Legacy of Darkness

The Graces, Book 1

By: Dawn Peers

Narrated by: Stephen Trafford

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

For hundreds of years, the Vaians have waited for revenge. Whilst the rulers of men have become greedy and complacent, they have waited, and they have planned. A sadistic and vicious race capable of snaring the soul for enslavement, they are returning to Lirdan to claim back the lands that once belonged to them.

One of their own escaped; it didn't matter. They knew she would die.

What they didn't know, was that she carried a child.

Years after Haelyn's escape from the clutches of her Vaian masters, join Idirin as he struggles to piece together a resistance against the forces he knows are coming to reclaim the souls of mankins. Can he and his headstrong daughter Arroryn stay united for long enough, or are secrets kept for too long destined to tear them apart?

Can the embittered sons of the greedy and cruel King Ryn keep the peace between each other to keep the throne united, or are they destined to fail, just like their ancestors had predicted?

Enter the fantasy world of Lirdania, and Eldervai; where the eyes do more than deceive, and death certainly does not mean your soul is at rest.

©2013 Dawn Peers (P)2016 Dawn Peers

Dark Fae, Court Politics & Obvious Evil +18 read

Parents- R- more of an Adult geared read
Language- PG13 - Moderately heavy, lots of a##, sl#t, b, s and d words but no f-bombs
Violence- R - pretty bloody and detailed gore, ex. monsters slurping and drinking blood of brutalized people, not for the squeamish reader
Sexual Content- R - lots of insinuations, images of prostitution, near sex scenes, drinking, body imaginary and language, "lifting skirts at court" & "wh#re spreading legs"

While the world building was good, it was also spread throughout the whole book and filled the gaps as needed. However, I felt the character development lacked a bit especially while describing the race called the vaian. After the 3/4 of the book I still have lots of unanswered questions about the them: (I still don't know what they are)some sort of Fae: elf, drow, wizard or other race? Not a lot of physical descriptions given- dark eyes that are created by the use of their magic, round ears, looks somewhat human but with hoods down can be easily seen as vaian but how?... Just dark eyes? they live long time and don't like people, they hold a power and if not used it will kill them. They make "bindings" that are dead people controlled through some sort of necromancy. Their personalities were well described and built but the visual on this presumably new created race was lacking and really needs to be more fleshed out. The story has a good pace, it starts rather sad with a common scene of a vaian mother dying and giving up her daughter to have her raised in secrecy in a Human kingdom. The kingdom is run by a King with a lot of issues, there's lots of political games and meandering with his sons and a vaian ambassador seeking a trade agreement. There's lots of twists and turns and while it does drag at times it was an interesting story but for an adult reader. I got about 3/4 through before I quit, it just got too dark and gory for me to stomach finishing.

Narrator- 4⭐ has really good differentiation and acting skills, I preferred listening at 1.25x speed. **There are some sound editing issues randomly in the book but especially in Audible chapter 22.**

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good book

This was a good audio book. It didn’t peak my interest as much as some but it isn’t bad. The storyline just kinda creeped along.