When The Dark Queen rises, our world will crumble...
For centuries, war has been brewing below the surface of New York. People known as the soulless – immortal humans with strange powers – have threatened life on the surface. The Dark Queen seeks revenge for a crime long forgotten and wants to rule the world.
Eighteen-year-old Riley Stark - a new recruit in the Sentinels, a military group that protects Earth from the Underworld – thinks she’s joining for the right reason. As a child, she narrowly escaped an assassination attempt on her life, and has wanted justice ever since.
After Riley goes snooping through her records, she finds the terrible truth – her ancestor was Mira Stark who killed the famous Dark King, and the soulless have wanted her family’s blood spilled. When Riley falls in love with a soulless boy she’s been taught to hate, she realizes that she can’t trust anyone – soulless or otherwise.
Dana Gricken is a multi-genre author from Ottawa, Canada. As an avid reader, writer, and daydreamer, her goal is to tell exciting, meaningful stories. When she's not writing, you can find her hanging out with her two cats and watching Star Trek on repeat. She also enjoys cooking and playing video games.
After self-publishing her debut fantasy in 2018, she has gone on to be published by Melange Books, Evernight Teen, Oliver-Heber Books, and Bella Books. With over 14 novels in print, she continues to write and publish both indie and traditionally.
In 2023, she gained a large following on social media. She is known for spreading mental health awareness, being open about her struggles with endometriosis, and encouraging kindness.
She is represented by Metamorphosis Literary Agency. Stay tuned for future releases!
Really enjoyed this book. Really good on the world-building of an alternate universe that was just a couple of steps over from our world. If deep character studies is what you need from your books, this might not be the book for you. But if worldbuilding and action are what you are looking for in a book, this one does a great job in those realms.
It did a good job too of wrapping up this story, while still hooking you in to the next one, which I hope to read soon.
I devoured this book in 2 days! I loved it. The cast of characters was rich and impressive. Leading lady Riley Stark was charismatic and intelligent, the Dark Queen was sly and malicious, and Prince Caleb was my favorite I-hope-he's-in-the-next-scene character. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy with nonstop action, suspense, and a bit of romance.
Great storyline, and the only thing that kept me reading.
I don't like books with a lot of jibber jabber, and not much in the way of atmosphere and descriptive scene setting, and this was one of those books. However, and the reason for the 4 stars, was the plot line; this kept me reading until the end, and will have me reading the other 2 in the trilogy.
It’s an absolutely amazing book. You won’t stop reading this book once you start reading it! Be prepared to go on a fantastic adventure and experience!
It's been a while since I last read a young adult book, and thankfully this one made for a very interesting read. If I could critique it on one aspect, it's that the story as a whole would benefit from a bit more focus on world building and perhaps slow down the pacing between events, but overall it was a very engaging tale with a writing style that was easy to digest. I'm curious to see how the conflict between the Underworld and the Soulful will continue to unfold, and whether peace could ever exist amidst this war for surface supremacy!