Fleeing the ruins of his broken life, Caleb Rusk arrives in the sleepy village of Timberford. But when a series of brutal and vicious attacks stir the community into a terrified frenzy, Caleb and his friends must join with his bond-brother, Carvesh Tarne, a Cinderborn healer and a reclusive trapper to defend the village from the swarm of shadowbeasts that threatens to destroy them.

In the city of Taralius, a high ranking abbot is butchered in the heart of his cathedral. With evidence pointing to the involvement of the notorious assassins known as the White Glove, Second Corporal Avendor Tarcoth finds himself faced with the spectres of a past he thought he’d left behind. Meanwhile, the blind old sage, Tiberius Alaran, tracks down a lead that could help explain why Hearthborn are suddenly burning out in the city—all while trying to protect secrets of his own

But unbeknownst to either Avendor or Tiberius, a new player is sent to join the game—and her’s is a kiss of death.

Earlier in the year, I got the opportunity to read & review The First of Shadows by Deck Matthews. In my review for it, I talked about how it can feel a little nerve-wracking to be contacted directly by authors…this is a sentiment I know other book bloggers share. Of course any hesitation I had turned out to be for nothing, because The First of Shadows was a blast! It’s also been entered in this year’s SPFBO!

Dust of the Darkness is the second novella in Matthews’ series, The Riven Realm. The opening chapter sets the tone in a big way: this book is darker & bloodier & demon..ier…THERE ARE MANY DEMONS IS WHAT I’M SAYING!!

If you haven’t read The First of Shadows, now is probably a good time to bail out on this review, fair warning!!

Caleb & Palawen & Tanner finally arrive in Timberford to deliver the grim news to Caleb’s sister, Anya, and to also hopefully unravel the mystery of the agiestone. But what they find is a small village besieged by creepy & bloodthirsty demons. I loved the vibe of the scenes in Timberford, with Tanner & Palawen leading the fight against these unrelenting demons. There’s some really thrilling action scenes, and quite a bit of expanding upon the magic in this world. These scenes also introduce us to Anya’s husband, Carvesh, someone with a mysterious past of his own.

We’re also introduced to another badass new character named Shade. She’s an assassin working in the city of Taralius. There’s really just one scene that she features in, but it’s pretty fucking rad, and I’m hopeful we’ll see more of her going forward.

There are a lot of characters to juggle in this book, which can feel a little overwhelming at times, especially considering the length of the story. Both novellas in this series read like much longer works, which is really kind of cool. There’s a lot of story to tell, clearly.

While I’m not exactly steeped in knowledge when it comes to classic fantasy, I know Matthews is a longtime fantasy reader, and it seems like The Riven Realm is very much a love letter to classic fantasy. Just like The First of Shadows, Dust of the Darkness is extremely well written, briskly paced, and full of surprises. This is a really awesome series so far, and I’m glad to have gotten a chance to read both of these books!! Really excited to see where this story goes from here, and to see more (and maybe longer) works set in this world.

Big thanks to Deck Matthews for sending me a copy!!! Dust of the Darkness releases TODAY!!