**Warning: This post may have spoilers from the first books in these series. Check out my review for Of Sea and Shadow and Of Shadow and Sea if you want to know about the start of the series.

Intro

If you thought that Of Sea and Shadow and Of Shadow and Sea had lots going on, wait until you get into Of Dawn and Darkness (hereafter Dawn) and Of Darkness and Dawn (hereafter Darkness)! Deeper Elder lore, a guild war, character histories, and more await in these continuations of the two Elder Empire series. What will happen as the guilds start to take sides? What other kinds of dangers await?

I decided to read these after enjoying the first two books in these parallel series. If you missed my review of the first books, the brief description is that these books tell the stories of two individuals on different sides of an emerging conflict. You can choose to read just one of the two trilogies and get a complete story, or you can choose to read both and get a fuller picture of the events in this fantasy world.

Dawn and Darkness were written by Will Wight (author’s website and Amazon profile with his other books) and released on the same day, February 2, 2020. The books are both medium-length with Dawn being 386 pages long and Darkness being 362 pages. Like with the first two books, I read Calder’s story first and started with Dawn.

Read on for a detailed breakdown, or click here to jump to the conclusion.

“Jerri slapped the side of the longboat. ‘Lower the boat, Mr. Marten. We’re going ashore.’ Another quote floated to mind, from the journals of Estyr Six: ‘If you’re not giving the orders, you’re not the one in charge.’ Calder sighed. ‘Yes, Captain.’

Plot

Like Sea and Shadow, Dawn and Darkness follow a plot pattern where the chapters alternate between the main characters’ past and their present. In the past, the stories flesh out character histories and motivations while the present gives the driving force behind the current narrative.

Regarding the plots, I am going to give the exact opposite feedback from what I gave in the reviews of the first books. Rather than the past seeing disjointed and the present being more coherent, I found the past sections of these two books to be more coherent with the present sections being a bit directionless and confusing at times.

While the sections in the past were more coherent, they were not necessarily themselves very entertaining and driven. In Dawn, the majority of the past sections revolve around the build-up of Calder’s crew and do not really do much to move the plot forward. Most everything except for one scene with one of the Great Elders could have been cut without loss.

In Darkness, the past plot does mostly lead to a single major incident that happens at the end of Shera’s training/initial assignments, but that final incident (my oblique reference are meant purely to obscure any spoilers) is itself pretty important. Overall, I would consider the past plotlines in both to be important to someone who wants to explore the world more deeply, but they are not terribly important to someone who just wants a good story.

While the past plotlines are at least mildly interesting if you are invested in the characters, the present plotlines in these books could be jettisoned almost entirely. The present plots are almost entirely dedicated to setting up a big guild war with a mild McGuffin (in the form of the “Optasia” which is hardly explored in enough depth to give it any real emotional weight). Generally, the build-up to a large conflict like that would be pretty interesting, but these books miss the mark. The conflict seems kind of artificial–especially considering the fact that the empire has existed for five years at this point without the power struggles resulting in open war.

Two points somewhat redeem the plots in these books for me. First, the knowledge that these are not the final books in the series means that you can expect all this filler material is simply laying the ground for an explosive ending to the trilogies (spoiler: I have finished one of the third books already, and those final books do ramp up).

Second, the activity of the Sleepless and the Elders betrays the fact that something is happening behind the scenes, and the two guild alliances may not be the only players in the game. The tedious backstory and slow plots are almost certainly designed to set up more major events in the third and final books. This structure of slowing down in the second of a trilogy is not uncommon, but others (like the excellent The Two Towers or Empire Strikes Back) show that setting the stage for a finale can still be more entertaining than Dawn and Darkness achieve.

Worldbuilding/Series Connection

Worldbuilding is the strong suit for these books (as is expected of second books in trilogies). Both books take off from where they left off before. Wight has a ton of complexity still, but the knowledge of his world from the first books forms a decent base upon which he builds gently. Rather than dumping you suddenly into a world filled with tons of magic systems and monsters, he simply takes the existing magic systems in place and expands them slowly.

I think this expansion is the worldbuilding’s greatest strength. Almost without the reader realizing what he is doing, Wight expands the scope of the world from human vs. human conflict to human vs. Great Elder conflict. In the first two books, he really only talks at any length about Nakothi (and even then it is not much), and he just mentions the other a little. In the second two books, the Elders gain more agency, personality, and influence in the world. This expansion felt a lot like a Brandon Sanderson book where you feel like you have a grasp of the world in one book, and the next takes it to another scale entirely so you see your knowledge in the first book was incredibly constrained.

The main miss on the worldbuilding is the dropping of entire guilds and concepts from the first book that were previously important. The guild of Witnesses, for example, is barely present in these books. Most areas are expanded on and fleshed out, but some areas seem to have been neglected entirely.

Characters

Like the first books, I thought the characters were hit or miss. A lot of side characters were introduced or given much more screen time than in the first books. Of those, some were entertaining, but others were mildly annoying. Personally, I found the side characters in Dawn to be overall more enjoyable, but your opinion may vary. One flaw for many of the side characters was an opaque view into their motivations. Some characters would be ambivalent about the guild conflict and then suddenly, wholeheartedly commit to one side or the other. Others you would expect to be solidly in one camp, but then they would be playing the center.

As for the main characters, Calder and Shera are both dealing with newfound powers and voices in their heads. Those struggles with new voices and compulsions are the main driving force behind the character development, and the struggles add some interest. Otherwise, the character work suffers from the same issue as in the first books: the characters at the end of the books are largely the same characters that you meet at the beginning.

Some of the main characters’ motives are more understandable after reading the sections about their past, but their behaviors largely stay the same. When looking for a great story, I usually expect a character arc with growth. Characters can certainly be recognized as having the same personalities at the end as at the beginning of a book, but they should overcome some specific struggle or grow in some area to be truly compelling

Prose

The prose in the books is again one of the strong points. Wight’s descriptions are vivid and robust. Typically, I am not a reader who is good at visualizing characters, creatures, locations, etc. in my head, but I get clear pictures in these books.

Conclusion

Like the conclusion I had at the end of the first books, I am a little conflicted. I have leveled a lot of critiques at Dawn and Darkness, but I did somewhat enjoy them. I often enjoy the parts of series that are meant purely to build up for a climax later in a series, so I had fun getting to know more of the minutia of this fantasy world. However, I can see where these books go wrong–particularly for a reader who wants faster pacing and stronger character development. If you are in for the long run and plan to finish the trilogies, I have no doubt you will read and enjoy these second books. If you are not sure about finishing the series, I still encourage you to stick it out, but be aware that these books are a bit weaker than the opening books.

Watch for my review of the third books in the series in the coming months!

You should read this if …

• You plan to finish out the series. They give some solid worldbuilding for the final books.
• You like having lots and lots of magical variation to explore, and you like to see that magic deepen through a series