Darker Than The Starless Night delivered everything I crave in a romantasy: brooding morally grey characters, a world steeped in ancient magic, and a heavy dose of emotional damage. While many of the plot twists were fairly easy to spot coming, the very last page took a sharp left turn that completely reframed the entire story — and now I’m anxiously awaiting book two to see where things go next.

This is definitely a romantasy that leans into genre expectations, but it does so with confidence and a clear understanding of what readers are here for. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but it adds enough freshness to keep things interesting — especially in the character of Yom. She isn’t your typical chosen-one heroine. She’s flawed, a little unpredictable, and brings a rawness to the story that I found compelling.

The narrative touches on deeper themes like grief, trauma, and addiction, which gave it a gritty edge that helped balance the romance and magic. That said, I did find myself wishing for a bit more emotional depth or exploration from the supporting cast. Some character arcs felt a little surface-level, especially considering how heavy the themes were.

Still, the pacing was tight, the tension stayed high, and the emotional stakes were strong enough to keep me invested. There's a certain dark energy running through the story that made it hard to put down — even when I could see the next twist coming.

If you’re a fan of romantasy with messy relationships, a high angst factor, and a plot twist that changes everything at the eleventh hour, this is definitely one to check out. It’s dramatic, addictive, and sets the stage for what could be a very intense sequel.

4.25 STARS!!

This one was a fantastic debut and honestly very different than any other fantasy I've read in awhile. Everything felt very unique and required a lot of careful attention to fully understand the magic in this world, but I liked that so much. The characters had a lot of real emotions, trauma, and secrets that kept you in your feels for a lot of this book and sometimes I felt like I was in a fever dream. There are a lot of themes so definitely understand your triggers before diving in here, especially if substance abuse, grief, depression and guilt are things you try to avoid.

The FMC and MMC in this story were not your cookie cutter personalities at all when you think of fantasy romance stories. I really loved how they had just an extreme struggle to trust each other throughout the book, yet couldn't stay away.

I also thought the writing was quite beautiful and man the twist and cliffhanger at the end has me hooked and anxious for the next book to come out. Looking forward to hearing more about this book as you all read! Enjoy as I did :)

Thank you to NetGalley, The Vibrant Machine Press, and Rebecca Brodkey for the eARC copy and the chance to provide my honest review.

This was such a fun read! Loved the distopyan vibes! The characters and plot were highly engaging and I cannot wait for the next installment!

This was intense. Yom’s trauma and addiction are handled with nuance and made me care deeply about her survival. Quia surprised me—the fake-friends bit is gold, and his banter with Yom had me chuckling (“We’re not going to become friends”—sure 😏). Also: drunk Quia = lovable chaos.

I guessed the twist early, started to question myself and when it was all revealed it landed hard with some fun surprises along the way!

I was halfway prepared for it to destroy me, but the emotional gut punch at the end—and that final twist—blew me away. I’m officially screaming into the void: Book Two, where are you?!

Just… please heed the trigger warnings. This gets dark for a while there and there are chapters you may want to skip if they might be triggering.

I received this arc from netgalley for an honest review.

I gave it 4 stars! The world and magic system were totally unique – that's what I loved most, learning about the magic and all the gods/titans. The main girl's character growth was awesome; seeing her forgive herself and become her true self was fantastic. I can't wait for book 2!

Quia was so mysterious, and I was surprised every time he revealed a secret! I was really starting to like him, then BAM, cliffhanger! Hoping for a redemption arc in book 2, though.

Misho's trauma storyline was great 👏 Really hoping to see more of him.

Overall, a fantastic first book in a fantasy series. Can't wait for more!

✨4.25 stars ✨

“I have a story for you. But I must warn you, most love stories do not end happily. Love is, by nature, finite.”

First off, thank you to The Vibrant Machine Press for approving me for an arc on netgalley! here is my honest review as always

What to expect in this
* Titans/gods
* Quest to save the world
* Hate to love
* Gangs head chemist
* Addiction
* Past guilt
* Hidden Identity
* Redemption

This was so action-packed and entertaining. I really loved the magic system and the storyline in this. It had you gripping your seat not know what was going to happen next.

I went into this blind, again I judged a book by its cover sue me, in this case it was a good judgement because this book was really good.

We have our main character, Yom, a chemist bound gang member with so much more up her sleeve than powders. The tragic beginning to her story that leads her into this life, the use of vices to cope, and her goal to find her childhood friend and first love. I loved her, watching her character unravel in this story was truly well done.
And then of course, we have Quia, a royal archivist with a lot of secrets. Can we talk about tension between these two, oh my lord.

I was genuinely intrigued through the story. I felt it truly had a unique storyline going on and it was quite enjoyable. I will say, it did take me a moment to truly catch on to the story and be fully drawn in but once I was in…I wasn’t coming out.

I really enjoyed the use of storytelling in this, especially the early use of bedtime stories of gods and titans being used to open up the idea in the storyline.
I also felt that the author had a really good writing style that fits well with the book. The characters were all truly interesting and I did not want to put the book down and I am desperate for the next book!

Check TWs and CWs
Happy reading 🩶

Darker Than the Starless Night is a beautiful fantasy book that explores Yom's (a gutsy chemist) journey to find her lost love and Quia's (a pompous archival apprentice) search for the mysterious numenborn as they find themselves entangled in a looming war concerning gods and titans. Full of twists and turns mixed with powder and lust, Rebecca Brodkey will leave you hungering for the next page in her (shockingly) debut novel. This book is rife with magical and incredibly detailed imagery that surrounds you like vines of moonflower. I was so excited to read this book before I even opened it, so much so that I was dreaming about it, and I can say that this captivating novel far exceeded my expectations. Needless to say, DTTSN is among my favorite books. Also, the representation in the book is lovely; it is so rare to see a book with bi representation in such a non-surface level way. If you liked The Starless Sea, Peaky Blinders, Six of Crows, A Tempest of Tea, and anything with incredible world-building and earth-shattering dramatic reveals, you will love Darker Than The Starless Sea. The pain of finishing the book and not being immediately able to read the sequel will have to be satiated for now, while I wait for my stunning hard copy, pre-ordered.