Thank you for my copy of this book! I ended up reading the ebook because the audio echoed when played at faster than 1x speed so I couldn’t listen unfortunately!
I ended up DNF the book anyway unfortunately. I loved the world building and thought the magic system was interesting but just lost interest with the slow pace. I might come back to it at a future date!!

One of the best YA fantasy novels this year, I couldn't stop listening to this and eagerly await the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

In a world where a storm keeps the people locked up in fear only magic can save their fates, Vesper the daughter of a revolutionary has to fight her way to save her father from imprisonment and to save her people from suffering, but obstacles keep getting into her way.

I started this audiobook twice, but still couldn't get into the story. The reason for my disinterest started with the characters, which weren't as fleshed out as I hoped. For me to get invested in a story, I need characters who I can root for or in other words, characters I like or at least love to hate. But the characters were rather bland, with no discernible personalities. Then there was the action, which was right at the start of the book. Since I didn't even know the characters and I didn't know the world the story took place, I was just confused, trying to catch up with what was happening. Right at the beginning, there is a lot of info dumping, which worsened the pace and made me immediately zone out. The story wasn't terrible, I'm sure there are many people who would enjoy this audiobook and the narrator definitely helped me to get through the book, but sadly this book didn't stand out to me and I wouldn't recommend this book personally.

The Darkening by Sunya Mara is perfect for lovers of YA fantasy; combining so many genre tropes from both YA and fantasy literature to create a really solid, fast paced and interesting story.

As someone who enjoys this genre blend The Darkening had me hooked from the start - setting up this magic-torn world, with a fresh magic system and interesting social dynamics and sprinkling in genre tropes that I love: a strong female protagonist (whose judgement isn't always the best), a seemingly cruel prince, an enemies to lovers arc and a cast of side characters that you either love or hate.

My absolute favourite part of the novel, without doubt, was the world building and magic system. Sunya Mara has created a genuinely interesting system that intrigued me from the start and has left me wanting to know more about it. The storm in itself was looming, eerie and reminiscent of the Unsea/Shadow Fold from the Grishaverse series.

I did have find some issue with the pacing of this book in the third act, I felt things could have been quicker and sharper towards the end, the way they were with the start.

Overall though, a really solid book that I think will be a new favourite amongst YA readers.

A unique plot with a fully intriguing world that has a different take on the young adult norm of fantasy and for this I had to add it to my reading list, as not only did it intrigue me but I felt drawn in by this absolutely stunning cover design. So as soon as the amazing people at Hodder said yes on net-gallery to allowing me an early copy of the audiobook, of course I instantly jumped at the chance to engage in this new fantasy world.

The audiobook voice itself was brilliant and fully brought the story to life, I have absolutely no negatives about the audiobook VoiceOver as it really helped. Unfortunately the story itself was disappointing to say the least. Through the audiobook readers voice I could hear that the story was not flowing as well as it should of sentence to sentence, the voiceover added to the flow though surprising though; a massive shout out to her as it was brilliantly read as I said above. The grip of the story completely lost me unfortunately. As much as I wanted to be intrigued and love the story it just didn’t give me the fantasy it promised, there was so much more that could be done with this world and the trials the character goes through but it felt like a lot of it was glossed over rather than fully in depth investigated.

Altogether it wasn’t a bad story it was interesting but not a story in which I would need to go out and buy a physical copy of the book to have on my shelf. If you want to read book itself though, I would say give it an audiobook instead of a read, and to whoever the audiobook reader was, you are amazing.

I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator so would recommend!

Vesper is the daughter of parents who failed a rebellion against the ruler of their country, the Regia. Her mum gone and her dad is in hiding until he is caught by Prince Dalca and taken to prison. So Vesper makes it her mission to save him but then begins to question a lot of things.

I really enjoyed this book! The story was fast paced, the writing was beautiful and I loved the bond between the characters.

The pacing felt off in a few places but it didn't bother me that much as I was eager to know what happened next!

Vesper's growth was so lovely to see and it might surprise you to know that I loved Dalca! Morally grey, hot and amazing! My kind of fave character!!!

Now I need that next book!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. I really liked the concept of the story although I must admit that the execution fell a little flat for me.

Thankyou NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an e-ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

The beautiful cover and blurb drew me in and I had to request it. It had all the things I love in a book, rebellion, a sprinkle of romance and adventure, so I was certain I'd love it. Sadly, I struggled to get into it.

Vesper is the daughter of failed revolutionary and she must infiltrate the prince's rings to save her father from being discovered and punished. She's set on freeing her city of the storm that terrorizes the lives of the people as it slowly consumes it.

Sunya Mara created a splendid world of darkness & monsters with an interesting magic system and a social structure not unlike the one from Hunger Games. I failed to get fully immersed into the things that should have drawn me into the story. The plot fell a little flat for me, as did the characters with minimal character development.

Overall, The Darkening is an innovative fantasy novel and only the story was a bit lacking for me for it to be an better read. 3,5 stars.

Guys... that book cover is absolutely gorgeous!

Vesper Vale is the daughter of revolutionaries. Failed revolutionaries. When her mother was caught by the queen’s soldiers, they gave her a choice: death by the hangman’s axe, or death by the Storm that surrounds the city and curses anyone it touches. She chose the Storm. And when the queen’s soldiers—led by a paranoid prince—catch up to Vesper’s father after twelve years on the run, Vesper will do whatever it takes to save him from sharing that fate.

While this book was really entertaining and a good book for what I assume will be a series, it needed a bit more world building. I enjoyed the story and it made me think of some of my other YA favorite series. The characters were introduced well and came across as rich and full of life. If there will be a romance twist in the next book, it will need some work as the romance was very low in this first book. The writing was detailed and I could easily follow the descriptions of the rings and the magic around it. The narration was really good for this type of book.

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton Audio for this ARC.

I didn’t vibe well with this book at all.
It felt a bit all over the place and by the end I was bored.

Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I read it rather than audiobook but I wouldn’t rush out to buy it

I thought the concept of the world and monsters made because of storm was really cool. And I was looking forward to the main character meeting the prince, because based on the blurb it seems like they might have interesting interactions. But the beginning was so slow and boring. It just didn't grab me.

Another reason that I couldn't continue with the book was that the characterization of the MC was so cliche. She was the usual 'fierce heroine' trying to play the hero, getting others into trouble, and spending the whole book sulking and feeling sorry for herself. Oh, we're also supposed to have sympathy for her because she feels instant guilt for everything that is wrong in the world.

This style of characterization is just so incredibly tiresome and annoying to me. I had assumed after the success of books like The Cruel Prince and The Shadows Between Us we might be passed this type of characters, apparently I was wrong.