I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in the world of Grieving Gold. The narrative unfolds through captivating and unique perspectives that converge at various points in the storyline. While I relished the book's intricate world-building, I yearned for a tad more interconnectedness. The author skillfully painted a vibrant portrait of Luminocity in the reader's imagination, yet occasionally, the story succumbs to information overload. Understandably, as the inaugural installment in a series, this tendency toward information dumping is forgivable.
The novel's standout feature lies in its meticulous construction of the magical realm, offering readers a detailed glimpse into Luminocity. The book falls short in adequately delving into aspects such as the magic's origin and the diverse range of powers bestowed upon individuals. Despite this, my overall enjoyment persisted, and I believe subsequent additions to the series will likely address lingering questions. For enthusiasts of horror or fantasy, Grieving Gold presents an enchanting fusion of genres, making it a worthwhile read.

An intriguing and gripping story, I loved the characters and can't wait to read more by this author.

This newly unveiled epic fantasy transports readers into a world of strange realms and unforeseen turns, making it a must-read for enthusiasts of Brandon Sanderson, Fonda Lee, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R. R. Martin.

In the radiant city of legends, Luminocity, illuminated by three sun gods, secrets of an ancient civilization lie beneath the skeletal skyscrapers. Yet, in the shadows lurks a dark god's realm, holding grudges through the ages. The destinies of five individuals become entwined, woven into the fabric of destiny, as they navigate the currents of fate and struggle to break free from their puppet strings. From Laxerion Tama's disrupted life as a disowned noble son to Val-Gustus Tama's responsibility as a general facing imminent war, and the moral dilemmas faced by the young scientist Ilumi, this tale explores the intersections of intrigue, betrayal, and emerging technologies that test the boundaries of morality. Amidst inner demons and the search for monsters, the narrative delves into the depths where eldritch things stir in the dark, promising an enthralling journey through a world of light and shadows.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review!
This was such an entertaining read and I can’t wait for the other books to come out I will be getting them immediately. Daniel Mcdainel did such an amazing job for this being his debut epic fantasy book and first book in English!
I don’t want to leave any spoilers I feel this book is best to go in blind but this story started off a little confusing with the first two chapters relating to different things and I felt like it never really got explained but I’m hoping the second books goes off of it a little more. There was multiple povs and each character had their own story and situation, some of them did end up connecting which was so fun and exciting. I’ve grown attached to most the characters storylines and always got excited when it switched, there were some random people thrown in at the end that confused me but I hope it has more meaning in the next book. The setting of this book was immersive and unique I like the concept of the light gods and it felt like a new and refreshing world, the world building was impressive and like nothing I’ve read before. The magic system was also the most unique I’ve ever read with the light/blood magic and being able to find there abilities in it. I will say it was a little slower pace of a book but it was a fun adventure regardless and I am so sad it ended on a cliffhanger I can not wait for the rest of this series. There were some horror elements which I devoured, my two favorite genres in one book. There was also great sci-fi aspects of it as well this book really had it all and was written so well I’ll be stalking his website for the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Daniel McDaniel/Makk for providing a free ARC in exchange for a review!

Really enjoyed this book! Reminded me of a mix of Hailey Turner's Infernal War Saga and of Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker novel. The author said he was heavily influenced by Sanderson, and I definitely see it in the unique magic system and multiple POVs.

This story takes place in a post (double post?) apocalyptic world. There is war brewing between the main city, Luminocity, and Texocan, a neighboring country. There are revolving POVs that show us different aspects of the city. Generally, Luminocity seems to be the sort of setting that is only good for certain characters. There's an obvious wealth gap between many of the citizens, as well as an imbalance of resources. I wouldn't say that this is grimdark by any means, but it's tonally not quite YA either. More new adult or adult.

Laxerion is a disgraced noble's son who has turned to a life of crime. Through him, we get to see more of the criminal underground. Val is a general of Luminocity's army. Ilumi is an up-and-coming scientist. Aiana is an underground (literally) huntress who is struggling to find her way. Finally, Dawb is a street urchin bent on revenge.

I think the characters were all very distinct from each other. With multiple POVs, it can be very easy for the different voices to start blending together. I often have trouble with multiple POV because of this- I'll be reading a chapter thinking it's a certain character, and then suddenly realize it's a whole other character. I did not run into this issue a single time!

The lore and magic system explanation is not all dumped onto the reader at once. There's a trickle of information throughout the story- and again, the character POVs are kept true to the respective characters. We never are given info from a character that is something they shouldn't reasonably know.

** Possible improvements **

It seems that some other reviewers have issues with the changing POVs, initially getting into the book, and keeping up with the plot / terminology. The beginning does have a "double prologue." Based on the rest of the book, I think one of these prologues could either be deleted or moved to a different point in the book as an interlude. Two prologues meant to add context to the events of the rest of the story have their uses, but is rather intimidating to have back-to-back at the beginning of a high fantasy book.

This is quite a lengthy book as well, which I don't mind at all. Usually with books of this length and genre, I see some authors break the book up into parts. This is just a stylistic suggestion, though. Another possible change is to add the sun cycle at the beginning of each chapter. There are three suns in this world- a red sun, a blue sun, and a yellow sun. They're often referenced throughout the story. Obviously light and dark also play a huge role in the story as well. So, it may help the reader to keep track of where the characters are at in time, especially their different POVs in relation to each other.

I'm torn between adding either the sun cycle at the chapter's beginning, or the main chapter character's name. Either would be good! I'm just not sure which would be best.

My final suggestion is admittedly nitpicky- occasionally the dialogue can come across as stilted and out-of-place. After highlighting many examples and considering why this may be, I noticed that it is due to lack of contractions in some of the dialogue. Again, this is VERY occasional. It's more often during Ilumi's chapters.

**Conclusion**
Overall, I was incredibly impressed with this novel. I always am interested in self-published and indie authors' books. I can tell that a ton of work and effort went into this. Didn't catch any spelling errors either. This is one of the best fantasy books I think I have read! Very excited to see where the rest of this series goes.

This story started out in a very confusing way. Each chapter seemed to be about a new character with very little info. After pushing through those first few the story is incredible! The characters are amazing and their growth is exceptional. The personality of the characters is also believable. There's nothing I hate more than characters that are too much and trying too hard. This book is well written if you can get past the first 20%

This book has a lot of words, but I don't feel like it says anything.
I knew I was in for it when it had two prologues. They weren't both called one, but structurally, there were two.

This book has too many POV characters. Or at least too many that are indistinguishable narratively. Because of that, I would forget whose chapter I was reading constantly, and I wasn't connecting to anything or anyone. It made it hard to connect to the characters and care about the plot.

It got to the point where I was more skim-reading than actually absorbing what I was reading. There is potential in this book. It just never reached the point, for me, that pulled me into the story. It was very surface-level for me.

I love fantasy tales because they bend or invent rules. It's the author's job to create a strange world that you're comfortable to immerse yourself in and Mr McDaniel does just that here. It took a little while for me to engage but I found myself totally into the story. There are several threads with the usual political machinations and the characters are suitably flawed. However, rather than being 'same old same old', the author breathes fresh life into the formula.

This is a great and welcome debut and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Unfortunately I did not make it even a quarter into this book. I was struggling to connect or even care about the characters. The constant switching of POVs in every chapter made it difficult to keep up. There was a lot of world building going on, which I usually love, but felt here it was just too much information to process at once. found myself skimming more than actually reading. Noticed myself skimming more than actually reading, so I won’t be finishing this one. I do believe others will enjoy and love this though!

While this was a strong debut novel and it definitely had elements I loved, it wasn't a huge hit for me. I'm, unfortunately, not a huge fan of multiple POV's. There are 5 consistent POV's and for me when there are that many characters to follow I have a hard time connecting with any of them, though they were well developed characters. What I did love was the mix of fantasy and horror and how well the author built the world. It was very thorough and the legend that was woven in made it a really interesting setting. Additionally, I would have liked a better explanation of the magic system because I found it vague and a little hard to understand. Overall, though it wasn't a favorite read for me I think it absolutely will be for a lot of people. If you are even slightly intrigued by the synopsis I would definitely give it a chance. I would recommend this book to high fantasy lovers!
**Also, beware before reading if spiders give you the creeps!!**

Thank you to Netgalley and Endless Equinox for the eArc.

I absolutely loved this! I cannot wait to continue this series!!

At first the multiple POV's made it difficult to keep track of what was happening and how their separate plotlines were intertwined. After the first few chapters the multiple POV's were no longer confusing and I was fully immersed in the story!
I loved all the characters! I still can't decide which one is my favorite! Each one was so well written and their personalities and decisions really fit their characters perfectly.
The world building and magic system was exceptional, I'd never read anything quite like it!
Overall this a thrilling fantasy with dark/horror elements that I cannot wait to immerse myself in once again!

I am still reading the book and it looks epically amazing. lol,
the cover the aesthetic the vide is amazing. A detailed review and analysis is coming

McDaniel's world-building is seriously impressive! Seamlessly blending ancient civilisations with futuristic technologies to create a captivating setting that draws you in.

Now, to get that immersive world, there are parts where it feels like you're getting hit with a ton of backstory all at once. It can be a bit much, but honestly, I think it adds the depth needed for this world and makes the story feel more real.

The story's told from five different characters' points of view, each with their own goals and motivations. Admittedly, I initially struggled with the multiple perspectives, but around 20% into the book, I began to adjust to this technique. However, readers who prefer to deeply connect with individual characters might find this approach less satisfying.

One thing I was left craving more of was the magic system in Luminocity. It's super intriguing, but I found myself confused and scratching my head at times. Digging deeper into that in the next book would be awesome!

Despite that, the world-building and complex characters totally make up for it. Can't wait to dive into the next book and hopefully get some more magic system answers!

The world building was a bit complicated, coupled with following many separate characters stories made it difficult to keep up and fully grasp every going on.. I really like the idea and I think the world building could have been a bit stronger. Now that all the different characters paths have linked together I think that the 2nd book in the series has a lot of potential to be better and build off of where this book ended

I wanted to like this book. The synopsis gave an epic story with interconnected characters, creatures and gods; it sounded incredible. I'm sorry to say it did not deliver. In my opinion, the writing was leaning towards amateurish and the dialogue was wooden. The world building was ambitious but vacillated between being info-dumpy and then non-informative. There is quite a lot going on in the plot, with many characters, but I just wasn't given any reason to care what happened. Like I said, I really wanted to like this but it was ultimately not for me.

This first book in The Luminocity Seed series is an epic start to an epic fantasy tale. Luminocity is a city built on ancient ruins with forgotten technologies. The surface is bathe by the light of 3 gods and beneath the surface is the shadow of a trapped dark god.

This dark and action packed fantasy follows the fate of 5 characters whose destiny is intertwined. The magic is unique and makes this story even more interesting.

From the prologue you get the sense of fantasy, sci-fi, dark, horror and action that will be throughout the whole book. I found the strong presence of these elements very gripping and intriguing. The story is told through the five different POVs, switching between them as the plot is going on. Although this took a bit of getting used to at first, once I got into this system of narration I felt like it provided me with additional suspense.

My only critique would be regarding the lack of introduction of the magic within this world. The magic is so unique and I loved it (I can’t stop thinking about it) and although you can understand it as the story is evolving, I think it would have been so much more powerful to give a clearer insight into how the magic works.

Regardless, this remains a 5 star read for me and I definitely recommend it to fans of dark, adult fantasy. The cliffhanger at the end has me waiting eagerly for book 2 in the series.

An intricate world, filled with magic and mystery. In this fantasy/horror, we see five POVs from characters that all have a fate entwined with one another, alongside detailed world building that fully captures the imagination with a vivid picture.

I did struggle at first with the many POVs, remembering what had happened in their previous chapter, where they were etc. But once I got into a rhythm, I loved to see all of the POVs of the characters and their stories. I would also love to see a little more explanation into the magic system of the world.

Overall, this was a really intriguing start to the series, it captured my imagination completely with complex characters and vivid world building.

Although I was intrigued by the blurb, I was a little put-off by it being described as horror but I decided to give it a go anyway. I'm really glad I did because I enjoyed it so much more than I expected and there wasn't any real horror in it at all.

From the start, it reminded me really strongly of the Gentleman Bastard series. The setting of a world built on the ruins of an ancient and lost civilisation is similar to that series and the character of Lax is very much like Locke as well. The world building was very in depth and interesting. I really liked the idea of the suns being worshipped as gods. The suns giving different colours of light at different times of day was very unusual, as was the way this was replicated in the different colours of hair and how that was indicative of status. Both mangoes and llamas were very important to this culture - llamas were mentioned several times in common phrases and sayings but they were only actually featured once which made me wonder how prevalent they were in this land.

In the main, the characters weren't too bad, although there were a lot of them. Possibly too many to keep track of or for the author to fully flesh out. Some were more interesting than others, particularly Lax, Val, Ilumi, and Vatra. I really wanted to know about the back-story for Ilumi, Vatra, and the Duke but none was given and I was left frustrated. It became obvious at about 70% that a lot of the questions I had weren't going to be answered. There was just too much story for the amount of book. So much of the book left me with questions and not a single one was answered at the end which was incredibly frustrating and disappointing. After wading through almost 600 pages, it would have been really nice to have had some answers but there weren't any forthcoming. I would have given it 5 stars but I can only give it 4 because of that.

I had some issues with the language that was used. There were a lot of Americanisms, such as 'guys' and 'wanna' which didn't seem to fit the setting. There was a huge amount of grammatical mistakes as well, such as shined instead of shone. I know the author's first language isn't English but I would have thought the editor would have picked up on them.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy to review.

Wow! I really don’t know where to begin with this review. Author Makk Daniel, writing as Daniel McDaniel, has unleashed a smashing debut with “Grieving Gold.” The first in a series, this book introduces the reader to a sci-fi fantasy smash-up that is novel in its approach.

It is always a treat when a new magic system makes the scene. I won’t spoil it for you, but here Daniel has created a new system that will get your attention. The laws governing this system are internally consistent and not so much explained as experienced. The same goes for the science part of the fiction. Daniel’s imagination takes us along for a ride worth the fare.

No story worth telling lacks compelling characters and “Grieving Gold” has them. Each is unique and interesting with interwoven story lines that don’t all cross. The plot covers political intrigue, nefarious characters with an unclear agenda, elements of mystery, and plenty of adventure.

Five stars for Daniel’s debut. I can’t wait to get my hands on book two, “Crippling Crimson.” My sincere thanks to the author and publisher Endless Equinox via NetGalley for this ARC. All opinions are mine alone and offered freely.

#LuminocityGrievingGold #MakkDaniel #fivestars #kindlesallthewaydown #Netgalley #debutnovel

Really enjoyed this book. It starts off a bit slow and the magic can be a bit confusing but it's definitely a new concept! Loved the characters and felt like they were nuanced and each of them had a twist or mystery.