“I think I know who the Grays are. Tonight I find out for sure.”
I can confidently say I’ve never read anything else like Ed Crocker’s Lightfall. A fantasy story involving vampires, sorcerers and werewolves sounds like familiar fare but Crocker gives those fantasy staples an entirely fresh and unusual spin. In his creation these three races are immortal and share the same fallen world following an uprising by the mysterious technologically advanced Grays. In a one-sided rout referred to as Grayfall, the Grays conquered the great vampire cities of old, driving them out of their capital of Lightfall and leaving them trapped in their one remaining stronghold of First Light.
Crocker’s strong storytelling voice pulled me in right from the start, which begins with First Lord Azzuri, ruler of First Light, mourning the death of his youngest son. His fortunes are contrasted with those of Samantha (Sam), a low-born ‘Worn’ vampire serving as a maid in Azzuri’s palace who is plotting how to escape and find a better life.
The novel is written in first person with multiple viewpoint characters. At first I thought it might be told entirely from Azzuri’s and Sam’s perspectives but Crocker slowly introduces more characters as the tale progresses. Creating a distinctive voice for each character can be difficult to pull off in first person. However when done well, as in this case, it really allows you to understand their personalities and their contrasting motivations and viewpoints.
This adds real depth to Crocker’s world, which is reminiscent of Europe in the 17th to 18th Century. In many ways, Lightfall is a commentary on class and the oppression of the poor by the rich. Although all vampires have the potential to be immortal, that gift is granted to them by the animal blood they drink. The ruling noble classes drink only the finest blood, whereas the lowest class Worns get the weakest kind – cowblood. As a result, the Worns slowly age and eventually die whilst their richer counterparts do not. Crocker has great fun explaining the various properties granted by different kinds of blood, which the sorcerers have spent decades enhancing with their magick. Crocker even takes this so far as to reimagine blood as currency in the vampire world. The blood trading halls, which are their alternate version of the London Stock Exchange, was a clever invention.
In this world Sam finds herself leading a double life, wanting more than fate and the current established world order has determined should be her lot. She reaches out to an underground movement known as the Leeches, who are challenging the establishment in various underhand ways as they work to improve the position of the Worns.
Sam’s story of class struggle is intertwined with the classic tropes of a murder mystery. The character of Sage Bailey is a sorcerer and leader of his order who travels to First Light to investigate the murder of the younger Lord Azzuri, with whom he was friendly. There are a number of different types of sorcerer but Sage has the misfortune to be a Quantas, which means he has no obvious magick powers. Sage makes up for this with an abundance of intelligence, making him the perfect choice to investigate Azzuri’s mysterious death. Mortals are a legendary vanished race in this world and Sage has dedicated his life to studying their history, which may or may not be connected to the unknown agenda of the Grays. Sage discovers that proof of the existence of mortals may have been hidden in the bank at First Light and the youngest Lord Azzuri may have stumbled upon something and paid for it with his life.
As the story progresses the cast of characters continues to expand. Raven Ansbach, known as the Midnight Assassin, almost steals the show as the ruler of the werewolf shape shifters. Her more straightforward and animalistic outlook on life is completely different to the politicking of the vampires and sorcerers. The no-nonsense Leech Alanna is another great character with a mysterious past, which teases at the much larger world in which this story is set.
There are also delightful villains you’ll love to hate – in particular Rufous, the vicious eldest son of Lord Azzuri. He’s not the person you want to be in the line of succession to inherit from his more measured father. The spymaster Lord Saxe is another great character, his underlying malevolence always there, barely hidden behind the thin veil of his manners.
I’ve never read a fantasy novel which was so… there’s no other word for it – fantastical. This isn’t epic fantasy or grimdark or gaslamp, nor is it a classic retelling of the vampire or werewolf myths. It’s very much its own thing and for that Crocker’s imagination has to be commended. The whole world is richly described and there’s enough underpinning history to ground the setting, so it feels real despite its fantastical nature. Linked to this Crocker often makes up his own words, ‘tankarsed’ for drunk being my personal favourite. This style generally added to the sense of immersion, although at times the words used left me baffled and those occasionally broke the spell.
I liked how this was an entertaining read which didn’t take itself too seriously but at the same time it still had something to say. I particularly enjoyed the suspense and sense of intrigue Crocker built at the start. This gives way to much more action in the final quarter of the novel, once events have been set in motion and the agenda of certain people becomes clear. Once Crocker answers the many intriguing questions posed earlier in the book it’s a different sort of story. I enjoyed the resolution and there are some particularly good twists I never saw coming. However, I did have questions about the decisions some characters made in that final quarter, which I didn’t feel were entirely logical. There was also a sense at times that we’d really moved on to set things up for the sequel, which I think I might have preferred to have seen held back until that second book.
However, these are minor quibbles and ultimately matters of personal taste. Overall, Lightfall is a towering achievement for a debut novel. Crocker has done something original, fresh and new with this book. This is shaping up to be an excellent series, so if you’re a fan of fantasy and want to read something different then I’d highly recommend picking up a copy of Lightfall.
I was kindly sent an advance copy by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
