Reviewed by Cheryl K

TITLE: Lighting the Darkness: Carnival of Mysteries

SERIES: Carnival of Mysteries

AUTHOR: Eden Winters

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 295 pages

RELEASE DATE: August 14, 2024

BLURB:

Only Light can balance Darkness.

Lio wakes in someone else’s battered body with plenty of questions but no answers. Who is he? Who are the strangers who rescued him? Why do they call him Tenebris and Darkness? And why does everyone treat him like a feral dog about to attack?

Bel Am’I’s home world of Domus died moments after his escape, trapping him in the human realm with a clear mission. As Light, he must prevent Darkness from destroying Terra and the Domusians who’ve escaped there. Failure will doom billions to certain death, but how can he locate and balance a single, hidden being who doesn’t want to be found?

A mysterious carnival unites Lio and Bel, who must work together to uncover Lio’s true identity and stop him from accidentally annihilating the world. Yet someone doesn’t want them to succeed, someone who will stop at nothing to achieve the total destruction of both realms—even pitting Light against Darkness.

The battle for the end begins…

Lighting the Darkness is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series and a side story to Eden Winters’ Darkness. Each book includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains characters from Darkness as well as new ones, alternate realms, a twist on soul mates, and bad guys. I mean, evil, horrible, terrible guys. Definitely the type you wouldn’t bring home to Mother. And one cookie-baking demon...

REVIEW:

Disclaimers: Although this is a standalone in the Carnival of Mysteries series, you should read Eden’s story Darkness.  There are a lot of details from that book that are included or referenced in this book.  It’s helpful to understand what is happening in the story plot, but it is not critical to enjoying Lio and Bel’s story.

The world building is a fantastic amalgamation of the Carnival of Mysteries and Darkness worlds.  Eden has been able to merge the two distinct worlds and still embrace the uniqueness of both. Once again, she manages to entwine the human realm and other planes of existence.

The depth of her characters in this story is phenomenal.  From our meeting of Lio and Bel, you get an in-depth feeling of the other worldliness of these main characters.  But her brilliant characters are not limited to the main characters but embrace her side characters as well.  In fact, I felt like the carnival itself was a side character and not just an object in this story.  It is so integral to the story itself.

Eden’s ability to translate the feeling from these other worldly characters and their challenges in embracing human existence was spectacular.  You could feel the struggle Lio and Bel had acclimatizing themselves into a human realm.

He turned and nearly collapsed in fright to see another man so close. Wait! He’d seen that face before. The truth hit. This was the man he’d possessed. His subconscious supplied mirror. He’d been a radiant being the last time he’d seen his reflection, with wings of pure light. Now, Bel wore the body of a human male with coppery-colored hair, green eyes, a splash of tiny dots across his nose, and pale skin. Bel’s new face. He ran his hand over the Image, learning unfamiliar concepts like human eyes, nose, chin, teeth…

If you love urban fantasy mixed with the paranormal – this story is for you.  This story is a wonderful twist on the Carnival of Mysteries series.  This story just sucked me in and didn’t let me go until the very last plot twist.  If you enjoy a good light and dark balance story, run to your favorite eBook purchasing site and grab up this story.  I highly recommend it and know you will thoroughly enjoy all the plot twists and turns.  Lio and Bel’s story is a love story that spans multiple realms and leaves you wanting more.  I can’t wait to see what Eden comes up with next.

RATING:

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