Another banger by Sam Flynn - a great continuation of this haunting, eerie series. The presentation retains the dark, captivating, and yet brisk style from the first book, and in addition, in this iteration, we have some pretty vivid fungal body horror. It will come as no surprise to my readers that I was immediately hooked.
In the first book we followed a protagonist who had deluded themselves into thinking that they had a future in the church, and over the course of the story we saw that faith slowly flake off bit by bit. The world, as we might have expected, has been changed by the death of the Hero, but not quite for the better. We continue in the grim aftermath from a different perspective.
The Hero was a symptom, not the cause.
This time, we have a protagonist who has been groomed as a sacrificial lamb from their birth. What I really loved was that Cassius was smart enough to have figured out his predicament, and yet he continues on the doomed quest to hunt down the so-called Dweller in Darkness, not because he is foolish, but because he knows no other life than that of a Lightbringer.
Who to trust? Who to believe? Growing up, my goal was clear: become the first successful Lightbringer. Now what destination did I have, other than death? Every future, every dream, obliterated. Every compromise and sacrifice wasted.
This is not a hero’s quest. This is not a progression fantasy. Those who come back alive from these haunted depths are often themselves horrified by what is left of them. A fantastic premise and a great execution. Reminiscent of Frodo’s journey to the Mount Doom, except this time we have a tormented MC who is almost lame, almost blind, and being eaten from within. There is no hiding from the evil he approaches, because the thing that grows within him binds him to that which has devoured all the so-called heroes before him.
If death meant the end of suffering, I welcomed it.
I had expected the book to be entirely grimdark, but the author had a slightly different route in mind. We do see some flicker of hope, some rays of salvation. At least for those who haven’t been assimilated by the ghostgrass. The characters in this book were a bit too black-and-white in my opinion. While I liked the protagonist, none of the side characters were quite as interesting in their own right. I particularly missed the ambiguity and mystery around the Bishop, who was a great balanced character in the first. The plot and premise make up for it, though.
I did, however, love that Faron makes an appearance in this iteration as well, and that their journal plays an important role. It was also great to see the lore from the first book get tied up nicely. The ghostgrass, the journals from the past Lightbringers, the infighting between the deluded Lightbringers were all great additions. The focus on the deeply interwoven nature of the land, its people, and nature was wonderful.
The land and the people are one. If one is sick, so is the other.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and will be looking forward to Sam’s future works. Loved the many moral quandaries. This last quote will likely end up being framed somewhere in my home:
To permit the suffering of even one child will just as soon lead to others’ suffering becoming necessary.