Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Book Review: Darkened Dawn by E.J. Mellow

 

Book Description

From the award-winning author of The Mousai series comes the sweeping conclusion to the Icarus-inspired Way of Wings duology—where a forbidden love could save a fractured world…or bring about its end.

Cādra is on the brink of war. With their king in a coma and rebellion spreading across the lands, the winged Volari and horned Süra gather for tense peace negotiations. But beneath the momentary fragile truce simmers unrest—the mixed-blood Mütra rise, demanding the freedom denied them for centuries, as the gods themselves seem poised to intervene.

Tanwen—now a known Mütra and fugitive of the crown—and Zolya, a prince on the precipice to inherit his father’s broken kingdom, find themselves caught in a web of betrayal and divine reckoning. When their forbidden bond is exposed, they risk far more than their love—their lives, their families, and the fragile hope of peace.

Together they must decide whether their love is worth the ruin it may bring to their fractured world…or perhaps be the only key to healing it.


My Review

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway and have not read the first book in this series but I was able to follow along what was going on in this world just fine. 

Zolya becomes King once his father dies. He and his mother aren't weeping at his death since the King was a brute and not nice at all. A lot of secrets are revealed about the dead King and even though I didn't know him from the first book I didn't like the man either so I can understand why no one would be sorry he was gone. 

Now that Zolya is King, he can make some changes to his kingdom and make it a better place for his people. Not everyone is happy about the changes he wants to make and they let him know it. There's also the danger of the Gods not liking the changes he makes as well. And if that's the case, they could all be killed by the Gods if they anger them. I found the Gods interference to be interesting to say the least. 

Tanwen and Zolya thinking they were going to have to make sacrifices in order to be together because their relationship is forbidden. But what they go through in order to be together makes their love for each other stronger. Tanwen is also fighting for change so her people can be free and equal to everyone else. There was a lot going on in this book and a lot of secondary characters but it kept me entertained so that is a plus. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 



33 comments:

  1. ❀。• *₊°。 ❀°。
    Bonjour Bonne journée de mardi tjrs avec la chaleur Bisous

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  2. Thank you for taking the time to write book reviews.

    God bless.

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  3. Good reminder that I need to sign up for some Goodreads giveaways! I haven’t won anything yet, but you give me hope 🙂

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    1. It's been a while since I won one but it does happen.

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  4. The Gods' interference would probably be the best part of this book for me as well.

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  5. I like the cover and nice that you won it in a GRs giveaway!

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  6. "I won this book in a goodreads giveaway" - Wow, I hardly ever hear of somebody actually winning a GR giveaway! Congrats on that. Kind of torn on whether it's a good thing you could follow along without reading the first book; sign of a good storyteller but maybe not the sign of a good series? Hard to say.

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    1. Thanks. I've won a few of them over the years. Not too often. It was a good story.

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  7. Sounds pretty good for a three!

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  8. Winning a book is always a good thing. Glad you could follow it even though it was book 2.

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  9. You might have liked it better if you had read the first book. Not that the book was bad, but conclusions seem to feel more complete when you start at the beginning. (At least for me.)

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  10. It looks very interesting Mary, and how great you won it. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It's always nice to win something.

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  11. When gods meddle with human affairs, the plot thickens.

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  12. It's so cool that you won this book! Great review! I've been really curious about this book! :D

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  13. I need to enter some Good Reads giveaways. This cover has a Never Ending Story feel to it. Sorry it was only a 3 out of 5 for you though!

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    1. 3 is still good. Yes, enter the giveaways.

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  14. Oh, they piss me off when they give their characters such schewpid names which cannot even be pronounced LOL

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    1. lmao Yes, I hate that too. In my head it's like sidagfh said what? lol

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  15. This does sound interesting

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