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Lightfall by Ed Crocker
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on January 14, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy, Fiction / Fantasy / Epic
Pages: 384
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A novel of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the stunning debut epic fantasy by Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever.

This story surprised me. The world of First Light is gritty, haunting, and layered with dark social commentary that feels all too real. I loved the idea of vampires living under a class system and the way rebellion simmers under the surface. While the pacing was uneven and I wished for deeper emotional arcs, I was still drawn in by the mystery and the eerie, almost cinematic vibe. If you like your fantasy with bite—literally and metaphorically—Lightfall is worth exploring.