Azra’s girlfriend. Ward was trying to cram too much plot into one book. The amount of story could have easily made up two or three books.

A second POV from Castellan Damant gives readers access to "Fireblood" upperclass society and a look at the dysfunctional Bascari family ruling the Tyzanta province. I much preferred Damant’s perspective over Kat’s because it delves into the history of the world and political machinations. I wish we would have gotten more, especially in an effort to better set up the important plot reveals. Additionally, I don’t think the alternating perspectives were well handled, as the transitions seemed very jarring.

Overall, the prose made reading this book a painful experience for me. It’s dense but not flowery. Things of no significance are described in detail. Sentences run on for much too long. Even the exciting magical elements are often described in convoluted ways. The writing deflates the effects of atmosphere, world building, character interactions, and even action scenes. I want to give 2 stars for the amazing world and ideas, but the writing/construction/execution of the book are so deficient.

A solid start to an amazing fantasy series with complex world building and compelling characters. I also enjoyed the magic system and the political maneuvering within the plot.
The story centers around Kat who is a thief and all she wants is to be cleared of her father's debt but things don't go as planned...within a world where the magic is fueled by souls, ruled by a dangerous immortal king.
I'm looking forward to book 2 because this author's writing is superb.

This was my first book written by Matthew Ward, so I didn't have any idea what to expect from this book other than its really interesting premise. I was most impressed by the grand scale of world building and weaving of political intrigue throughout the story. The twists and turns of the plot played out really well, and kept me engaged when the slower pacing might have started to make me fall off the wagon. The struggling power dynamics and backstabbing characters kept the story exciting and left me never really knowing where it would go next.

I also really like this magic system, it's unique and worked very well with the world that the author has created. I always love to see a new author's take on ifrit magic and how it shapes the world, and having it directly woven into everyday life is such a cool way to use this magic system. The fantasy world compliments the characters fabulously, and I'm really excited to see where this story goes. I'm very scared that things might get tragic, I'll definitely be checking out the sequel!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for the e-arc :)

Thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

This is the first book I've read from Matthew Ward and I did enjoy the book and his world building. I'm not a fan of politics so that was a struggle for me but the story gave me the substance I find newer fantasy books lacking for my taste. He does get a bit wordy and that is something that I struggle with in general but overall would recommend this book and plan on buying it when it comes out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the e-ARC of The Darkness Before Them.

This is the first book by Matthew Ward that I've read, so I wasn't sure what to expect from his writing style. Ward's prose is great and I won't hesitate to pick up another book from him in the future.

I will say that the book is rather slow-paced and there is a lot of world-building, so it did take me a little while to get invested in the story. However, the story does pick up and there are plenty of plot twists to keep the reader engaged. Being the first book in a fantasy series, one can expect that the author is going to lay a lot of groundwork, so it shouldn't be a shock to how much information is thrown at the reader throughout. While it can be a little overwhelming at times and I found myself having to go back and reread parts to make sure that I fully understood what was happening, it never deterred me from completing the book.

With how Ward ended the first book, there are so many places he can take the rest of the series, and I will definitely pick up the second book when it's released.

I think the two aspects of this story that I liked the most were the character development and the politics. There are a lot of characters in this novel and I think that Ward provides the reader with a good understanding of who most of them are. He spends time covering aspects of these characters to ensure the reader knows they're just as important as the main character and they aren't an afterthought. For example, the growth of Kat, the female main character, shows a steady arc throughout the story and I can't wait to see where Ward takes her next. I also really appreciated the dual POV so that the reader can see the story unfolding from both sides.

I think the political intrigue might be my favorite part. In short, the backstabbing among family members, the need to keep a city from falling into turmoil, and the threat of war all add to the pressure and high stakes that I am sure will become much more prominent in the rest of the series.

This book really hooked me at the beginning, opening with a heist, a strong queer main character, and a unique world. However, as I kept going, I felt that the writing was holding the story back quite a bit. It was dense, loaded with new terminology, and overly wordy to say simple things. There was also a trope I really dislike that was used and it gave me a negative taste. I fought through a third of the book and then decided that this was not for me. I haven’t read any other books by this author, so I can’t really compare them.
I think this book would appeal to readers who enjoy reading very slowly and carefully and who don’t mind reading very complex sentences. If you like magic related to death and life, and heist stories, you may enjoy this one!
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC.

I really tried to like this one but it ended up falling shorting for me. I had to stop about 30% of the way in because I wasn’t too fond of the characters. I thought the world that the author had created was interesting but I didn’t find myself invested.

Since her father’s passing, she has been learning to fend for herself while being in the run as her fathers debts have fallen to her. In a bold attempt to steal the money, she loses everything and is sentenced to execution. She never makes it and it’s spurred onto a path looking for the truth.

This book is written well enough and has an interesting magic system consisting of using glyphs to control ifrit. The ifrit aid humans in nearly all tasks of life. And as the first book of a series, it lays down plenty of lore and world building. There is an everlasting king on the throne and is only represented by his Voice. There are mists the devour everything in their wake and only blesswood flame keeps the mists at bay. There are plenty of unknowns by the end of the story that leave the reader spurious about what’s coming next.

Overall, I felt the story was okay. This book has yet to be published, and by the time the next ones come out I’m unsure of if I’ll continue. The book wasn’t bad by any means, but I felt no draw to any of the characters and no connection at all with Kat. The plot is decent, and there are good surprises and twists along the way. I just struggled to get into it, but I finished it. This book wasn’t for me but I’m sure there are plenty out there who will thoroughly enjoy this tale of justice and finding one’s place in the world.

2.5/5

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

Decent world building and storyline. There was a lot of politics in it but I know that is typical in the first book of high fantasy. Would definitely read the sequel. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

Wow wow wow, what a book! This book has everything I love in an epic fantasy: A well thought through magic system, an immersive world, action, adventure, risks, strong character development... I was hooked.

This book starts off a little slow but picks up pretty quickly. And I really like the character list at the beginning, because there are a LOT to keep track of at first. And the glossary at the end is a wonderful addition as well.

I have to know what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I can't wait for the world to read this!