Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Courting Nightfall
AUTHOR: Amanda Meuwissen
PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC
LENGTH: 170 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2021
BLURB:
Zen is a darkling — half human, half dark elf — in a world that hates him, protected only by having been raised by the Order of the Sun to become a priest. He continues to fail to rise above being an acolyte despite having come of age and longs for a different life, one he only glimpses in dreams when he is with a mysterious, beautiful man he wishes was real.
After encountering an adventuring party made up entirely of other half-races, Zen is drawn to accompany them on their quest to find and destroy a fabled vampire lord. However, the pull he feels toward those lands might be more fated than he realizes.
REVIEW:
Zen is an acolyte, a priest in training, worshipping the Sun God. Unfortunately, he continually fails his final exams. Plagued by dreams of a man calling to him and the need not to be reviled at every turn, the half-human/half-elf joins a rag-tag troop of halflings on their quest to destroy a vampire lord.
Where to start? Firstly, I enjoyed this story. It is a foray into the world of darklings, wizards, vampires, werewolves, elves, and lots between. It is a tale to sink into and leave the modern world behind.
I’m not going to comment on technicalities as an uncorrected proof was provided for review. However, the story is told in the third person entirely from Zen’s viewpoint. The created world is fascinating. Life in the priesthood is morally open in some places and strictly vicious in others.
Throughout, Zen is not a blind follower. Practicality, sense, and forgiveness form his basic personality. I found him an easy person to like and was soon a member of team Zen. He learns from each encounter, and with every new group of people he meets, more character story jigsaw pieces are revealed. These encounters also swelled the cast list, along with the laws that they followed. It is here that I occasionally became confused with who was who, and where their place was in the greater scheme of things.
As for the rag-tag group Zen joins on the quest, they are brave, amusing, and brotherhood bonded by their differences, common goals, and acceptance.
The story arc kept me guessing over which direction the tale would take – even up to the end.
Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by a story that contained a range of characters that feature in most paranormal movies ever seen. While reading – LOTR and Van Helsing came to mind. It was dramatic, funny, had aww moments, and its angsty bits alongside some surprises.
RATING: 
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